Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 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

Disappointing
I was disappointed with this film after reading positive reviews it got from critics.
It isn't a terrible film, it's very slickly presented, and brings together a lot of evidence for the case that humans are jeopardising the future of the planet, but there are a number of problems.

Firstly, as other reviewers point out, it merely reminds you of things you have already heard instead of really making you think. Worse for me, was the fact that it looked like a political move by Gore, positioning himself as the guy who cares. There are many irrelevant excerpts of montages from Gore's childhood and some of the key political events that marked his career personally, such as losing the 2000 election. Ostensibly they are relevant to the unfolding story, but really they look more like an attempt to put Gore, and not the issue, centrestage. Another criticism arises from the fact that we see Gore travelling in the back of his chauffeur driven car in many of the excerpts which are interleaved with the slideshow, and hear him tell us of all the cities he's travelled to to give this slideshow, a lot of carbon miles...

Gore comes across in the slideshow more as charismatic entertainer than a committed advocate. I was reminded a little of Michael Moore on a couple of occasions, for example when Gore puts forward the (albeit very valid) case for environmental standards for cars. He tells us that America lags far behind other advanced nations, and even behind China in this regard. He then goes on to try and make the point that economically, this is not in the American car manufacturers interests, saying that because they don't meet other nations environmental standards they have lost out in terms of sales. He presents a bar chart showing the profitability of four car manufacturers, two American and two Asian, and the Asians are displayed as increasing their market capitalisation, whereas the Americans are shown as decreasing their market capitalisation over time. Which just made me think, where are the other manufacturers from both regions, why have you left them out? If you really want to persuade people of something so that they are really convinced of it, presenting incomplete evidence such as that, to my mind, just serves to raise doubt in the minds of viewers as to the integrity of the presenter.

Anyway, I'm giving this three stars instead of two, as I imagine the film will do more good than harm, having a high profile figure such as Gore visibly promoting the issue of climate change.

Convenient Lies
Why waste your money buying a film that is full of lies that you can see for free anyway?
The foundation of Gore's argument is that human made CO2 causes 'global warming'. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The pure science (that every climatologist knows very well) is that water vapour forms at least 80% (closer to 90%) of the atmosphere and that CO2 is one of the gases that make up the remainder. Humans are maybe responsible for less that half the total (more like 25%) of the atmospheric CO2, which means that humans are possibly responsible for about 5% of any climate changes.
What that means is that natural cycles, the Sun, sub-oceanic volcanoes, cosmic rays (which increase cloud), and other influences, are responsible for the current climate changes, NOT humans, and whether or not humans stop CO2 production completely will have no real effect on climate changes whatsoever.
What is certain is that without the water vapour protecting the Earth the temperatures would be far more extreme.
What is also certain is that volcanic activity is warming the oceans, with millions of undersea volcanoes now being acknowledged, including those in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the volcanic activity is directly linked to the cycles of our Sun (now very active).
So why the lies? When one knows that Gore benefits so much from 'carbon trading' because it's his business, then part of the story is clear. He is guilty of lying to make a fortune and for political gain. As a major polluter with various houses, planes and high energy use he is not 'walking his talk' at all.
But more serious is the effect on the children of the planet who are being told that Gore's film is true while not being presented the vast amounts of evidence that shows how wrong the politically lead 'global warming' scam really is. All the guilt and shame that is falsely being programmed into the youth and causing terrible fatalism and despondency.
Now we hear that ABC News reports one of the most famous shots in the movie - of Antarctic ice shelves - "is a fake". The film's visual effects supervisor Karen Goulekas, says the film took the shot from the fictional movie "The Day After Tomorrow," which created it from Styrofoam and scanned it into a computer! Why use fake shots? Because it is fiction!
What is clear is that with a rapidly developing food crisis because of the use of grains for ethanol, with climate changes continuing and plenty of evidence of major tectonic changes (serious increases in volcanic and earthquake activity globally), with billions being made from 'carbon trading' (a lie in itself!) by Al Gore and his colleagues, with new taxes and centralisation, huge new nuclear power programmes (far more harmful than CO2) in many countries, the lying and political agendas behind the 'global warming' claims are becoming more apparent each week.
Sadly many people will continue to believe the lies of this film and the computer-modelled theories that are the basis for it. If you are reading this you have an opportunity to not be fooled any more!

most manipulative piece of propaganda in recent times.
This is one of the most manipulative pieces of propaganda ever. To prove his point (that the Earth is being quickly transformed into a furnace) Al Gore enlists the help of the following: polar bears, frogs, icebergs, glaciers, cartoonists, tobacco advertisements, hurricanes, more hurricanes, additional hurricanes and a fork lift. The fork lift is used to demonstrate the infamous Mann's "hockey stick" graph - now removed from the last IPCC report. Not even the enormous fork lift used by Al Gore would be sufficient to highlight two really accurate hockey stick graphs: one showing the amount of fossil fuels burnt through peddling his lecture around the world and the other the amount of dollars made through this activity. When you finished watching this "Academy Award Winner" you must come to one conclusion: all evil and tragedies are the consequences of AGW.
The word "truth" demonstrates Al Gore time and time again: the best example is his Greenland slide showing about 10% loss of ice cover. In this case instead of say a satellite photograph we have a very amateurish drawing. I wonder why.
What is most disturbing that Gore does not even hesitate to use the illness of his son and death of his sister in the context of his sermon. I urge to you spend £5 and buy this DVD. Watch it now and watch it in 10 years time. I promise that you will be able to watch it (unsubmerged) in Miami Beach.