It is very rare in current American pop culture that a documentary has received the media attention that "An Inconvenient Truth" has over the past year. The media buzz and enthusiasm associated with the 96 minute documentary culminated on February 25th, 2007 when "An Inconvenient Truth" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

What's even more surprising is that "An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning (which is the full, untruncated title) does not really tell the American public anything new or that documentaries have not featured before. Several documentaries which have aired on the National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel, and PBS have covered this topic in depth some of them in even greater detail than Davis Guggenheim's "An Inconvenient Truth".

What has made "An Inconvenient Truth" more compelling than previous documentaries is the way this somewhat complex material is presented to the viewer. Unlike previous documentaries which relied on talking heads, Davis Guggenheim gives us beautifully rendered graphics and charts which are clear to the eye and easy to understand especially to viewers who may not be that familiar with this material.

The other main component of the documentary is the presence and talent of former Vice President Al Gore as the documentaries main speaker and moderator, if you will. Political views aside, Gore is a preeminent expert in the field of global warming as well as other ecological concepts and it is that humanness which gives "An Inconvenient Truth" an edge over many of today's documentaries. Gore does not just tell the viewer about the dangers of global warming, he describes why he is telling you these things and how upheavals in his personal life led him to begin this quest to inform America and the world about the scientific fields findings on global warming.

Many critics have argued that supporters of global warming are doomsayers and are preying on people's fears of climactic changes. Those who are against global warming say that changes to the atmosphere and the Earth are cyclical and there is no hard evidence to support that the emissions of fossil fuel gases or other abuses to the Earth are having any permanent effects.

Some "soapboxing" is prevalent in "An Inconvenient Truth", but the manner in which the evidence is laid out by Gore and the marvelously well executed graphics and charts which he uses all throughout the documentary add up to a compelling view. One does not have to absorb or completely believe all that is presented to make "An Inconvenient Truth" one of slickest, and most palpable documentaries to come out of Hollywood for quite some time.