The Age of Stupid

If Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth didn't lead frightened folks to renounce all greenhouse-gas-emitting pleasures, then The Age of Stupid might do the trick. Director Franny Armstrong goes futuristic and high-concept, employing grizzled actor Pete Postlethwaite to be the grave-faced doomsayer and master of ceremonies. The year is 2055, and Postlethwaite is the last man standing after a vaguely apocalyptic global environmental collapse. The actor invites viewers to consider video clips featuring individuals from 50 years in the past, people whose disparate stories present a cross-section of cautionary perspectives on how disaster could have been prevented. Not surprisingly, first-world nations' unrestrained dependence on fossil fuels lies at the core of the problem. Among those we meet are a Hurricane Katrina victim who also works for a major oil company; and an activist and wind-turbine engineer so fanatically yoked to his conservationist causes that he won't allow his family to travel on jet airplanes. More ambiguous, however, is the inclusion of a high-caste owner of a budget Indian airline, whose professed goal is to “eradicate poverty”—although it's unclear whether he's an object of ridicule or is seen as making a positive contribution to India's economy. Throughout, the tone swings between smart-alecky finger-wagging and comic playfulness, but the serious side ultimately wins out. DVD extras include audio commentary, a “making-of” documentary, extended interviews, deleted scenes, eight climate shorts, and footage of an encounter between Postlethwaite and the U.K. minister for climate change. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)