On Friday, I saw the documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.
Anyone who watched the Oscar-winning first installment, An Inconvenient Truth, could tell that former Vice President Al Gore would make saving the environment his life's mission. This film confirms that.
Although there are flashbacks to his time in office, and scenes of him lamenting the results of the election that could have made him president, he has moved on with a Jimmy Carter-like spirit for making the most of his post-political career.
The crew follows him to Paris when the original Paris Agreement was made in the shadow of the horrific terrorist attacks of 2015. He was in the heart of the city when those incidents occurred, and his remarks afterward will make even the toughest among us shed some tears.
The triumph of that global victory was unfortunately short-lived due to our current Commander-in-Chief pulling out of said Agreement just two months ago. Mr. Gore shows us why that was such a devastating blow to the progress that had been made and what we must do as citizens to continue the fight.
He can't resist bringing along his beloved PowerPoint presentations again to share some shocking bar graphs. He advances the slides that prove his point with blatant satisfaction—trouble is, we wish he weren't so right.
This is a crises of epic proportions. Future generations (if we haven't killed the human race by then) will shake their heads in disbelief at America's stupidity if we don't turn things around and make this right.
My favorite part of the film shows Gore meeting with a conservative Texan mayor who is on the right side of history, making his town an environmentally friendly model for the rest of the nation. Though he may disagree with liberal politics, he says that taking care of our earth is just "common sense," and has found a fiscally responsible way of doing it.
Unfortunately, the people who need to see this film probably won't. But if it gets just a few people to change their votes, to write some letters, to make some noise, it won't all have been for nothing.
~~~
Showing posts with label activism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activism. Show all posts
Sunday, August 06, 2017
Sunday, October 11, 2015
He Named Me Malala
Today I saw the documentary, He Named Me Malala, directed by Davis Guggenheim.
Malala Yousafzai is a normal teenager. Though she occasionally has to remind reporters of this fact, she doesn't seem too annoyed that they tend to forget. Of course aside from being a teenager she's also a global activist, the survivor of a personal Taliban attack and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
She hangs out with Bono and Hilary Clinton and Queen Elizabeth from time to time, but she also does hours of homework each night by choice, hard as it is for her youngest (incredibly adorable) brother to process. Her mother is having a tough time adjusting to life in England, and her other "laziest" brother likes to poke fun at her. She's a daddy's girl at heart. Yeah, that's Malala's life.
A crusader for women's rights (as she was just becoming a woman herself), Malala fought for the right for girls to attend school in her native Pakistan. She lived an idyllic life with her family, a mountain pass separating them from the main city, before the Taliban came along. Once the arrived, she didn't feel she should have to sacrifice her education to honor their beliefs, so she kept going to school. One day when she was riding home from school on the bus with her friends, the Taliban shot her (and a few of her pals). Since the main bullet went into her head, it was thought she wouldn't survive, but she fought, and the world's faithful prayed, and she emerged with an even stronger resolve.
Though the left side of her face doesn't quite work as well as it used to (including hearing out of that ear), and she spent days in a coma as a result of the shooting, she has no anger for her attacker. Her father says it wasn't one person who shot her, it was "ideology."
To say that Malala is an inspiration would be an understatement. Many who endure such trauma simply retreat to quiet lives, never to be seen again. She did the opposite—she got better, and she kept fighting.
Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim captures her spirit beautifully in one-to-one interviews and visits with her entire family. There are also gorgeous, animated versions of some of the stories from her past as well as actual footage of the days following her attack.
Whether she's meeting with Syrian refugees or giving inspirational speeches to heads of state, the compassion and strength of this miracle girl shines through.
I only hope there's a sequel so we can see what she does next.
~~~
Malala Yousafzai is a normal teenager. Though she occasionally has to remind reporters of this fact, she doesn't seem too annoyed that they tend to forget. Of course aside from being a teenager she's also a global activist, the survivor of a personal Taliban attack and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
She hangs out with Bono and Hilary Clinton and Queen Elizabeth from time to time, but she also does hours of homework each night by choice, hard as it is for her youngest (incredibly adorable) brother to process. Her mother is having a tough time adjusting to life in England, and her other "laziest" brother likes to poke fun at her. She's a daddy's girl at heart. Yeah, that's Malala's life.
A crusader for women's rights (as she was just becoming a woman herself), Malala fought for the right for girls to attend school in her native Pakistan. She lived an idyllic life with her family, a mountain pass separating them from the main city, before the Taliban came along. Once the arrived, she didn't feel she should have to sacrifice her education to honor their beliefs, so she kept going to school. One day when she was riding home from school on the bus with her friends, the Taliban shot her (and a few of her pals). Since the main bullet went into her head, it was thought she wouldn't survive, but she fought, and the world's faithful prayed, and she emerged with an even stronger resolve.
Though the left side of her face doesn't quite work as well as it used to (including hearing out of that ear), and she spent days in a coma as a result of the shooting, she has no anger for her attacker. Her father says it wasn't one person who shot her, it was "ideology."
To say that Malala is an inspiration would be an understatement. Many who endure such trauma simply retreat to quiet lives, never to be seen again. She did the opposite—she got better, and she kept fighting.
Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim captures her spirit beautifully in one-to-one interviews and visits with her entire family. There are also gorgeous, animated versions of some of the stories from her past as well as actual footage of the days following her attack.
Whether she's meeting with Syrian refugees or giving inspirational speeches to heads of state, the compassion and strength of this miracle girl shines through.
I only hope there's a sequel so we can see what she does next.
~~~
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