Former Vice President Al Gore keeps soldiering on in his fight to stem the tide of global warming in the aptly titled film, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power. The film is, of course, a follow up to the similarly titled Oscar winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, from eleven (!) years ago and basically serves as an addendum to that earlier effort. Considering the alarming changes that have transpired since the release of the original picture I’d say that Gore and his filmmaking comrades are justified in their filmmaking endeavors. Unfortunately, the prospects of convincing the still unconvinced are most likely very slim. They may be preaching to the choir, so to speak, but I, for one, applaud their attempt at getting an alarming and important message out there in the midst of fierce competition at the multiplexes.
As for the changes that have taken place in the last eleven years, many are illuminated by the vast amount of footage shot on actual locations where the results of climate change are being most profoundly felt. This film isn’t just a video presentation of Mr. Gore’s current series of lectures, although there is an element of that running throughout. The former Vice President and his crew travel to locations near and far, illustrating firsthand the alarming consequences of the depletion of our ozone layer.
Early in the film the crew travel to Greenland where Mr. Gore stands atop a large chunk of ice that, until recently, was in one large piece but now resembles a piece of Swiss cheese due to the melting of the ice caps. As the water runs through the middle of the ice the evaporation can be seen firsthand and it’s a scary sight to behold.
Later on in the film, while Mr. Gore is giving one of his slideshows in Miami, the film captures footage of Miami basically underwater. What’s disturbing about this is that the excess amounts of water and fish swimming in the streets isn’t a remnant of a storm but rather just the routine rising of the tide that occurs on a daily basis. Such is the nature of things these days and, according to the film, if drastic steps aren’t taken it’s only likely to get worse.
The film culminates with a section involving Mr. Gore’s attempts to stop a coal fired plant from being constructed in India and, instead, having them rethink their strategy. The former Vice President spends a good chunk of time attempting to convince them of the need to use renewable energy sources. I’ll leave it to you to discover if he succeeds in his endeavors but I suppose you might guess the outcome. It’s at moments like this that film manages to be hopeful in spite of such dire circumstances. It’s a message we could use more of these days.
This documentary is playing in Charlotte at press time.
Photo: Al Gore in Iceland
Questions or comments? Write Adam at [email protected].
