I think this comes under films, it could also go in Perspectives/World News but as it's about a specifically film, then here seems fine.

 

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Message from Darius 13th Sept 2006

 

Hey, how are you all?

 

I had a wonderful writing trip in Europe and spent time with my family in Scotland before returning to Los Angeles to set up a new home studio. I’ve had so many different song ideas recently, and didn’t have my own studio in the States, so for the last three weeks I’ve been doing that while listening to John Mayer’s new album Continuum on repeat (”Waiting for the World to Change” rocks!) and now it’s complete… I can’t believe the summer is over, and with the wonderful weather most of us enjoyed, we only have sunny memories to keep us warm as winter approaches.

 

The reason we had such hot weather was something I didn’t really think about until I watched a film recently that changed the way I look at the world. It was pressing in my thoughts from the moment I left the movie theatre, and I felt compelled to find out more. Since reading 5 books on the subject by the world’s leading scientific minds and searching the internet for more information, I now feel compelled to tell you about it. I’m sorry I haven’t posted sooner- I wanted to really do my research before posting this and getting on my soap box…

 

Bear with me though, it’s a little long- so only read it when you have the time to absorb it..!

 

This summer I watched the most eagerly anticipated movie of the year. If you thought The Da Vinci Code was a must-see movie before watching it, and were in any way disappointed afterwards, believe me, the opposite will be true of this film.

 

“An Inconvenient Truth” is quite simply one of the most thought-provoking movies I have ever seen. Forget big budget movie-making and conspiracy theories. This is a humble film about simple truth. It’s a passionate and inspirational documentary about global warming featuring environmentalist and previous Presidential candidate Al Gore, and has opened to rave reviews in New York and Los Angeles and standing ovations at the Sundance Film Festival.

 

You might wonder, like I did, why you haven’t heard more about it and why it’s having such a limited release?

 

This is not a film Western government and big business wants us to see. It is a film the Bush administration tried to block, an administration who’s last election campaigns were backed predominantly by the big oil companies. For years they have managed to cast doubt into the world’s mind as to how important global warming is, or if it even exists. They weren’t too keen on the truth about global warming coming out to the public in such a shocking and accessible way. And something tells us that Bush was none too happy to hear this truth coming from Al Gore’s mouth, the man who he “lost” the 2000 Presidency Election to.***

 

As an artist, and as a compassionate human being, I believe that this is one of the most important films you will ever see. Not this year. Ever.

 

This isn’t a film about the politics, or even the politics of global warming. It’s about the morality of an issue so big, it will affect every human being on the planet. For years, the world’s leading scientists have been screaming at our governments and big businesses that we are entering an era of potential disaster for mankind. Not until the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, record flooding in the east, and record melting of polar icecaps (and the irrefutable scientific conclusion that all of these were caused by higher than normal global temperatures), have our governments cared to listen.

 

We caused this.

 

The reckless burning of fossil fuels, without regard or care of consequences, has produced so much carbon dioxide that we have more than doubled normal global levels in the last 50 years. These levels were consistent and harmless since the last ice age- until man’s industrial revolution. Think about it like this: it took from the first day man walked the earth to the early 1940s for the world population to reach 2 billion. Since then the total has risen to 6.5 billion. In thirty years it will have reached 9 billion. Today, nearly every one of these 6.5 billion people aspire to an increasingly greedy and westernised lifestyle which requires an increasing amount of energy to provide. As we continue to march to the beat of globalisation and pump unregulated levels of CO2 and pollution into the earth’s fragile atmosphere, global temperatures are rising to unprecedented levels. The official line from a US-Government study was that this was a natural part of “global temperature cycles.” They have been proved wrong by the scientific consensus: humans are the direct cause of global warming. If you look at the 10 hottest years globally in the last 10,000 years, I’m sure you’ll be as shocked as I was to find out: they all happened in the last 14 years. We have reached a point in history where man’s actions have had an undeniable and dangerous effect on the Earth.

 

“We are entering a time of consequences” tells Gore. Recently we have been given the warning signs. Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. Within the scientific community there is little debate: we have little time to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet’s climate system into a downward-spiral of destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced- a catastrophe of our own making. If we continue with “business as usual”, temperatures will continue to rise, and the polar icecaps will continue to melt at an unprecedented rate. Within 40 years, every major coastal city from New York to London faces rising sea levels which will claim any land 20 feet above the current sea level. The area where the twin towers once stood will be totally submerged by water. Without prevention, in 80 years, sea levels will have risen 40 feet globally. Countries like England, the Netherlands, China (Shanghai), India (Calcutta), and the US (Florida) would be hit hard. Without gigantic levees, 100 million people living in these areas would lose their homes, and perhaps their lives. This is no longer speculation. This is scientific fact.

 

So… what can we do about it?

 

Start by logging on to www.climatecrisis.net to watch the film trailer and read up on the science behind it. We can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue, but rather as one of the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization. It is our moral responsibility to take action. We can avert a global warming catastrophe with solutions that exist today, but we must open our ears to the scientists who have for so long been ignored, because it wasn’t “convenient” for us.

 

Most importantly, there’s a step-by-step guide to what we can do to help prevent global warming on www.climatecrisis.net

 

I know this sounds clichéd, but please forward this message to as many people as you can. “An Inconvenient Truth” comes out on 15th September 2006 in the UK- go and see it with your family and friends, and spread the word to others.

 

And if you still think the Da Vinci Code was a must-see movie, think again. Watch both and see for yourself. Just be prepared to find that the truth is by no means convenient…

 

Love and Peace,

 

Darius

 

*** (In 2000, democrat Al Gore was announced on US network television as the new President, winning by one state, Florida. That is, until the republican Governor of Florida precipitated a recount, along with the disqualification of 1.9 million previously eligible votes. The convenient thing was this: the majority of those votes were black non-republican votes. Oh, and the Governor of Florida happens to be George Bush’s brother… So no surprise when Bush was subsequently

announced the “winner” by 25 votes in what was the closest US election in history. It has also been widely acknowledged as the most questionable election in history. Since then, the Bush family’s firm ties with oil, and Bush’s environmental policies, or lack of them, have led the USA to be one of only two countries in the world to ignore the Kyoto emissions reduction agreement. This is a big part of the problem: the US is by far the biggest contributor to CO2 production and global pollution, producing more than double the CO2 and pollution per capita, compared with the second worse offender, and five times as much as some of its eastern counterparts.)

I think this comes under films, it could also go in Perspectives/World News but as it's about a specifically film, then here seems fine.

 

 

of course it does!! however i havent put it up as i think it's about 95% horror fans in here and my cineworld's not getting it (so its children of men for meeeeee!)

please rate it if you have seen it

I've not seen it, is it out in the UK?

I've not seen it, is it out in the UK?

 

out last week , here's the bbc review (4 stars)

 

Al Gore is an unlikely movie star. Earnest, tubby, and frog-like, he carries even now the faintest aura of defeat, like a persistent limp. His movie debut, An Inconvenient Truth, is not a drama or even a documentary. It's a slide show, delivered to a live audience, on the subject of the environment. Doesn't sound too thrilling, does it? And in truth, it ain't Die Hard. But be assured: this a really really good slide show.

 

Gore has been around the world with his presentation, and he's got the patter down to a fine art. Over the course of 90 minutes he explains, in simple but unpatronising terms, just how very badly we have screwed up the planet. There are diagrams to this effect, although they all seem to show the same, alarming image: a single line, climbing towards disaster. It's not as depressing as it sounds - no, hang on, it is as depressing as it sounds, but Gore is an engaging host nonetheless. His shucksy southern drawl is comforting, but beneath it lies a sense of humour that's as dry as a Martini.

 

"GET BACK TO THE SCARY PIE CHARTS!"

 

It's an enduring irony of movies that one guy talking can be more compelling than a million dollars in locations, extras and effects. Director Davis Guggenheim hasn't quite learnt that lesson and chooses to intersperse the fascinating lecture with annoying shots of Gore being wistful, or concerned, or noble. We delve, briefly, into our hero's family and career, but it feels like a distraction. "Get back to the scary pie charts, Al!", we cry. That aside, this is a useful film about a vital issue, arguably the most vital of them all.

 

End Credits

 

Director: Davis Guggenheim

 

Writer: Al Gore

 

Stars: Al Gore

Genre: Documentary

 

Length: 97 minutes

 

Cinema: 15 September 2006

 

Country: USA