Truth

There's been so much written on An Inconvenient Truth that I want to keep it brief, but I did see the picture last night and it's pretty much the best one I've seen this year. Just a few points:

1. Al gives a performance. Think Spaulding Gray with more rehearsals, over 1000 of them, and less ennui. It not like he's Best Actor, but it is the most impressive performance so far this year. Between his lecture captured on film with theatrical flair, and the voice interviews covering key moments in the life of this 40-year quest, it's a terrific portrait of a Great American. Very nice for 4th of July.

2. The subject matter is staggering. And in communicating it to us so fluidly, so effectively, we see a guy with a huge vision, huge humility, and huge commitment. His friends are scientists who drill deep into glaciers to find out what our planet was like 600,000 years ago. George W. Bush's friends are...Ken Lay.

3. As art/entertainment, the movie works on a lot of levels, not just as clarion call-to-action or biography/hagiography, but as political criticism, as somber lessons on life's journey, as humanist manifesto, and as double-sided campaign brochure. It's got drama and a deft touch of mythmaking. Al in silhouette. Al telephoto, humbled by airport security just like the rest of us. It works as a breath of fresh air, so that when you see the images of Gore vs. Bush 2000 the eye is blinded; the miscarriage of history is too much to process, how the actual evil guys get to fiddle while the planet burns.

4. Mainly the film is a real deal historical document. If he manages to spearhead and/or inspire the saving of our planet, what other movie would you watch in 150 years. How Green Was My Valley?

Here's my take on Al and 2008. I think he's testing the waters, but unlike a typical pol he's not doing it with poll numbers, he's doing it with a real issue. After seeing this flick you'll say a real big issue.

I'm betting that if Gore finds he really changes the public's thinking on saving the planet within the next 18 months, he's have the proof that he can effectively make a difference in public policy and go for it. But if he ends up feeling that he can only really be effective on this crucial commitment issue by remaining in the private sector, he'll hold back.

Gore never comes across as powermad, not like Bush or Cheney or Rove. He may not be insane enough to be President. He draws a clear line between the public service and now private life, and it feels like the step back into public life after all this history would be a gravely considered one.

I take him at his word that he has not yet made any plans to run for office. However, he has made it clear he isn't closing off that path, and one imagines that if all portents were good, should it feel right at the time, should there be enough party and public and media clamor for him to enter the race, he'll take the Nestea plunge.

As of this moment, he sure seems like the best man for the job.