COOL IT
(PG)
MOVIE: **** (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Bjørn Lomborg, notorious author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” turns the climate change movement on its ear with a down-to-earth look at the real problems. Butting heads with noted environmental activists (including Al Gore, whose film “An Inconvenient Truth,” gets heavily criticized), Lomborg examines what he believes are the real causes and effects of climate change.
WHAT I LIKED
I hate being preached at, unless I’m in church. And the biggest problem with any film with an environmental angle is that it tends to preach… a lot. That was only one of the man problems with “An Inconvenient Truth” and other films like “The 11th Hour.” Another big problem is that, in order to grab an audience’s attention, these films tend to be so heavy-handed on the gloom and doom that when the world doesn’t end five or ten years after their release, they lose all credibility.
Lomborg is a calmer voice. Does he discount climate change? No. Does he say man is not impacting his environment? Not at all. But he takes a much sober attitude as to what is happening and what will happen.
Lomborg examines the politics behind the environment, both as to what caused the problems and the people trying to fix them. Instead of getting wrapped up in fads and jumping on bandwagon, he offers solutions to the problems facing the world. I can’t say whether any of these will work, but considering how poorly everything else is, it’s worth a shot.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Not a whole lot, actually. I knew nothing of this movie when I started watching it, so I was bracing myself for 90 minutes of preaching and finger pointing. I ended up with something very different in today’s market, and that won me over.
DVD FEATURES
The DVD comes with a slate of deleted scenes that, unlike many films, are actually worth watching. These are anecdotes and ideas that just didn’t fit into the flow of the film but are interesting nonetheless.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone who would be intrigued simply by the title of Lomborg’s book, “The Skeptical Environmentalist.”