REVIEW
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 An Inconvenient Truth
2006
Certificate: U | Runtime: 100 | Director: Davis Guggenheim
Starring: Al Gore, -, -
 
Former Vice President Al Gore presents a lecture on global warming and climate change. He draws attention to their causes, and addresses how they should be combated.
I actually saw An Inconvenient Truth back in September when it was originally released, but time constraints prevented me from reviewing it straight away. It also struck me as a particularly difficult film to review, which is strange because documentaries are usually pretty easy. I've since had an opportunity to see it again, and this second viewing largely confirmed my preliminary thoughts.
For the record, I think that climate change is an issue that warrants proper debate and discussion. However, documentaries should be judged on how engaging and well-made they are, and not on the merits of the particular issue they are concerned with. Therefore, while there is no doubt that An Inconvenient Truth provides a useful summation of the global warming and climate change arguments, it also undermines itself by straying off-message and not always making the best of the material at hand.
Al Gore has a bit of a reputation for being dull, but his personality and enthusiasm shine through in An Inconvenient Truth. He's a good speaker, but he also comes across as affable, charming and funny. He presents his material in a clear and simple fashion, but in many ways this is both a blessing and a curse. While it's certainly a positive that An Inconvenient Truth is an accessible film, its casual presentation could be said to lack authority. Gore isn't a scientist, and there is a distinct lack of scientific professionals in the film, which robs it of some of its authority. A good documentary should engage everyone, irrespective of whether or not they agree with the maker, and I don't think An Inconvenient Truth always manages to do this.
Occasionally, An Inconvenient Truth seems rather too much like a personal advertisement for Al Gore. While he insists the film isn't supposed to be political, he is keen to highlight his own environmental voting record at the same time as cracking anti-Bush jokes. It is also the case that too much of the film dwells on his personal history, with very little of it relevant to the issue of climate change.
In general though, the way in which Gore presents his facts and figures works. He relies on charts, graphs and visual displays that are easy to understand and illustrate his points well. There is the occasional bit of presentational carelessness, such as the Dodo slipping into a montage of animals implied to have been rendered extinct by global warming. I'm also positive that at one point Gore shows us the CGI title sequence from The Day After Tomorrow, rather than actual footage of a glacier. But by and large you never get the impression that Gore has to twist or manipulate his facts and figures to prove his point.
Overall, An Inconvenient Truth remains a solid documentary. It makes clear, concise and understandable points, and when it's properly focused on the issues of climate change and global warming it makes for pretty compelling viewing. However, it is undoubtedly political when it professes not to be, and I don't think it possesses quite enough of the required scientific evidence to advance Gore's case beyond the converted.© David Mercier
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