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If our weird weather hasn't made you wonder if climate change is real, An Inconvenient Truth will settle the question once & for all.

I wasn't initially interested in seeing this film. I felt like I already knew that the climate was going in a scary direction & didn't want to know more depressing facts about it. 20 advertisements later, I decided to see what Al Gore had to say about our climate. Very much to my surprise, the movie was inspiring.

An Inconvenient Truth turns out to be a very well-crafted film. I was especially impressed with the quick & precise editing at the beginning, where the release of information, sounds, words & images instantaneously captured the total attention of the audience.

The filmmakers portrayed Al Gore as our savior, by enlightening the audience to his superior intelligence & underscoring his humanity. Al Gore is also positioned as a role model in helping the audience cope with their fears of the truth, & manage wounds left by Katrina & the South East Asia Tsunami. The film cleverly avoids partisan snipes at GWB, which gives the audience the ability to take the moral high road, as well as (without saying it) hold GWB partially responsible for his contribution to climate change.

The filmmakers took a typical scientific lecture that may very well be monotone in real life & turned it into one of the most important emotional experiences you can have. I found it to be empowering, as well as informative, in that I learned what to do to help solve the problem, rather than simply fearing it. However, I began to question the integrity of the film when it took its first drastic turn to examine Al Gore's personal life, at which point I felt it became too sentimental. I didn't want to see his hometown or his family - I wanted to learn about the climate! But by the end that opinion shifted. Upon learning about the obstacles in his personal life, I respected where he is coming from even more - he comes across as earnest & sincere.

My one major criticism of the film would be the end-credits, which I felt took a sour turn from intelligent discourse to hippie-dippie self-righteousness, as the music sung through the theatre speakers "change." Virtually any alternative ending would have been preferable - silence, rain drops, or an electronic audio-scape. A different, more subtle approach would have given the credits a bigger impact, & although the rest of the audience did not seem to feel undermined to as I did, I was so sad to see such an intelligent & important piece take this nosedive into cheesiness. Before the credits roll, the filmmakers already have a very willing to change audience because of the clear threats illustrated.

For me, the most poignant detail in the film was the fact that polar bears are now swimming aimlessly for miles, & end up drowning because they can't find ice to climb onto. I was crushed. Disgusting, disturbing, sad - it doesn't have to be this way. Please see An Inconvenient Truth & learn about what's happening. It won't burst your bubble. It will inspire you.