Al Gore’s film, or rather, the film of Al Gore, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, is a most entertaining experience. This is primarily down to the intrigue of seeing a man who has had to deal with being the world’s most famous loser for the past 6 years, the subject of a billion ‘If only…’ op-eds, basically giving a slide show in a few cities worldwide. Whatever he was like before the 2000 election (by all accounts a rather dull man), he is now, at least on camera, a man with a wonderfully dry sense of humour, by no means flamboyant, but certainly warm and engaging. His conveys his message powerfully, and with all the patient understanding of someone who has been an central player in the global warming debate ever since it became a debate. Highly recommended.
As a point of interest, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is being touted as one of those ‘you need to see this, regardless of your political leanings’ type films. That is certainly true. Nevertheless, the distribution company seems to know which side of its bread is buttered: the two trailers I saw before the main event were for a study of the anti-war movement amongst members of the military during Vietnam and a tale of how American car and oil manufacturers had actively prevented the development of the electric car. It is, I suppose, possible that the earlier trailers I missed were for films on the evil of homosexuality and the desperate need to capture Mecca so them Ay-rabs will stop being so uppity, but I doubt it. I wonder if this was an especially pinko version of the film for Vancouver, or whether it is like this all over the continent.
Also, Apple got just about the best product-placement of any film I have ever seen. Yes folks, if you want to be the next former next president of the United States, saviour of glaciers, then get yourself a PowerBook.