
This Cavalcade posts comes by way of a recommendation from a little over a year ago. I was told to watch this movie because the truths it contains were scary and human civilization is doomed. Thankfully, I had beaucoup hours to kill (roughly a week ago) as I stayed up for about forty-two out of forty-eight hours for a reason that is a tirade for another time. Anyway, I cued up this documentary, screened it and ultimately suffered through eighty-two minutes of frustration as it simply did not live up to the recommendation nor the subject matter... Of course, I am getting ahead of myself.

The main issue that I have with this documentary is Michael Ruppert. What are his credentials besides being a crackpot? Like I said, better people who have done the research that he was citing and they are the individuals who should be discussing such topics as peak oil or the implications of a world without oil. Ruppert simply is an arrogant and altogether self-aggrandizing individual. Seriously, no believes that you "called" the financial meltdown in the United States... Especially since everyone could see it coming. Secondly, I highly doubt that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush read your blog (sorry chummy, I will not name drop it) and decided to make you a target.

Critics state that this documentary is comparable to the works of Errol Morris and completely disagree. The Fog of War mastered this style of documentary film making and while Chris Smith makes use of the style (interspersing of Ruppert's account of peak oil with imagery and stock footage) of Errol Morris, he does not bring this documentary into the same arena as Morris. Since I have had well over a week to ponder this film (as it has been stuck in my craw), I came across an interview with Smith where he explains that the film is less about peak oil and more a character study about how obsession leads to the collapse of the individual.

Rooney Rating:


(Two generous Rooney's as it is not a good film but people might want to check out the subject elsewhere... Say, a book.)
I am truly sorry for the length of this review (outside of my rule of three or four paragraphs) but this movie was so frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI agree...he was a pompous douchebag....although your rage filled rant in the black bear parking lot wasn't completely conveyed in this post..lol
ReplyDeletelol... I think if I posted the tirade in the parking lot of Black Bear, I would be apologizing for four or five part review of this film. Plus, it would be rendered unreadable by the amount of profanity.
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