AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH is not only inconvenient 鈥� it鈥檚 an outright anomaly. The movie鈥檚 average per-screen box office earnings beat the recent romantic comedy blockbuster The Break-up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Its companion book has reached number three on The New York Times bestseller list. And it stars 鈥渢he former next president of the United States鈥�, Al Gore, talking about global warming with the help of a slideshow.
Gore has been lecturing on the dangers posed by global warming for 35 years. In that time he has honed an impeccable slideshow, with just the right balance of gut-wrenching photographs, comprehensive charts and frightening predictions. The slideshow makes up the bulk of An Inconvenient Truth, which is both inspiring and really scary. The science is easy to understand and uncompromised 鈥� a tough combination for anyone to achieve. Gore may have been a politician, but as he stresses throughout the movie, climate change is not a political issue, it鈥檚 a moral one. We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to change our bad habits before it鈥檚 too late.
His message is hitting home. People are responding to the movie with surprising fervour. Critic Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, 鈥淚n 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.鈥� David Denby said in The New Yorker, 鈥淚n the movie he is merely excellent. But in person鈥e presents a combination of intellectual force, emotional vibrancy and moral urgency that has hardly been seen in American public life in recent years.鈥� Larry King called it 鈥渙ne of the most important films ever鈥�.
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How can a man in a suit with a slideshow be so engrossing? What is it about Gore that is making such an impact? After all, climate change is not an easy sell in many parts of the US. The answer has much to do with passion. There is something invigorating about seeing a politician speak from his heart. This is not the old Al Gore of stiff posture and monotonous voice. Away from the political arena, Gore is revealed to be poignantly human.
The other appealing thing is that he is not only forcing us to confront the problem, he is also looking for realistic solutions. He understands well enough the power of technology to get a message to the public and motivate them. Look at Current TV, the national television channel Gore founded, which features viewer-created content: it allows anyone to upload their videos while viewers vote online to decide what gets aired. He is also a senior adviser to Google.
Gore firmly believes that environmental responsibility and economic prosperity are not mutually exclusive, an idea embodied by the investment firm he co-founded, Generation Investment Management. In the movie, he makes a punchy appeal to economic pragmatism when he says that American car manufacturers have no market in China because their cars do not meet China鈥檚 environmental regulations. And despite everything he鈥檚 been through, Gore has unwavering faith in the democratic process. If he cannot change policy, he can change the public, a grass-roots approach that may be more powerful in the end.
鈥淚f Al Gore cannot change policy, he can change the public鈥�
Gore has said repeatedly that he has no plans to run for president in 2008. I hope he changes his mind. The US desperately needs a leader who understands the value of science. He is optimistic that we have everything we need to quell the climate crisis, save, perhaps, political will. Then again, as he says in the movie, 鈥淚n America, political will is a renewable resource.鈥�
