An Inconvenient Truth, Redux

I finally had the opportunity to see An Inconvenient Truth last night on DVD. I knew going into the watching that since I used to be in science, and thus am totally convinced about global warming, that the experience would be preaching to the choir. What I didn't know was how the film would come across. I expected a kind of polemic.

Well, it is a polemic, but not what I expected. Instead, the film comes across as the best lecture you ever had in college. It is incredibly sober and factual, and, believe it or not, spell-binding. This is a great movie that has a lot to say.

Al Gore knows his stuff. He comes across as a really knowledgable person, but beyond that, he comes across as a man who has a passion for this subject. The movie breaks up the lecture with personal moments of Gore that outline how he came to be so involved in the environment. Some have said that they act like a pre-campaign movie, but even though I would like Gore to run again, I think they function more as a way to connect him to his lecture; to show that this isn't something he just came to, johnny-come-lately.

It is clear that this man has a passion for the environment. It is also clear that this man is incredibly intelligent and thirsty for more knowledge. Watching this movie makes one wonder: what if? What if Gore hadn't been stolen from the election in 2000? Where might we have been today? We certainly wouldn't have been in Iraq. I wonder if George W. Bush has a passion like this. He doesn't seem to be too intellectually curious. There is a certain wistfulness in watching this film about what could have been.

But most of all, this film is a jeremiad about global warming. And it's very, very powerful. Roger Ebert said in his review that you owe it to yourself to watch this film. And you owe it to your children, who will be inheriting this. I couldn't agree more.