An Inconvenient Truth

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Al Gore's sincerity is probably the most compelling reason to be won over by "An Inconvenient Truth"'s persuasiveness and it's persuasive enough to be required viewing in every high school science class in America. Gore's one-man lecture with slides is fleshed out by the personal reasons he was drawn to the topic (and was probably instrumental in achieving feature length) but only occasionally does it come off--and in a subtle way--as self-serving; he takes only a couple of potshots at the Bush administration and his call to political arms stops far short of his announcing a return to the Life. But it's hard not to be aware of his refusal to call any player out, whether it be the corporations in large part responsible for polluting the atmosphere, or a country other than the U.S. (going, it seems, out of his way to praise China--China!--for such initiatives as mileage limits); these oversights provide fodder for conservatives who might accuse this film of being nothing more than grandstanding and the groundwork for a political resurgence. Perhaps his desire to have it both ways--a warrior and political sophisticate--is what attracted the Nobel committee to him in the first place.

By the way, I don't think I've ever seen a movie where the closing credits made me cry. Until now.