Perfect Ten

Al Gore has made cunning use of the documentary format in An Inconvenient Truth, where he is at the centre of the political message about the challenges of global warming and climate change

Hardnews Bureau Delhi

Al Gore did not lose the 2000 US presidential election, and George W Bush did not win. It was not the proudest moment in the history of the oldest democracy of the world. Al Gore could have easily faded away into gentle oblivion. But he resisted that and, without the publicity flair of Bill Clinton, reinvented himself earnestly. In what may have seemed a pathetic act to cynics, he went on to teach journalism students. But his mind was working on other things. 

Gore was an inconspicuous vice-president in the eight years of the Clinton administration. Unlike in the case of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, there was no Machiavellian pact about succession. Al Gore is no brooding, intellectual and haughty Brown. He is earnest, sunny and an optimist. That was the difference between the No 2 at Downing Street and the No 2 at the White House.

It's hard to imagine, for instance, Brown making a documentary on global warming and climate change. If he did, he would probably say some intelligent things about the issue, but towards a political end. Al Gore is serious and cares about issues unrelated to his own political career. So, it is not surprising, that he chose a remote and non-emotive issue like global warming.

Gore did not pick the subject because it was gaining in political importance and moving up the public agenda in Western countries. Remember, he was present at the Kyoto climate summit in 1997. The US did not sign the pact but Al Gore absorbed the implications of the issues at stake through that summit. And he mulled over them over the years. The media overlooked his involvement with science and climate issues when he was vice-president, because these were relatively non-political subjects at the time. But he worked on them quietly, right through his senatorial stint.

When Gore set out to make the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, he was ready for the subject and its presentation.

The film is not as exciting as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which also won an Oscar like Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. But that is because Moore is everything that Al Gore would never want to be. Gore is not bilious, does not have the swagger of a street fighter, and is not willing to exaggerate to prove his point. It is this very sobriety, the preferred mode of Al Gore, which makes him so much more credible. Moore is not easily believable, even when he speaks nothing but the truth, because he is perceived as a man willing to bend facts to score a point. Al Gore, on the other hand, is more likely to get a fair hearing; people are willing to accept his points even when they differ with him over the details.

Credibility is a huge issue for any documentary filmmaker. And Al Gore stands on firm ground on this matter.

An Inconvenient Truth is interesting because it does not have Gore posing as a Good Samaritan who wants to do the right thing. He does not hide behind the mask of a passionate environmentalist. As a matter of fact, he stands at the very centre of the film as a narrator, politician, former vice-president, and senator.  And the documentary, very easily, turns into a political campaign film—no apologies offered.

Gore narrates the facts in the case of global warming and climate change and points to the clear signs of disaster looming round the corner. These could well have been presented by an ardent Greenpeace activist. What differentiates Gore's effort is that he makes then part of a political discourse. There he is, standing in the middle of the frame, talking to a studio audience, pointing out the burning issues. He keeps an easy, affable tone, and humour is interwoven into the short speeches that punctuate the documentary. He takes a critical look at political institutions and processes. He shows how politicians and scientists were not willing to speak about global warming and climate change or accept the evidence as it was emerging. But he does not show the politicians as insensitive and ignorant dolts. The scientists get a rap as well for not presenting the case on many occasions.

Al Gore is the hero of An Inconvenient Truth but the viewers do not realise it. They are charmed by the studied casualness of Gore's presence and commentary. And, imperceptibly, the voiceover narrates how he travelled around the globe and saw things himself, how he worked on the issue during his days as the American senator. It is almost a throwback to the documentaries that were made after John F Kennedy's assassination, with Gregory Peck providing the voiceover to images of Kennedy travelling, meeting people and making speeches. A similar montage is unveiled about Gore—the man lost in deep thought as he looks at the ecologically damaged earth from his window, even as a plane flies by. 

Then he gives that personal touch, without sounding vain or self-centred. He shows how his father gave up tobacco farming after his sister died of cancer because of smoking. He provides an affectionate glimpse of his sister but without melodrama or overt sentimentality. Everything is shown in the right proportion—it is personal, not pompous or mushy. He does not hide the fact that he comes from a privileged background. But he shows that this does not prevent him from identifying with issues affecting common people. He is a patrician as well as a democrat  — a man from the South with all its connotations of privilege.

Senator Hillary Clinton would have loved to have something like An Inconvenient Truth prepared to boost her own presidential campaign. There is substance, style and sincerity in its presentation. It is a powerful piece of political propaganda in the genuine sense of the terms 'political' and 'propaganda'.

There is a lesson here for other politicians across the world—it pays to be engaged in real issues that affect people. And documentary is an effective mode to reach out to people. Al Gore has shown that a documentary is an audio-visual form of the classical political pamphlet of the 21st century. The warnings are also clear. The film will not communicate the message if it is used as a medium for self-glorification. Self-restraint is needed to make the film credible and successful.

If communication is at the heart of politics, then Al Gore has scored a 'perfect ten' with this documentary. There is no doubt that this is a film that could have been made only in America and only by an American politician. If Al Gore plans to enter the 2008 American presidential race, An Inconvenient Truth is an excellent overture to the campaign.