WATCH: ‘4 Days to Save the world’ was a reality show with big ambitions. See a preview of the Star’s investigation.
“To go to a certain extent, what you see on ‘4 Days to Save the world,’ that was my attempt to explain to the world how important it is that we start to think that climate change is real and there are a lot of people out there who don’t believe in it.” — Al Gore
The film’s release has created a sensation around the world. In the United States alone, it’s grossed more than $140 million in its first 48 hours. In the past week, it’s been viewed more than 4 million times.
For those who’ve spent the better part of the past year obsessed with the movie and, like many viewers, have found themselves gripped with alarm over the issue of global warming, the movie has become an even more potent tool of awakening.
It may not have done that much for Al Gore but it served as a potent reminder that climate change is a reality that most of us see but don’t understand, one we must confront. With every viewing, we face a choice: do we continue to accept what we’ve known for decades, or do we do something?
“This is a film that challenges us to do something,” says James Alcock, the director of the project, in an interview from his North Carolina farm. “And the idea was: ‘What are we going to do?’ But we don’t know what to do.”
“Every movie has to change the way we look at things,” says Alcock. “This was one of the first I saw and I loved the message it conveyed. I don’t think the message was good enough to win an award, but it got people talking. I’m not going to lie — it got me thinking.”
The inspiration for the film, which was written but not produced, came from a group of friends called The Gore-Wright Legacy Society. The group — which included Al Gore, his wife Tipper, journalist Tom Wright, and filmmaker Matthew Heineman — had come together with the goal of inspiring people to take action.
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