GORE'S WORLD PASSION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT FUELS HIS CAMPAIGN FOR `AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

`If you see one scientifically rigorous documentary this summer, make it this one.''

The line, from Newsweek's summer movie preview, was a joke, but the film in question, ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' is not. The movie, which opens Wednesday, follows former vice president Al Gore as he travels the world, giving a slide show presentation that clearly and convincingly outlines the effects of global warming and the dangers facing our planet if action isn't taken sooner rather than later.

``Truth'' also paints a human portrait of a Gore -- relaxed and funny -- that we've never seen before. Director Davis Guggenheim wanted to go beyond the science (though there's plenty of that) and trace the roots of Gore's passion for the planet. We hear Gore talking emotionally about pivotal events -- the death of his sister from lung cancer, the car accident that nearly killed his young son, the devastating 2000 presidential election (``a hard blow'') -- that shaped his priorities and view of the world.

Says Guggenheim: ``I wasn't sure you make a movie about a slide show. But when I went to see it, immediately what grabbed me was that Al was not preaching. His presentation was thoughtful and fair-minded, not political.

``And as I got to know him, I began to see a man who had made a bold choice to devote himself to an issue that no one else was willing to talk about, an issue that should be the most important thing for all of us. He went from being a politician to being a deeply human, deeply moral man, kind of a Paul Revere for our time.''

In conversation, Gore listens carefully and engages without resorting to pat answers. In short, though he brings an extraordinary amount of knowledge to the table, he's not a walking position paper. Here's what he said about the movie, its message and the possibility of him returning to the political fray.

Q: With this movie, you have to battle two groups of skeptics -- those who don't buy into global warming and those who don't think an Al Gore slide show on the subject can translate into an interesting movie.

A: (Laughs) Well, on the latter front, I always say I benefit from low expectations.

Q: People leave the movie saying they've never seen this Al Gore -- funny, freewheeling, vulnerable -- before. Is it possible for a politician to run for office and be a human being?

A: (Laughs) I think so. It's easy for me to say because I'm a recovering politician. I'm on about step nine. I do hear about the contrasts. And I think there are two reasons for that. In a presidential campaign, your opponents try to define who you are.

They caricature you. So people don't see the real you.

And campaigns have to cover the waterfront on all the issues that people are concerned about. You're just going from one thing to the next. When you are expressing what you most care about -- which I'm doing here in this movie -- if it's not the issue of the day for the press, you're not going to be covered.

But I think there's a second reason, too. I've been through a lot since 2000, including 2000. And I think that the old cliche, ``What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,'' has a validity to it. I care so much about this message, and I've been trying to tell it for 30 years.

The debate's over now. And so I'm really bent on delivering this message as forcefully as I can, and I don't really care about how I seem or appear. It's a luxury of a singular focus.

Q: You say the debate is over, but already there have been some forceful attacks on this film.

A: The naysayers are planning a nationwide advertising campaign. They get their money from the oil companies and the coal companies. It's documented. Pulitzer Prize winner Ross Gelbspan has written two books about this. But, yes, you'll be hearing more from these paid scientists in the coming weeks, I'm sure.

Q: In the film, you contrast the global warming stories written by peer-reviewed scientists and the national news media ...

A: Yes, 923 scientific peer-reviewed articles, zero disagreement with the consensus. And then 53 percent of the newspaper articles, which say, ``Well, global warming may not be real.'' That is the one slide that is probably the subject of the most comment after the slide show. It's a real light-bulb moment for people. They say, ``That explains why the science seems to be overwhelmingly clear, but the impression we're getting is that it's up in the air and we don't know what the deal is.''

Q: At one point in the film, you're tired and exasperated, saying, ``I've been trying to tell this story for a long time and I feel like I've failed to get the message across.'' Do you feel the same way today?

A: Well, I also said in the movie that I feel that even though it has been difficult to run up against this category-five denial, I do have faith that eventually enough people are going to be convinced that there will be a big change. America's political system is like the climate system in one respect -- it's nonlinear, meaning it can appear to move at a glacier's pace, but then at times, it can move suddenly and very quickly.

If, after 9/11, we had not only rallied the country and invaded Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden -- which was all the right thing to do -- and instead of invading Iraq, the president had said, ``Follow me. We're going to break our dependence on oil. And we're going to have renewable fuels and we're going to clean up the environment and solve this crisis,'' I think people would have followed.

Q: With the movie and the slide show, are you just preaching to the converted or have you been able to actually win a few people over to your side?

A: Roger Ailes, president of the Fox News Channel, went to the slide show and then instructed Fox News to make an hourlong special that global warming is real and we have to do something about it.

Then their talking heads went back to the old scripts. But that's the way organizations change, in fits and starts.

Six weeks ago, 85 conservative evangelical ministers who have been active in supporting Bush and Cheney publicly announced as a group that they were breaking with the White House on this issue and called for their congregations to be very active in fighting the climate crisis.

I think we are close to a point where a majority of politicians in both parties are going to be searching for ways to deliver a message that we're going to solve this crisis. Every week I hear from elected officials who are Republicans as well as Democrats wanting more information -- ``how can I provide some leadership on this?''

Q: The movie opens with you telling a joke, saying, ``I used to be the next president of the United States.'' You pause, people laugh, and then you say, ``I don't find that particularly funny.'' Well, how 'bout it: Do you think you can still be the next president of the United States?

A: I don't have any plans to be a candidate.

Q: That was a quick answer.

A: (Laughs) Well, I've been asked that a lot.

Q: Last week on ``Saturday Night Live,'' you looked pretty comfortable sitting in the Oval Office in that parallel universe, addressing voters who ``overwhelmingly'' elected you president in 2000.

A: (Laughs) My daughter Kristin was a guest writer on that. She helped me.

But, no, I don't expect to be a candidate again. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not planning on it. I've run four national campaigns in my career, and I was in elected office for 24 years. Now I'm running a different kind of campaign.

Q: A more enjoyable one?

A: Yeah. There was a lot that I enjoyed about politics. I guess I enjoyed the governing part more than the political part.

I don't think I'm particularly good at politics. I'm not naturally an extrovert. I'm sort of on the border between extrovert and introvert. And I think that people who are extroverted just love the backslapping and all that stuff. To me, it's a means to an end.

Q: You're still slapping backs, but for an issue now, not a candidacy.

A: Yes. But what I love most is connecting with people in discussing ideas and what we should do, what's important. With this movie, I'm just throwing myself 100 percent into that task.

I'll sell popcorn at the theaters if it means people coming to this movie, thinking about it and becoming passionate about the change that needs to be made.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Al Gore feeling the heat over his new global warming film

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

(2) no caption (Al Gore)

(3 -- 4) Slides from Al Gore's presentation, shown during ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' demonstrate the effects of global warming internationally.

(5) Gore, left, with director Davis Guggenheim during filming of ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' says, ``I care so much about this message, and I've been trying to tell it for 30 years.''