Video Review
As you may know Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” was shown in the Glenbrook Gymnasium as a Soundings event. I had the opportunity to watch the film and I am glade I did.If Al Gore were making a presentation for an effective speaking class than this would be the ultimate presentation. “An Inconvenient Truth” is basically a 100-minute PowerPoint speech on global warming. The catch is that it’s not your average “he’s reading from the screen, I think I’m going to fall asleep” presentation. It’s an in depth look and an easy to understand explanation of what global warming is, what it’s doing to the earth and how we can try to stop it.
When Al Gore first starts the presentation he explains what global warming is. At first he explains it going straight to the point, but then he gives us the friendly cartoon version. This version pokes fun at global warming and according to him he prefers this version more. There is also a cartoon involving a frog, which while being humorous it strengthened his point.
Having these pleasant disruptions changes the pace of the movie so it doesn’t seem to drag on.
There are other occurrences like this where he would show other footage besides the PowerPoint presentation. It mainly consisted of him making the PowerPoint presentation, gathering information and trying to get global warming onto the government’s agenda.
He also showed his personal life, which I don’t think was all that necessary. The scenes about his son or his friend from his childhood did not seem essential to prove his point on global warming. It still would have been a good film without it.
Showing his involvement in the past strengthens his stand that this is actually an old problem and he’s been trying to put it out in the open for a long time. This is why he started doing the PowerPoint presentations around the globe.
With having these “pleasant disruptions” you are not listening to a monotone speaker or starting to zone out because you are becoming increasingly bored. They add some variety and change the pace of the presentation.
The turn out for the film was pretty good and included some faculty members. Most of the place seemed pretty filled so I’m guessing more than just Sounding students came to the showing. The audience seemed positive about the film; they didn’t boo at the end, which is always a good thing.
If you didn’t get to go to the Soundings event then I defiantly recommend you rent or buy “An Inconvenient Truth”, either to be enlighten that there are people fighting against global warming or to learn more about global warming. For whatever reason you choose to watch the movie, just know that it’s a great PowerPoint presentation.