The important message imparted by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth came up against two major obstacles (contradicting viewpoints aside): the PowerPoint lecture format which couldn’t keep many viewers’ attention and a perceived partisan slant that came with the speech being delivered by a former vice president from the Democratic Party. No matter where your political loyalties lain when the film was released, it took a more mature and invested viewer to make it through the slower-paced documentary; which is why a film like The Age of Stupid is the perfect response or follow-up. Instead of a series of slides with Gore’s monotone narration, we have legitimate documentary footage, news clips, and the post-apocalyptic summation of events offered by a pleading Pete Postlethwaite.
His presentation broadcasts from an archive he constructed to help future generations avoid the mistakes of humanity’s past; mistakes that he correctly concludes we could have avoided any number of ways. Why didn’t we stop when we saw the warning signs? Why did we ignore the people telling us we were headed toward destruction? Postlethwaite manages to perfectly take on the mantle of someone who genuinely doesn’t understand current attitudes of consumerism. He wears it well, and it has the intended effect of making you question why it makes so much sense to us today.
Equally powerful are the subjects examined by the more traditional documentary portion of the film. Various subjects, coming from all walks of life, discuss the changes they’ve seen in their lives and comment on the sorry direction they see the world heading. However, not all the subjects shown get the sympathetic treatment. A few are shown as contributors to the problem and not necessarily ushers of the solution. On the supported side you have West Africans whose communities have seen promises made and broken by major oil corporations who guaranteed the construction of health centers and then backed out once they were in place to get what they came for: oil. You also see a family who exemplifies the extravagance of American consumerism by showing how many Americans will throw away things like shoes for cosmetic reasons instead of functional ones. Those being vilified include an Indian entrepreneur working his ass off to create his own airline as he willingly overlooks the fact that air travel is the most ecologically harmful method available. Exactly how harmful is revealed and might just change the way you plan vacations.
As a whole, The Age of Stupid is a valuable documentary that contains many of the same lessons and ideals as The Inconvenient Truth, but packages them in a much more audience-friendly fashion. If you’re looking for a documentary that seeks to entertain and inform, then this might be the perfect pick for you.
DVD Bonus Features
There are tons. The cover boasts over five hours of extras and what it delivers is pretty worthwhile by typical DVD standards. Everything included deserves a view if you found the movie even remotely interesting or entertaining. Besides a swear-free version of the film (undoubtedly for in-school use for the “cool” teachers), there’s a “making of” documentary that could essentially be considered an extra 55 minutes of the film as what it does is just as message-oriented. There’s a clip of Pete Postlethwaite hosting an impromptu Michael Moore-esque ambush interview with the UK’s Minister for Climate Change, wherein he proves himself a more likable person than Moore despite using the same tactics. The final meaningful extras include a few shorts about climate change, an amateur logging of the 10:10 campaign’s launch, and follow-up interviews with some of the subjects after they’ve had a chance to see the film (which may be one of the most fair things I’ve ever seen a documentary endeavor to do). There rest are the basic DVD staples like trailers, deleted scenes, and a few interviews with cast and crew, which may seem redundant once you’ve gotten through the “making of” and follow-up interview portions.
It’s a solid documentary given more than its fair share of extras. You’d do well to seek this one out for your collection.
"The Age of Stupid" is on sale August 24, 2010 and is not rated. Documentary. Written and directed by Franny Armstrong. Starring Pete Postlethwaite.
