An Inconvenient Truth - A movie which needs to be watched by everyone

Last week, our Leaders, the representatives of our human race met at Copenhagen and decided our future, or decided if we should have a future or not. In my personal opinion, they let us down. To an extent, they delivered words, but when it came to actions, we saw none.

So, as a citizen of this beautiful planet, and to my knowledge, the only habitable planet, it boils down to us individuals to help initiate the change we want to bring about. Very honestly speaking, we can’t just blame the Leaders, since in their shoes; we too would take a similar step, since the support from public still needs a long way to go, before a leader can promise drastic changes. Also, a lot of the issue is caused by the fact that people are ignorant, or probably less motivated, and keeping that view in mind, I am writing this “Movie Review”, or should I say Documentary Review.

An Inconvenient Truth
Cast: Al Gore

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Rating: 9.0/10.0 (You really need to see this)

As is known, or would be clear by now, the movie is a Global Warning on the Global Warming issue. Very straightforwardly put, the movie revolves around a “glorified” Powerpoint Presentation on Global Warming that Al Gore supposedly gave more than a thousand times by the time this movie was made (i.e. 2005), along with some of his quiet musings and a decent background sound track, which as an movie would sound pretty dumb and boring, but the some brilliant direction and the catchy and crisp presentation skills of Al Gore keep the viewers interested. On a personal note, I never knew that Al Gore anything more than yet another American Politician, till he was actually bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and the Indian media was abuzz about this movie.

The movie, which on the whole enlightens the viewers (though I had earlier thought of using the word depresses) about what harm the uncontrolled and unchecked human activity is doing to the environment and what will happen when nature reacts back, has its own set of light moments. For instance, while introducing him-self, Al Gore starts by saying, “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next President of the United States of America”. The obvious reaction is a giggle from the audience, and to this he retorts saying, “I don’t find that particularly funny”. The movie is laden from time to time with such moments, which make us smile, even when we are buying some facts which show us the horrific picture of the future.

Though Al Gore is not a scientist, he has the air of a Professor, who can explain the even the boring parts of studies with a creative use of pictures, animations and jokes. I cannot think of any other movie, where seeing the red lines of the graphs, the audience gasp (I am not talking of office, where CEO shows loss and people sigh). The pictures used for explanation are very powerful and even the future speculations of what will get submerged strike a chord with the viewers immediately. This is coupled with a really cute video from the world of Simpsons, which in a comic way show us the gravity of the problem.

There are a few more areas of concern, which the movie cites with examples. While there is Zero disagreement over the fact that human actions are causing the temperatures to go up, taking a sample of 925 recent scientific papers on this subject, the normal population looks at this possibility with an almost 50% chance of agreement with this fact, showing that a lot of us are still ignorant, or probably possess half-knowledge.

All in all, Al Gore in a very subtle way proves to the viewers, all his view points, and convinces the layman about what went wrong, and what it will result into. There is a part in the movie, where he shows the choices the Politicians have, and shows us a Scale, which has “Gold” on one side, which stands for economic development and prosperity, and on the other hand, we have “The Entire Planet”. And then, when he has to choose, he just looks greedily at the gold, and goes hmmm. Doesn’t this strike a chord with what just happened at Copenhagen, with different countries fighting it over development and emission rates?

Since there is no fear of revealing any plot here, I am putting some of the facts that were put into the movie.
· The ten hottest years in the last 200 years came in the last 14 years.
· The data from Antarctica’s ice show that the current concentration of carbon-dioxide is the highest as compared to all historical data going back million years ago.
· Mumbai had a severe downpour of rain of 37 inches, highest in any city in India.
· There are lot of glaciers and mountain ranges, where we see the amount of ice retreating giving rise to water.

To be really honest, the movie leaves the viewer with a sense of despair, since the facts shown are pretty depressing and though Al Gore tries to imbibe the fact that we still have time and all hope is not lost, it doesn’t really sound convincing. However, in a nutshell, Al Gore’s presentation not only deserves, but also demands the viewer’s rapt attention.

Final Verdict:
The best thing about this movie is that it teaches you the same Green House effect, which most of us probably in our school days, and yet it makes you passionate about our planet, in a way you would have never felt before. Also, the movie does an impartial analysis of the human race and doesn’t point to a specific Political Party, Country or an Industry. On a personal note, the line that Al Gore repeatedly said, got stuck into my mind, that Saving the Environment is more of a “Moral concern” rather than a Political issue, and hence, each one of us should do what we can for saving our Home.
All in all, if you ask me, “Should I watch this movie?”
I would like to answer it saying, “Watch it, so your children don’t need to tell you, why did you not wake up, when you could have saved our planet and our existence? When you proclaim to be the most-evolved and the smartest species on this planet, why did you not act responsibly when you still had time?” A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, now it is the time for you to see the movie and awaken.