An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth is a American concert/documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore’s own estimate, he has presented over a thousand times to audiences worldwide.
The idea to document Gore’s efforts came from producer Laurie David, who saw his presentation at a town hall meeting on global warming, which coincided with the opening of The Day After Tomorrow. Laurie David was so inspired by his slide show that she, with producer Lawrence Bender, met with Guggenheim to adapt the presentation into a film. Premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opening in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24, 2006, the documentary was a critical and commercial success, winning two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song. The film grossed $24 million in the U.S. and $26 million at the international box office, becoming the eleventh highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States.
An Inconvenient Truth presents in film form an illustrated talk on climate by Al Gore, aimed at alerting the public to an increasing “planetary emergency” due to global warming, and shows re-enacted incidents from his life story which influenced his concerns about environmental issues. He began making these presentations in 1989 with flip chart illustrations; the film version uses a Keynote presentation, which Gore refers to as “the slide show”.
The former vice president opens the film by greeting an audience with his well-known line about his campaign in 2000: “I am Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States.” He is shown using his laptop to edit his presentation, and pondering the difficulty he has had in awakening public concern: “I’ve been trying to tell this story for a long time and I feel as if I’ve failed to get the message across.”
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Writer: Al Gore
Stars: Al Gore, Billy West, George Bush, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan
Cast:
| Al Gore | … | Self |
| Billy West | … | (voice) |
| George Bush | … | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| George W. Bush | … | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| Ronald Reagan | … | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia