On Thursday night my husband and I went to an early showing of “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”.
My husband had not seen 2006’s “An Inconvenient Truth” prior to the weekend before so we watched it before going to the sequel. It was extra interesting, and extremely sad to watch both documentaries in such a short period of time.
I’ll get it out of the way now and say that Al Gore was robbed. I will continue to live the rest of my days just as I have lived the last sixteen and a half years believing he had the 2000 election stolen from him. He would have been a great President. Putting the current awful administration aside George W. Bush was an unparalleled disaster for this country and the world. I believe things would be better for this country, the world and especially the environment if Al Gore had been able to take his rightful place as the 43rd President of the United States of America.
But back to the movie now…“An Inconvenient Truth” was a wonderful documentary. I think it brought the realities of Climate change and made them much more accessible to the average viewer. However, so much of “An Inconvenient Truth” is taken directly from Al Gore’s slide show on the causes, problems and effects of climate change and to a certain extent it is like watching a college lecture. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. It is an important lecture. But the truth is you can’t have another documentary of him giving an updated version of his slide show. There needs to be something different, something more.
“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” does give us something different and something more. There are still bits and pieces of Al Gore’s slide show. There is enough of the slide show for us to grasp on an intellectual level how much worse climate change has gotten since 2006, but also how much more some people have done to try to battle it. The change with this documentary compared to the first one is that there is much more out in the “real world”. The very real and scary effects of climate change are shown when Gore visits the melting snows of Greenland and when he walks though the flooded streets of Miami.
The political realities of how difficult it is to try to battle climate change are also shown on his visit to India. Not to mention the inspiring Paris Climate conference of 2015.
If Hilary Clinton had won the Electoral College (the parallels between Al Gore and Hillary Clinton are too numerous and painful to list here) then the signing of the Paris Climate accord would have been a beautiful happy ending for the film. But this is real life we are talking about and there really are no happy endings when it comes to something like battling climate change. The fact is there have been great strides in how many people around the world have made the switch to renewable energy since “An Inconvenient Truth” came out eleven years ago but it it’s not enough. And with the current administration the progress we have made in the United States of America is at best in jeopardy.
I also liked the glimpses into Al Gore’s personal life that are scattered throughout the film.
This film is powerful and very important for everybody to see. No matter where you live, what your religion, what your political views or what your economic class is the fact is climate change is happening and it is going to affect us all. I encourage everybody to see this movie and I encourage everybody to get as many people as they can to see this movie.
I also have to note that when Al Gore visited Trump Tower after the election I was very disappointed in him. At the time I felt betrayed and that he was giving legitimacy to somebody who should never be given legitimacy. I do feel different after seeing this movie. I believe Al Gore had to try. Considering he’s given most of his life in the battle against global warming and climate change he had to try. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he hadn’t tried. I get that and I respect that.
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Here is a description:
Justin Gomez and his sister, Terri, have never been close. Separated by nine years and distant in adulthood, Justin and Terri have little in common, except for the love of her three children. In the days before they embark on a road trip to visit the father that once abandoned them and their now deceased mother, both Terri and Justin are dealing with unexpected changes in their lives. Justin surprisingly realizes he might want more than a series of one night stands after a first date goes unexpectedly well. After a lifetime of being a strong type A personality, Terri is forced to confront the reality of the end of her marriage. As they hit the road, with Terri’s children in tow, they find themselves forced to rely on and confide in each other following a devastating event. Confronted with memories from the past and challenges from the present, Terri and Justin must dig deep and unearth the truth about themselves and their parents in order to build a new family based on their love for each other.
