Faith Review: An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Documentary This film was first released at the Sundance Film Festival (January 2006) and at Cannes Film Festival in May before being released in the United States (May/June) on a limited basis. Throughout 2006 and 2007, it has been released world-wide. Directed and produced by Davis Guggenheim, it follows the campaign of Al Gore as he presents a message about Global Warming. Al Gore also published a book with this same title which was released in May, 2006. Davis Guggenheim also did the cinematography for this film. The film won an Oscar for Best Documentary (2007) and for the best original song written for a motion picture. The film won twenty awards in the best documentary category and was nominated for five others by various film associations. Guggenheim's film making seems to be focused on documentary work which conveys a message; portrays an issue; interested in current times, not history. His latest film is on the educational system (Waiting for Superman). He also seems to be totally involved in his projects at multiple levels. Here he directed, produced, served as cinematographer and even cameraman. His latest project is also written by him. When not producing/directing films, he has directed episodes for television dramas, including Deadwood (2004). This film was released on DVD (October 2006) in the widescreen format and can currently be obtained through Blockbuster.com, Netflix (by mail) or Amazon.com. The film was rated as PG which indicates that it is suitable for wide audiences, and in fact, the dominant theme of the film is a portrayal of one man's effort to reach absolutely as many people as he can with his message about global warming. He feels that this is a moral imperative for him. Although there are small animated bits spread throughout the film as illustrations, this is not designed for young children, but in order to provide relief from the barrage of facts, figures and graphs which are presented. The film is directed toward those who are aware and are willing to be educated 1
about issues larger than their immediate concerns. In the trailers at the end among the credits there are motivational lines designed to call to action the audience which viewed the film; parents and children. However, the age and educational level of the children would have to be such that they could understand the slides presented. The genre listing of this film as documentary is straightforward; although I would say that it is a documentary that is issue related and biographical in nature. The film is a recording of Al Gore's slide presentation about the issue of Global Warming and that dominates the majority of the film's time. Yet it is also a personal account of Al Gore's life; incidents which have shaped him and how his convictions have developed. The cast of this film is very limited: Al Gore and his issue with some cameo archive footage of others whose political views have impacted this issue. I would say that because part of the message of the film is about how one person's commitment can change perceptions, the biographical information functions on two levels. The first is that like the animations, it breaks up the constant flow of numbers, graphs and charts. The second is that it provides a model, an inspiration for those who have a cause to commit to it and believe that that commitment can bring about change. The basic story which this film illustrates is the campaign which Al Gore has waged and is waging to convince people of the reality of global warming, and to motivate support for the changes which need to happen in order to preserve and protect the earth and its inhabitants. The film begins with Al Gore narrating while the camera pans over a peaceful river scene near his home with the sounds of nature (birds, tree frogs) in the background. He speaks of the feelings which nature brings when enjoyed. Then the scene switches to him meeting with various groups, showing slides to different audiences and traveling to do this with the narration moving to his 2
early discovery of the issue and his sense of failure that the message has still not been accepted. In this opening piece, he uses the phrase for which the film is named: an inconvenient truth and imparts his theory that the reason people have been reluctant to accept it is that its acceptance would lead to an inescapable moral imperative to change. Gore feels that once he has convinced someone of the truth of global warming, it creates a moral imperative to take action. This impetus to action makes acceptance of the reality of mankind's affect on the planet inconvenient as the needed changes in life style are not ones various groups welcome. There are film clips of his political campaign for President. This opening establishes his credentials for authority and his commitment. As the scene switches to actual filming of him doing a slide presentation, the opening piece is about the earth itself. The earth is shown from outer space, a map of the earth from digital satellite photographs is displayed and then spread out in order to illustrate that the continents, as big as they are, have moved. This section focuses on the inter-relatedness of the globe as a lead in to other ways the parts of the earth and the peoples on it affect each other. As you watch the slide presentations, he documents the changes which have already occurred in the atmosphere and correlates it to human population, CO 2 emissions using scientific data and historical records. The scientific argument is presented carefully, one step at a time, with the views of the dissenters addressed with their "facts" exposed or addressed. The peaceful opening pan of the river scene is reprised at the close of the film as Gore again speaks of the moral imperative which he feels comes from acknowledgement of the human role in global warming. Except the final scene has music as well as nature sounds in the background, and a note within the music is a slow chiming reminiscent of marking the passing of 3
time. The message about passing time meshing with Gore's comment that future generations will want to ask why we did not act sooner. This film was dominated by props which served to carry the message from one point to another. The comparison graphs with multi-colored lines; the beautiful pictures of earth from space, and of beautiful pictures of places on earth; film clips of storms and political figures were all used to great effect. The photographs of the same scenes taken in the past juxtaposed with the same scene as it exists now created a dramatic illustration of the points being made. Al Gore even used himself as a prop at one point when he climbed into a mechanical lift; raised it and himself to go up as the graphical data appeared on the large screen beside him. This variety of props was effective in keeping the attention of the audience. Another factor which helped maintain concentration on a message that was portrayed with so much data was the interposition of the events from Al Gore's personal life. These tidbits were a change of pace which kept the factual nature of the presentation from becoming overwhelming, but they also provided insight in to the nature and basis for Al Gore's commitment to the issue, as well as the depth of this commitment. The mini-story about his sister, a smoker, and her death from lung cancer which led his father to quit raising tobacco when all the facts presented by the Surgeon General had not provided the real life enactment of the moral imperative of an inconvenient truth. The pacing of this film was carefully done in order to ensure audience attention. The interspersing of jokes about his political career and his political adversaries provided lighter moments, yet were still connected to the issue he was campaigning for now. The animations showing the melting ice cream cone, and the frog in the beaker, were not only cute but a somewhat humorous presentation of a fundamental point that is serious. 4
A final point about the complete embodiment of the issue within the film occurs during the final credits where you hear the original song, written and performed by Melissa Etheridge, which won the academy award for the first time. As the credits are given, information and motivational sayings about what the audience members can do are displayed in an ever changing power point style, are also presented. The words to the song titled "I need to wake up" also continue the message by speaking of being asleep and ignoring; then needing to wake up and change; to speak out and shake up. At several points during the film, Al Gore refers to the data he is presenting as "an inconvenient truth" which is the phrase from which the film's name was derived. He says this is an inconvenient truth because if it is acknowledged as truth, then it becomes more than inconvenient; it becomes a moral imperative for change to occur. I would see this as a starting point for a theological conversation not only about global warming, but about what makes certain truths inconvenient for us as a society. When an inconvenient truth is recognized as truth, what makes it a moral imperative to take action? What is a moral imperative? What forms of action are we called to take? These are other questions with theological implications for how we live our lives in relation to our Christian beliefs. 5