2006, USA
Documentary, Drama
Movies have the power to inform. Not everyone fully digests global news concerns or watches enough PBS, and this is why documentaries have made their mark. In less than two hours you can leave a theatre or your couch with the knowledge that we’ve been screwed again. First-time director Chris Paine presents the life and death of the automobile future, represented by General Motor’s dead EV1 model.
The film is split into two halves: the first to anger up the blood with shaking fists and shouts of “How did this happen?,” the second to delve into those aggravating answers. The initial summary portion presents a timeline with special focus on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) 1990 Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, which enforced that new car manufacturing include more clean car production. GM created its slick little EV1, fueled by electric batteries, driven by celebrities. Celebrities with the right credentials, as applying for a lease was like getting a background check with the FBI.
As other companies debated creating competition, the easier solution was to battle this mandate. A memorandum was added that allowed the clean car output be dependant upon consumer demand. Though demand existed, car companies worked against themselves to whittle down the list of interested buyers. By 2003 under the Bush administration, the mandate was dead, and this movie points the finger at all of the usual suspects.
The second act sets its sights on oil companies, auto companies, the government, new hydrogen fuel cell technology, CARB and even consumers themselves who are all blamed at various levels for their part in the destruction of this cleaner, greener technology. What is so outstanding is the effort pursued to devoid the nation of any proof that the cars ever existed. Drivers could never own their vehicle, and every last one was forcibly removed from their hands by threat of legal action. Though GM claims they would recycle the parts and donate them to universities, protesters discovered the crushed cars on a desert testing site. When a lot of remaining EV1s was discovered by the protest group, they offered to buy the vehicles from the company, to no avail. The demand was there, but those with the keys preferred to ignore it.
Paine presents many enthusiasts who had leased the vehicles and been quite happy with their performance, but also does a good job of allowing time for those in the know, whether from the inner workings of GM and the government or those with knowledge of the technology. A fascinating couple, the Ovshinskys, discuss how their high-powered battery was overlooked in the first EV1 model for a less remarkable battery, and that when they publicized their impressive achievements they were censored by GM. Facts such as these are so odd because the auto companies were working against themselves. However, to promote the cleaner models, they would have to do that anyways. Why fight a new battle when the old way is still profitable?
What many of the recent documentaries (Why We Fight, Wal-Mart) instill is a power-to-the-people ideal; the little man can overpower the megalomaniacal corporation through votes, protests and general attention. Inventor Stanford Ovshinsky insists that a better world results from education, not agitation. I believe it takes a little of both. Let this film do the former, and see if you don’t want to participate in the latter after viewing it.
Extras on the DVD include deleted scenes, a featurette on jump-starting the future, a music video by Meeky Rosie and previews.