An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Climate Control

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

If you see only one movie this year, make it An Inconvenient Truth. It may not be the year's best movie, or its most entertaining, but it's certainly the most terrifyingly crucial.

Director Davis Guggenheim does a remarkable job of filming Al Gore's "climate crisis" slide show, somehow making it visually dramatic and compulsively gripping. Gore has moved way beyond the "wooden" presidential candidate who nearly won the 2000 election, and now appears as dynamic, commanding, intelligent and even funny.

The film clearly and effectively explains the cause and horrifying effects of global warming, and even takes time out to refute the right wing naysayers, challenging and debunking their best "arguments" against global warming.

If the movie has a flaw, it's the gloomy interludes in which Gore talks about his personal road toward this fight. But several humorous bits, such as an animated segment by Matt Groening and his "Simpsons" crew, counterbalance these moments. Melissa Etheridge even contributes a song to the closing credits.

According to this film, we have ten years in which to turn around the inevitable, and viewers moved to action can start by logging onto www.climatecrisis.net.