DAVIS GUGGENHEIM

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB

USA, 2006.  Lawrence Bender Productions, Participant Media.  Cinematography by Davis Guggenheim, Robert Richman.  Produced by Lawrence Bender, Scott Z. Burns, Laurie Lennard.  Music by Michael Brook.  Costume Design by Marina Ray.  Film Editing by Jay Cassidy, Dan Swietlik.  

Sobering look at the realities of global warming that avoids flashy film techniques and instead puts across a linear, factual narrative that appeals directly to your intelligence. In an age when the American president can’t string together a proper sentence and the media is making celebrities out of people whose work in the highbrow medium of reality TV is not worth celebrating, appealing to intelligence might seem a bit of a far-fetched idea, but this one will make its way through to even the most resistant viewer.

Al Gore‘s skills as charismatic speaker and science brainiac are put to excellent use as Davis Guggenheim films Gore’s worldwide lecture about the environment and the serious turn it has taken in the years since carbon dioxide emissions have reached their height and human ignorance and greed have exacerbated the problem to no end.  Avoiding overt political appeal, Gore lays the facts out for the audience and points out that the issue is of moral necessity, not partisan loyalty, and that steps need to be taken immediately if there is to be a habitable planet left for future generations of human beings to exist on.

What’s most satisfying about this film, which also occasionally veers off into personal information about Gore and the path his life has taken up until this point, is that he is not just a doomsayer: he offers genuinely possible solutions to the crisis that anyone can use in their everyday lives without upsetting their schedule or upending their economic stability.

Academy Awards:  Best Original Song (“I Need To Wake Up”); Best Documentary Feature