GREEDY LYING BASTARDS

DOCUMENTARY SUMMARY

This documentary explores the ongoing political campaign to delay government action to combat climate change by discrediting the scientific consensus on the subject and the scientists who contribute to it. The primary perpetrators of this deception are presented in their own words, taken both from interviews and from their public pronouncements.

Craig Scott Rosebraugh narrates the film, and is also its director. His work shows diligence in research and a knack for putting together a very accurate and watchable documentary. It does have a polemical quality, and I find nothing wrong with that; certainly the other side never shrinks from a one-sided advocacy of their point of view.

Capsule review: Despite gorgeous cinematography, beautiful set design, decent suspense and action, and competent performances (especially a properly eerie performance by Michael Fassbender and a very gutsy one by Noomi Rapace), this film is ultimately unsatisfying because its coherence leaks out through the many holes in the plot.

Backstop: For benevolent aliens, rent the DVD of Contact. Want malevolent ones? Look up Five Million Years to Earth. Both have the good qualities of Scott's latest film, plus a coherent plot.