'An Inconvenient Truth'

“I’ve been trying to tell this story for a long time, and I feel as if I’ve failed to get the message across” (Al Gore, 2006)

In 2006, a documentary film called ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was released. The film is about Former United States President Al Gore’s battle to educate people about global warming.

Source: http://www.gobeyondoil.com/media/press-releases/gore-climate-film-goes-national-greens-urge-public-to-act

Gore starts with a joke, saying “I am Al Gore; I used to be the next president of the United States.’ I feel that this is perhaps used as an ice breaker, making the audience feel at ease and more comfortable with their speaker. He then goes on to talk about the issues the world faces in terms of global warming. Throughout the film, Gore uses a presentation that he has presented around the world.

Throughout the film, Gore incorporates his own stories, thoughts and feelings. In doing this, he submits himself to his audience, making himself vulnerable and open to criticism. I think that this brings him on to the same level as the audience, making him seem an equal, rather than someone who is ‘above’ the average citizen in his position as a politician. Gore’s story about an old classmate’s idea that South America and Africa might have fitted together in the past is quite symbolic of the whole issue of climate change that is happening today. His teacher’s dismissal of the fact that Pangaea existed is representative of all the sceptics, and the classmate being the ‘believers’ of global warming.

Another symbolic idea comes from him quoting Sir Winston Churchill from 1936:

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a ‘period of consequences’.” (Sir Winston Churchill, 1936)

Churchill spoke these words to the House of Commons, in the aftermath of the violation of the Treaty of Versailles, when Nazi Germany’s reoccupied the Rhineland. Just as the world then was going through a major time, you can ‘re-use’ the quote to represent what is happening today.

http://nickbaines.wordpress.com/2009/04/

The overall message of the film is pretty clear nearly the whole way through, that global warming is not a problem to be ignored. He keeps the message simple, using technical terms when completely necessary, but other than he uses terms and ideas that people are going to understand. He does also address scepticism amongst other politicians, particularly when he explained why graphs fluctuate or ‘go up and down’ once each year. This he explains that this is to do with the annual season change and that the Carbon dioxide levels change in the different seasons. This depicted as the earth ‘breathing in and out’ was simple and effective in explaining this theory, and I found it particularly interesting, as this is something I have never been told.

“Climate change is really not a political issue, so much as a moral one.” (Al Gore, 2006)

I feel that the film is a very effective way to inform people of the severity of the situation, particularly by using real life examples, such as Hurricane Katrina, and images of retreating glaciers. I think that these images were successful in providing a ‘shock factor’ that this is really happening all over the world. 66% of people who say they have seen ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ said that the film “changed their minds” about global warming, and 89% said it made them more aware of the issue. Amazingly, 74% of viewers said that they changed some of their day to day habits as a result of the film, which is a great result.  (http://nz.nielsen.com/news/GlobalWarming_Jul07.shtml )

“I look around and look for really meaningful signs that we are about to really change...I don’t see it right now...” (Al Gore, 2006)