Hi 86 / Lo 74
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Volume 71, Issue 144,
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Life & Arts Gore's 'Truth' highlights global warming debate by AUSTIN HAVICAN
The issue of global warming seems more relevant than ever with Houston's temperatures rising as summer begins. If you missed former vice president Al Gore's visit to the Hobby Center in downtown on June 7, An Inconvenient Truth serves as a shortened synopsis of his comprehensive and thought-provoking presentation. The film itself is unlike most documentaries or non-fiction films you may see this year; it is basically a recorded presentation, like that of your government class-on-tape, with a few interjections of Gore using his PowerBook, recounting family traumas and rolling news footage of his 2000 Presidential loss. Gore calmly and clearly explains global warming's relationship to the before-and-after photos of melted glaciers, dramatically spiked graphs representing pollution output, photographs of droughts, floods, fires and hurricanes, comparisons of the United States' to the rest of the world's environmental policies, and examples of America's inaction toward protecting the Earth. The movie is aesthetically attractive and it's obvious that a lot of care was put into the film quality and composition. It's also nice that, with the exception of a low-end Pixar-style polar bear, Gore's potentially cheesy graphs and doomsday animations look great. As can be expected, the film is not without its demerits. Self-proclaimed liberals and Democrats could find themselves unhappy with director Davis Guggenheim's inclusion of Gore's political campaign story and seemingly unrelated events of family tragedy. The contradiction of Gore reminding the audience that the issue at hand is "not about politics," and the later attacks against the Republican Party, will do more to hurt the film than shine light on Gore himself, which seems to be these segments' intention. Unfortunately, much like this article, the movie will most likely be seen only by those who are already interested in its topics. Granted, the topic at hand is extremely important and should be discussed by everyone, no matter their party affiliation; the film may suffer a "preaching-to-the-choir" categorization and appeal almost exclusively to Democrats or environmentalists. Not to insult movie-goers who consider themselves conservative or Republican, but it's hard to imagine a majority of the American population having an open mind and sitting through the presentation unbiased. There seems to be quite a bit of controversy about the facts and statistics in the film, which also doesn't help its validity. But when you consider what the aim of the movie really is, the few faults aren't really significant. Regardless of the wealth of information viewers are presented with, the message is a simple and non-political one: We, as the dominant species on the globe, need to keep it spinning. Pollution, global warming, and the over-consumption of Earth's natural resources may or may not be directly caused by humans, but we're the only ones that can do anything about it, and we should.
An Inconvenient Truth Rated: PG for mild thematic elements
Verdict: A fascinating must-see, politics aside. Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu |
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