I think the documentary may be a dying art form. Instead of truth in cinema, we are watching the ego in cinema. First Michael Moore, then Morgan Spurlock, and now Al Gore present their ideas to the audience personally, instead of letting the story tell itself.
Now , I happen to agree with them, but that doesn't excuse sloppy filmmaking. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH is very sloppy. It's basically an overly long PowerPoint presentation about global warming. However, it is continually interrupted with Al Gore's personal story. The death of a son, the death of a sister, the death of his political life with the 2000 election; who cares? How does this support his film?
If anything, his presence reminds us that he is the wrong person to make this film. He claims that it is a non-partisan issue, which is true, but his very presence makes it partisan. Why not interview John McCain, or Nancy Reagan, or Charleton Heston for that matter... and see why so many people are pretending that global warming is not an issue, when it so clearly is?
The film also talks down to the audience quite a bit. It pretends that a zero-emission lifestyle is possible. It's not. Unless we replace the internal combustion engine completely, our lives are filled with elements brought to us by emissions.
Worst of all, he's preaching to the choir. Anyone who went to see this film is already on his side, and anyone whose mind he might have changed will be put off by his presence.
ROBOT CHICKEN was good tonight.
In sports, the Mets won, and the Bills lost a close game to the Lions.
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