Movie Blog Post: An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

This movement is in the tradition of every great movement that has advanced human kind – Al Gore

A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture, comes An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, which isn’t so much about climate change as it is about inspiring people to change their approach to climate change. Of course, we are still brought into the doc with an opening sequence taking place where we all associate the word “global warming” – The North Pole, where we see Al Gore flying over ice fields in a helicopter, with glaciers literally popping from rising temperatures.

While the original “Inconvenient” was largely a dramatized re-creation of Gore’s traveling scientific slideshow, the new film is a classic cinéma vérité production, with the filmmakers, Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk shadowing Gore for months – at sites that show the dimensions of the challenges, particularly Miami Beach, which has seen tremendous flooding in the last few years due to rising tides. We see him in Greenland, interviewing science researchers and observing the meltdown of rapidly collapsing glaciers, in training classes speaking to grass roots climate activists. We see him go to Paris, during the global climate conference before the Paris accord, terribly coinciding with the terrorist attack in the city. And we see him travel to a small-town in Texas in the reddest part of this red state, where surprisingly, the conservative mayor is committed to using nearly 100% renewable energy sources – not because he’s an onboard environmentalist, but because he’s found it’s cost effective to his constituents.

If “Inconvenient Truth” felt groundbreaking, the sequel comes on the heels of a wave of documentary films exploring aspects of the topic, from Fisher Stevens & Leonardo DiCaprio’s “BEFORE THE FLOOD” to the recent Netflix project “Chasing Coral,” about disappearing ocean reefs.  But as Gore puts it, “following climate news has become like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation.” so perhaps there can’t be too much emphasis. Particularly, in light of Trump’s villainous decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement. Which definitely gives An Inconvenient Sequel the perfect antagonist and makes the doc very timely.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
by Vice President Al Gore

Believe it or not, I was initially resistant to the idea of filming a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth.

I was gratified by how many people have said that An Inconvenient Truth moved them to action, and I knew that any follow-up had to push the conversation about climate action forward in as productive a way as its predecessor. In the meantime, I continued my work traveling the world, constantly updating and presenting the slideshow on the climate crisis and its solutions and training thousands of activists around the world to communicate the realities of the climate crisis and the available solutions to their families, friends, neighbors, and peers.

Over the course of my post-political career, I’ve had a front seat to see the incredible progress, particularly of the past decade, as the climate action movement built itself from the ground up. It started simply, but has been fundamentally transformed into something almost unrecognizable. Activists are petitioning their governments for sensible climate policies and entire cities and towns are transitioning to clean energy. We’ve set our sights higher and allowed ourselves to pursue possibilities unimaginable just eleven years ago.

That momentum all came to a head in late 2015, when the entire world decided together in Paris that the climate crisis was a fight we have to win together. The Paris Agreement would not have been possible without the force of a movement behind it, and that movement was not the work of dignitaries, nor was it bankrolled by special interests… READ MORE

Bottom Line: The first few scenes of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power had me thinking, the melting of the glaciers has its own beauty, perhaps the earth’s intention is to adapt to new temperatures, that change is inevitable, even when it comes to glaciers. I think there’s some truth to this, but that doesn’t mean the earth will adapt to accommodate its inhabitants. And really, hasn’t it always made sense to use the energy sources of the sun and wind?

I was very impressed with Al Gore’s impassioned speech near the end. I don’t know if he wrote it, but he certainly delivered it with just the right amount of passion, wisdom, integrity and hope. Further making Trump’s climate policies look unenlightened, and out of touch, as all things this Administration does. I just wish Gore could have been this charismatic running for President.

Twitter: @aitruthfilm | Facebook: @AnInconvenientTruth | Instagram @aninconvenienttruth

T & T’s LAMB (movie bloggers association) Score: 4 outta 5

Tinsel & Tine (Reel & Dine): Philly Film, Food & Events Blog