An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

Al Gore’s quest to denounce climate inaction continues

By Alberto Sclaverano 

The message is that each of us can act, learning to accept that setbacks are always possible and not give up

Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth (2006), starring former US Vice President Al Gore, was among the most successful documentaries ever released, grossing almost 50 million at the worldwide box office against a 1.5 million budget. It won two Academy Awards (for Best Documentary and Best Original Song), and it is remembered for helping to raise awareness on the topic of climate change in the mid-2000s. 

More than ten years later, Gore wrote and starred in a sequel, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017), directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. The film debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, in January, and was then released in the United States and other territories in July. While less famous and less theatrically successful than its predecessor, it is still worth a view, especially in the sad context of today’s US policy concerning the climate crisis.

In a scary prescience scene, the movie ended with images of the first acts of Donald Trump’s administration (2017-2021). Among them, the United States exited from the recently signed Paris Climate Agreement (2015). The same scheme will be repeated at the beginning of 2025, when the newly installed Trump Second Administration will again abandon the Paris Agreement which Biden’s cabinet had rejointed. 

The path to signing the Paris Agreement is one of the main themes of the movie, which is more dynamic than its predecessor. While An Inconvenient Truth was essentially made by stitching together footage from various Al Gore conferences from all around the world, this time the approach is broader. Gore’s speeches and conferences are still present but blended with images of the dramatic consequences of the climate crisis, such as the melting of the polar cap. Gore this time is shown to interact with different kinds of people, from politicians to scientists. He is followed by the directors in several of his tasks to promote awareness about climate change. There is also an effort to debunk the criticism of the first movie and in general to disprove the opinion of climate change denialists. While it is a sequel, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is a bit different than the original.

The 2006 movie was essentially a conference, or a lecture, filmed and brought to the big screen. It was a deliberately dry picture, in which the form was completely sacrificed to the content. The message was the main and only core of An Inconvenient Truth. The sequel, on the other end, tries to be more cinematic, following the path of numerous documentaries about climate change released during the ten years that divided the two films. The extensive use of different kinds of images that illustrate the climate crisis is reminiscent of movies such as Before the Flood (2016). Like the original, it maintains the central role of Gore, to the point that sometimes it becomes a one-man show. Gore is undoubtedly very prepared and smart, even if sometimes he risks being too predominant.

In any case, the movie is useful to reflect on the climate crisis, the damage it has done to us all, and the falsehood of the denialists’ arguments. It is also a movie that shows us that we can act, and the signing of the Paris Agreement was an example, but also that setbacks are always possible on this matter, especially due to the presence of several climate change denialists among politicians and the media. The final message is that the struggle to stop the climate crisis will be long, but if we want to save the future of our children and our planet we must not give up.