Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1181 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-01
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, American Sign Language
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It’s not a horror film, but An Inconvenient Truth is certainly one of the scariest DVDs you could own. Presented in a straightforward format by former US Vice President Al Gore--think Royal British Institute lecture delivered with a Tennessee drawl--it sets out its compelling argument about climate change both methodically and entertainingly. Global warming is a real danger, argues Gore, and human civilisation is the root cause of it. A dizzying and shocking array of facts relating to carbon emissions, the population explosion and the disintegration of the polar icecaps all add weight to his thesis. Moreover, we’re already witnessing some of the effects of global warming around the world, with an increasing amount of storms, droughts and other natural disasters, more in the past few years. But Gore doesn’t present these facts merely to terrify the viewer. Instead, they’re meant to shock us out of complacency and into action. Indeed, the film ends with some very simple ways we can all contribute to averting this impending global catastrophe. And that, argues Gore, is the point of An Inconvenient Truth. We have the ability to change our ways, what we lack is what Gore describes as "the political will." It is his hope that this film will begin to change all of that. --Ted Kord

Synopsis
A movie based on a PowerPoint presentation by a former presidential candidate may not sound exciting, but once AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH hits its stride viewers may be surprised how compelling the subject matter proves to be. While many high-ranking political figures continue to argue about global warming, Al Gore has plunged headlong into a serious wake-up call for the planet with a series of lectures about the problem. It's on one of these lectures that this movie from director Davis Guggenheim is based. Guggenheim breaks up Gore's delivery by illustrating his points with film footage, much of which features the former Democratic nominee exploring the globe as he examines the effects of global warming. Gore's speech is neatly divided between calm recitations of the facts about the issue and several stories of a personal nature. His skills as an orator are considerable, and it's hard not to be alarmed by most of what he has to say. Indeed, as Gore relates tales of melting polar icecaps, rising global temperatures, and the reluctance of political leaders to do something about the problem, the film takes on an air of hopelessness and doom, especially as no easy solutions are offered. Gore's advice is for individuals to take steps to reduce their own inadvertent poisoning of the atmosphere, and to persuade others to do likewise. It's a powerful message, and one that is likely to remain in non-cynical minds long after the film comes to a conclusion.

Customer Reviews

Impressive and surprising
Whether you're a fan of Al Gore or not, he isn't really the issue here. He does a great job presenting the various forms of overwhelming evidence for global warming and mankind's link to it, but he doesn't do it in a political or spiteful way. He shows global temperature and atmospheric carbon patterns, and he shows that our last 20 years have been the highest by a longshot over the previous 600,000 years. Frankly, before seeing the film, I'd heard a lot of information about global warming being a myth, but this film dispels that notion with many independent pieces of evidence.

Even more importantly, it goes to show why we should care that global warming is occurring. As you may have seen in the trailer, if global warming continues at its current rate, the earth's coastlines will be flooded displacing tens of millions of people, it will increase the strength and frequency of hurricanes and tornadoes, it will irrevocably kill off many of the worlds glaciers, it will dry up lands interior to the coastline (like our heartland), and it will disrupt/kill species after species from polar bears to birds. These changes could occur in as short a time as ten to fifty years from NOW.

Lastly, he finishes with ways in which we can affect a change. It would be easy to see this film, get depressed about all the state of affairs, and throw up one's hands in despair, but the film offers us ways, big and small, to help reverse global warming's effects right now.

I urge you to see this film, you will not regret it.

It's up to all of us
I have just watched The Inconvenient truth. I'm glad that I read most of the reviews on this site before hand. They highlight that people do care and that people still simply dont. One reviewer recently said he thought Al Gore was trying to get the audience to sympathise with him whilst telling stories about his loved ones, friends etc. When you see this film, he tells you how he grew up on a tobacco farm, it was a large part of his life. And he tells you how a special lady to him was a smoker when he was child.. she eventually died of lung cancer. It seems a little odd that this clip is in the film, I first thought why are we seeng this, but it becomes clear why it is. Gore is trying to highlight that humans created cigarettes, we eventually became aware of their dangers, however we still continued to make them, market them, smoke them and die from them. He's trying to highlight to us that we as a race bury our head in the sand.. and we are doing so with Global warming. We know how we are attributing to this problem and how we can still help fix it. Yet we are still resisting it.
This film is so easy to watch, 'dumbed' down as one reviewer says, he hightlights the use of some Matt Groening animation to make one point, surely that highlights more to us that we are naive and that sometimes we need to use a simple, identifiable and popular form of entertainment to highlight a global issue.. maybe we are the 'dumb' ones if thats a requirement for us to understand.
Global warming and the related effects are very real. This movie points it out quite simply. If you finish wathing this film and dont believe you personally can do anything without the rest of the world doing the same then its that attitude that has got us in this predicment. Turn one extra light off, dont leave your applicances on stand by. Cut down your shower time..walk to the shops.
I look at my 12 year old neice and nephew and wonder what I have done in my life time ( I'm 29 ) that may now affect their future.. but I now see that I can help to still provide them with a future.

Not a film, a call to arms.
This film entertaingly shows the truth about the biggest threat to human civilisation that has ever existed in modern history. If you want to get the low down on what the issues are then buy this movie - and then send it to everyone you know.
It is essential that everybody sees this film. I have never been so shaken by anything in my life. If you are a sceptic then see the film, what have you got to lose? If you think you know it all, see the film. If you think this will not devastate us in your lifetime, see this film. If you love your childen, then see this film.

It is fascinating, terrifying, inspiring, and ultimately optimistic which is the only problem I have with it. We can only solve this is we take to the streets, and all over the world to deman our governments act NOW.