I have just previewed Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth which won for him an Oscar for Best Documentary. Al Gore, who described himself in the film as "used to be the next President of the United States of America, presents his slide show on global warming - its causes, effects, and progress - and how we can in our own little way reverse the process.
While it is an engaging film, I tended to question the inclusion of his personal reflections which were in black and white. His slide show with all its text and images were enough to drive home the point of how global warming is affecting our planet and to sound the alarm bells that it's time to do something about it. But the personal reflections, for me, smacks of politics. My thoughts were somehow confirmed when the Herald Sun, in its print edition last Friday, ran a story from the Tennessean that Al Gore's annual electric consumption is 20 times the nation's average. Not walking his talk? I believe so.
But the medium (Al Gore) is not the message in this film, let's not forget that. Towards the end of the film, you'd be agreeing with Gore that we are indeed seeing the effects of global warming with extreme weather conditions around the globe and the chilling forecast for the planet that reminded me of the film The Day After Tomorrow. Seeing from the film how rising water levels will affect the big countries like USA and China, I suddenly felt a fear that the Philippines just might get washed off the face of the earth. I pray not.
Give the film a chance if you haven't seen it yet and get a copy for the library. And if you feel, like me, that Gore's personal reflections leave a bad taste in the mouth, just press the forward button on the remote.
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