Inconvenient Truth Narrated by Former

Inconvenient Truth

Narrated by former Vice President Al Gore, David Guggenheim's 2006 documentary an Inconvenient Truth is immediately compelling because of its celebrity profile. Gore, who has been a long-time environmental activist, also became a sudden star during the 2000 Presidential election that dragged on for months and resulted in a Supreme Court-halted vote count. Many viewers bought tickets to the film primarily to see what Al Gore had to say on his hallmark political topic. Moreover, Gore has been ridiculed in the past for his dull, dry delivery. The fact that an Inconvenient Truth is partly in lecture format plays into Gore's professorial caricature. Beyond its narrator, an Inconvenient Truth is effective now after being honored with an Academy Award for the best documentary film of 2006.

An Inconvenient Truth is also striking for its content. Global warming is a potentially severe problem that could result in widespread starvation, displacement, and disease. Gore alarms audiences with the imminence of global warming and the devastating effects it may have on our personal lives. Comparing rising sea levels to Hurricane Katrina increases the impact of Gore's central message. The film's shock value is one of its strongest rhetorical features. Not only did Gore use the Katrina analogy -- which evokes political and ethical issues beyond global warming -- the narrator also refers to the effects global warming might have on Northern Europe and other regions of the globe. Gore turns what might have been dry scientific data into emotionally-charged arguments. His presentation about melting ice sheets, ocean water salinity, and the Gulf Stream, becomes meaningful personal information. What happened in New Orleans could happen in anyone's back yard.

The film is also effective because of the credibility of its narrator and the information he presents. Gore, who clarifies the research he has done in the past on the topic, is a credible speaker even if he seems politically galvanizing to some viewers. The evidence Gore presents comes from verifiable and reliable scientific sources. Furthermore, Gore and Guggenheim capitalize on the slide-show format, which makes the material seem somehow more believable than it would in a more sensationalistic format. A slide-show evokes images of university physics classrooms or keynote lectures given by visiting climate change experts. Even though Gore is not himself a scientist, he does come across as professorial and knowledgeable.

Gore underscores the need for both political and personal action. Global warming can be curbed through effective public policy, such as by government restrictions on factory emissions or increased funding for research and development of alternative energy sources. Gore does not try to distance global warming from politics and instead acknowledges the role of politicians in curbing global warming. Global warming is a political issue because only through policy changes can large-scale efforts be effective. Governments need also to form international or regional coalitions because global warming is an issue that inherently transcends national boundaries. Global warming affects all regions of the earth, even areas that produce very little or no fossil fuels like Antarctica.