Wednesday, October 04, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

Davis Guggenheim, 2006
100 min, color documentary
Ages 8 and up

"If this is happening, why don't they do something about it?" was my daughter's response after watching An Inconvenient Truth at the Hyde Park Drive-In, a special screening organized by the environmentalist organization, Scenic Hudson. I had worried that the movie would upset her, but I think she related to it as more of a science lesson, and Al does leave things on a rather bright note, stressing the potential for change and the generous ability of the earth to bounce back after extreme injury. My son (9), saw it with me when it opened, and now has seen it twice, and I think it's a good one for the right young viewers. They get a lot of earth science, particularly graph-reading experience, and Al's story of how he became a global warming activist, interspersed with his lecture on the state of the planet, is moving and inspiring. No time like the present to get kids thinking about the defining issue of their generation.

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