The Inconvenient truth still hurts. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power doesn’t stop [Review]
In the age of fake news, the truth is more inconvenient, but vital, than ever
Former US Vice President Al Gore relays his message one more time.You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t seen or at least heard of the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth. It won Oscars, became mandatory viewing in schools and brought the issue of climate change firmly into the public eye.
Ten years later, its follow up, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power seems to ask the question, has anything really changed?
The answer is: yes and no. This continuation of former US Vice President Al Gore’s struggle against climate change is pretty much a 90-minute tug of war between hope and despair. Footage of flash floods and violent hurricanes feel all too familiar in a month when two devastating hurricanes have hit the US; Gore’s message couldn’t be more relevant – or urgent.
But this film feels much more politically charged than the first. Running parallel to the events in the documentary are some of the biggest global events of the past two years, including the 2015 Paris terror attacks and the 2016 US presidential election. Indeed, looming in the background throughout the documentary is the threat of Donald Trump and his anti-climate change rhetoric.
But as Gore says himself, “despair is paralysing”, and Truth to Power is not a doomsday warning. The overall message is one of hope and empowerment.
If An Inconvenient Truth made people sit up and listen, An Inconvenient Sequel will make them get up and act.
Edited by Ben Young