Everything's Cool (2007)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

Daniel B. Gold
Judith Helfand

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

For the past two decades researchers, activists, scientists, and progressive politicians have struggled...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Daniel B. Gold	...	Himself - Narrator (voice)
Ross Gelbspan	...	Himself
Bill McKibben	...	Himself
John 'Bish' Neuhauser	...	Himself
Ted Nordhaus	...	Himself
Rick Piltz	...	Himself
Michael Shellenberger	...	Himself
Sheila Watt-Cloutier	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Blair	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tom Brokaw	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Philip Cooney	...	Himself
Dr. Heidi Cullen	...	Herself
Kert Davies	...	Himself
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Himself (archive footage)
Myron Ebell	...	Himself
Anne Gelbspan	...	Herself
Michel Gelobter	...	Himself
Leona Goodhope	...	Herself
Al Gore	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sean Hannity	...	Himself (archive footage)
James Hansen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jamie Henn	...	Himself
James Inhofe	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jay Inslee	...	Himself
Darrell Issa	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brian Jamison	...	Himself (voice)
Janet Johnson	...	Herself
Dan Kuzuguk	...	Himself
Gus LaLone	...	Himself
Daniel Lashof	...	Himself (archive footage)
Stephen Lynch	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Maher	...	Himself (archive footage)
Scott McClelland	...	Himself (archive footage)
Patrick Michaels	...	Himself
Dan Rather	...	Himself (archive footage)
Andrew C. Revkin	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Sarbanes	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Tierney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Oprah Winfrey	...	Herself (archive footage)
George Woodwell	...	Himself (archive footage)

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Filming Locations:

Brookline, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Toxic Comedy Pictures

Movie Connections:

Features An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Provides an understanding of the Politics of Global Warming

Everything's Cool was screened this week at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. Whereas Inconvenient Truth is a film about the science of global climate change, Everything's Cool is really a study of the artificial political debate about the issue of global climate change. The film provides a compelling historical review of the 20 years of debate around this issue through the eyes of a number of key political activists who have been on the front lines. The film was made over the last several years as a new political consensus (shaped by Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore's film) finally seemed to be forming.

The most interesting aspect of the film is the examination of how a small group of think tanks - funded by the oil and coal industries - have created a political debate about global climate change even though the scientific consensus has been quite clear for some time. The film shows how ideology can be used as a tool to warp science and how the media can easily be manipulated into presenting "both" sides of a scientific debate. There are many parallels between the story told in this film and the other political discourses such as the "debate" between evolution vs. Intelligent Design.

Everything's Cool is humorous and entertaining film, but perhaps a bit too long. The film would benefit from some additional editing to create a more concise and crisper presentation of the issue. The film could easily be adopted for use in Political Science classes.