I just started reading Michael Crichton's novel "State of Fear", a complex tale about global warming. Although clearly a fictional tale, the novel does have evidential facts about climate change. Plus my sister had to write a whole supplement about the effects of climate change in the tourism industry. So I thought it would do me some good to watch this documentary presented by Al Gore. The film traces the former U.S. Vice President as he delivers his lecture on climate change to different colleges. His powerpoint presentation does present visual and graphic footage about the effects of this phenomenon. We are shown graphs, slides as well as real clips of natural disasters hitting different parts of the world like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami which swept through parts of Asia. He does give a rather vivid and bleak picture about the future of our planet. It is a big problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Both by the industrialized countries, the huge corporations as well as every human being on earth.
So while Al Gore was effective in broadcasting this dire situation by presenting this documentary, it also served as some pat on the back tribute to himself. The documentary was interjected with clips/footage of his personal life. From black and white home movies of his childhood days in Texas to this campaign sorties when he ran for President and dismally lost to the current U.S President. It suddenly became the main focus of the film. This blatant self promotion to almost heroic proportions is what ruined the docufilm for me. He should have just stuck to the topic at hand - the ill effects of climate change to the environment! Perhaps (I am second guessing here) he wanted to highlight the campaign by making it more personal and less technical. Yet I got the distinct feeling he wanted us to applaud him for being brave enough to talk about a boring scientific topic. It was totally a shameless plug about his attributes. A pity because the scientific facts alone would have worked to convey his point across this widely distributed docufilm. Besides there I was watching this docufilm on a hot March afternoon. I was sitting in my room with beads of sweat running down my forehead and my back - that is all the proof I need that indeed global warming does exists!
So while Al Gore was effective in broadcasting this dire situation by presenting this documentary, it also served as some pat on the back tribute to himself. The documentary was interjected with clips/footage of his personal life. From black and white home movies of his childhood days in Texas to this campaign sorties when he ran for President and dismally lost to the current U.S President. It suddenly became the main focus of the film. This blatant self promotion to almost heroic proportions is what ruined the docufilm for me. He should have just stuck to the topic at hand - the ill effects of climate change to the environment! Perhaps (I am second guessing here) he wanted to highlight the campaign by making it more personal and less technical. Yet I got the distinct feeling he wanted us to applaud him for being brave enough to talk about a boring scientific topic. It was totally a shameless plug about his attributes. A pity because the scientific facts alone would have worked to convey his point across this widely distributed docufilm. Besides there I was watching this docufilm on a hot March afternoon. I was sitting in my room with beads of sweat running down my forehead and my back - that is all the proof I need that indeed global warming does exists!
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