Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Here’s something I just had a hard time wrapping my mind around. An Al Gore movie. Seriously, an hour and a half lecture by, and a documentary about, ex-Vice President and Presidential Candidate Al Gore and his views on global warming. How can a guy known as wooden at best, and positively robotic at worst, make a film that doesn’t make Lars Von Trier movies look like action packed, tightly paced, thrill rides?
Well, because the Gore-bot 2000 is dead. A relic. A thing of the past. Al Gore is far from what he used to be. An Inconvenient Truth not only proves to make a compelling call to action about global warming, but also makes Al Gore seem like something he hasn’t before to many people. Human.
Now, I typically try to keep my religion and politics out of my reviews, knowing just how incendiary such subjects can be. Especially on the Internet. And frankly, film is incendiary enough stuff that I don’t feel I need to throw gas on the fire. But here, with An Inconvenient Truth, I feel it is almost inescapable. For me, at least.
Those of you who know me well or read my blog know that I am an incredibly politically minded guy, and even more importantly, a Republican. A lifelong, old school, traditionally conservative (which doesn’t mean what many of you think it means), Republican. And I have SERIOUS ISSUES with Al Gore. Have for nearly two decades now. Granted, most of my fervor stems from his support of his wife Tipper, who founded the PMRC (the guys who put labels on records and CDs) and crusaded to ban offensive albums, films and television shows.
And for a traditionally conservative Republican pop culture junkie – the idea of censoring ANYTHING is a cardinal sin – especially at the federal level. Throw onto that his views on using the military as a peacekeeping force in other countries and his part in the Clinton Administration and you start to paint a picture of exactly the kind of politician I have problems with. So as you can probably guess, I voted against him in 2000 (you know, back when Bush still talked like a Republican) and hoped that would be the last I heard of him.
Needless to say, the idea of waking up early on a Friday morning to listen to Al Gore talk for 100 minutes was not exactly my idea of fun. But like I said, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I mean, this sort of thing just isn’t done. This isn’t a Documentary about a politician who was followed around by a docu-crew. Gore plays a large part in the making of and the structure of this film – both as a subject and creatively. And Ex-Politicians, especially Ex-Vice Presidents, are supposed to fade into obscurity. They take cush jobs at large firms that do world wide business, or sit on the board of large corporations. They don’t continue the crusades they failed at when in power. Not unless they’re Jimmy Carter. But Carter’s a whole different kind of cat – the only President in modern history to be a better man after his presidency than he was during it. Vice-Presidents don’t make films. Not like this. It was something so insane I HAD to watch. I couldn’t pass it up. It was like one of those links your buddies post that reads: Click here to see something so vile it will scrape out your soul. You can’t help yourself. And neither could I.
Now, understandably, this film has stirred up a lot of controversy. Unfortunately, the controversy is far less scientific than it is political. You see, somewhere along the line my party stopped being the party that quoted the founding fathers. Somewhere along the line we stopped being the party of a sound, cohesive philosophy that virtually every republican held, despite our personal, issue-based beliefs. Somewhere along the line “Ditto Rush” stopped meaning, “Wow, Rush said exactly what I’ve been saying for years” and became “Well, if that’s what Rush said, that’s what I think too.”
And already the smear campaign has started, encouraging Republicans to boycott this movie. Because apparently, we aren’t allowed to make up our minds for ourselves anymore. The party line is what we’re told to believe, not what we actually believe. And the party line on Global Warming is “We don’t have enough evidence to support a position either way, so why risk hurting industry for something that’s just a theory?”
Well, with An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore sets out to challenge that way of thinking and manages to turn what could easily be a 100 minute episode-of-Nova snoozefest into a riveting conversation and argument on the need to reduce our CO2 emissions. This is effectively a filmed version of the lecture he’s been giving over the last six years, inter-cut with a series of personal anecdotes shot at locations pivotal in Gore’s life. Using stories of his past as metaphors, Gore manages to introduce us to himself in a whole new light, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for arguments made later in the film. And those arguments are incredibly simple – elegantly simple in fact.
While not entirely unassailable (as arguments go), what seemed like a “Save the Spotted Owl” plea for environmental consciousness rapidly became a wrecking ball of rhetoric that tore down common myths and hit every point in the argument, from personal cost, industry and the technology needed. This isn’t some crazy, left wing, bleeding heart, tree hugger plea – this is an honest to god, very well thought out evaluation of facts, figures and concepts. And its an argument, valid or not, that is so good, it should be heard by members of all political slants and bents.
This film, this lecture, comes across as very personal; a passionate argument in the old school sense of the word. This isn’t the stodgy, stiff shirt Al Gore we all remember – this is an Al Gore who jokes openly, is warm and entertaining and speaks with pain about his loss in 2000. You can easily tell that he’s a changed man, someone who while on the track to the White House gave us what he thought we wanted, and now, with nothing to lose, can let it all hang out and just be himself.
And the man before us in the film, well, he’s one I quite like now. He’s been moved from the category of people I never hope to meet into the realm of “Man, I’d really love to pick this guys brain over a cup of coffee.” And believe me, that’s a BIG deal. This is a guy I believed stood against most everything I believe, and while he still may, I no longer think it’s because of anything but that we want different things and have different priorities.
And man, can I understand why he’s getting the BIG QUESTION in every interview he does. Because if there was ever a way to make a HUGE comeback, this movie would be it. If Gore was able to take a dyed in wool conservative who practically spit when he said the guys name and not only earned his respect, but endeared him to him, I can only imagine what this film would do to the independents in this country – let alone the liberal base that feels let down by him.
If enough people saw this film, and he kept up this kind of attitude, he could probably win the nomination in a walk. But personally, I hope he stays true to his word and chooses not to run. This crusade seems to be a much better fit, and it strikes me that he can accomplish more good outside the system than he ever did within it.
The film is simply great. It changed my opinion on a great number of things, educated me with an argument that properly debunks a lot of misconceptions, and turns some really dry material into something that never for one second bored me. Gore really seems to know his stuff, but more importantly, really knows how to explain it. That doesn’t mean Gore’s argument is by any means unassailable.
There’s plenty to be said to counter both the science and the rhetoric. But it’s a good argument, and its one worth hearing. (Please note that as I am in no way, shape or form a scientist of any kind, I make no claims to the validity or truth of global warming. But, as a film critic, I am afforded the ability to say that Global Warming lends itself to pretty good filmmaking. Except for Waterworld…and the more ridiculous parts of The Day After Tomorrow. And anything by Paul W.S. Anderson, whether he’s done a global warming film yet or not.)
Now, if I have one complaint about this film, it’s one of my usual gripes. The marketing. Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead horse, but this really has to be addressed. If you look at the poster for the film, or it’s unbelievably dramatic trailer…well, it’s certainly jarring. It has this immediacy to it. It uses the work ‘Shock’ about a billion and six times. The tagline is “By far, the most terrifying movie you will ever see.” And yet, it’s not. The marketing is scary, and probably will do more to scare people away than anything else.
In truth, this movie isn’t very shocking (except in regards to the aforementioned personality graft Gore received post election.) Instead, rather than sending you out of the film thinking “Oh, God we’re so fucked” it manages to end on a very positive note that leaves you thinking, “Man, I really need to change my light bulbs and get my car tuned up.” It makes you want to write your congressman, because, it can be done. Gore ultimately reminds us that it is a number of small changes - not big ones - that can really have a lasting effect, if performed by enough people. I kinda wish they’d go back to the ‘penguins in the desert’ poster, as much as I thought it was silly, because it is much closer in theme to what this movie is trying to say.
This isn’t a scare piece; it’s a motivational piece and a rational argument. I just wish they’d start treating it like one (because nothing says rational like penguins. In a desert.)
I highly recommend this film to anyone old enough to understand it. It is probably one of the sanest, most coherent, and from the heart pieces of rhetoric you’re bound to hear or see in an election year. Is it propaganda? Of course it is. It’s a persuasive argument made with images and style. But that by no means makes it something worth ignoring.
If anyone sees this, I think it most important for those of my own party, if for any reason other than hearing this argument from this point of view, that we begin to once again – as a party – think for ourselves and argue from our own knowledge of the opposing opinion rather than what we’re told it is. If we continue to let Coulter, O’Reilly and Savage do our thinking and speaking for us, then it will be left to the Al Gore’s of the world to make the only sane, informed arguments – and we’ll be left with few who can actually argue against them.
And I’d like to take this time to personally thank Al Gore for inventing the internet, without which I would be unemployed ;)
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will.
Massawyrm
OMFG! Massawyrm is a Republican! I can never trust his reviews again! OMFG! Massawyrm THINKS he’s a Republican, but clearly isn’t! I can Never trust his reviews again! Blah, blah, blah. Sing that song to someone who cares…or better yet, e-mail me here.
