message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

              
An Inconvenient Truth     Rated PG
Directed by Davis Guggenheim. Featuring Al Gore.  Rated PG. 

Photos © Copyright Paramount Classics
“I’m Albert Gore and I used to be the next President of the United States.”  This self-deprecating witticism begins “An Inconvenient Truth”, a feature-length documentary about the dangers of global warming that is probably the one film from 2006 that Christians ought to be seeing and discussing in small groups.  Before he was a politician, Al Gore was an environmentalist, and he has been traveling with his slide show (now on PowerPoint) for over three decades, trying to encourage better care of Planet Earth.  If there was any doubt about the reality of global warming, the last 14 years (featuring the 10 warmest years in history) and Hurricane Katrina ought to have made believers of us all.  But folks believe what they want to believe and belittle prophets who make them feel uncomfortable.  The film chooses to present Gore as a valiant hero (and doesn’t shy away from a few political jabs at administrations that have failed to protect the environment) but accurately depicts the general resistance to this dire warning.  Gore is a Christian, and he speaks as a man of faith, unwilling to give up hope for a better world for our children.  As scary as “An Inconvenient Truth” can be (and precocious youngsters probably shouldn’t see it, since it is their future that will be most at risk – and this could give them nightmares), it is also inspiring in its ability to invoke a passion for stewardship of the world.  The closing credits include dozens of ways in which average Americans can get involved.  You need to see this film and then get busy.  We have about ten years.

Pitchfork Rating: Five halos.  (A passionate argument for better care of the environment, in the best prophetic style.)  Three pitchforks.  (For the sins of all of us who know what is right and then fail to do it.)

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