Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Martin Sheen
Mel Gibson
Colette DivineAlexandra Paul
Directed By:
Chris Paine
What a great documentary that was. I have been told to watch Who Killed The Electric Car? many times in the past, but I always had reluctance to do so. I had this unexplainable feeling that it wasn't for me. Well, I was completely wrong. I was quickly turned off by the cheesy Martin Sheen voice-overs and the EXTREMELY aggressive stance it took on the problem, but those were the biggest flaws of Chris Paine's movie and he got them out of the way five minutes in. The death of the electric car is a very complex question, because it could have potentially changed the world if it was implemented right. Therefore, the explanation cannot be simple. You cannot point the finger at a proverbial scapegoat and accuse him of killing such a great project. Who Killed The Electric Car? does a good job at acknowledging the various facets of the problem and even gives the hard answers to its viewers. It's a little hippie green, but it's a courageous movie who doesn't think you're stupid.
The thing is, when you live in a market economy, things are never simple. The very motor of this economy is that money has to keep moving. Many people from different layers of production get involved and that's how we hold up. Everybody has to do its fair share of work if they want to touch their part of the benefits. Automobile industry involves: oil market, automobile constructors, automobile retailers, garage owners, mechanics and I forget a lot of them. Oh yeah, it involves the government too. A powerful money mover like automobile industry can turn into a great ally for a government who's gasping for cash and strong allies that don't ask much questions. As the documentary demonstrates, the automobile industry who made terrific progress under the Carter administration, has been stalling since the Reagan years. It's a closed market that functions under the logic: "If it's not broken, don't fix it". Well, the inception of the electric car was the first tear in their logic and it's interesting (to say the least) to see how they reacted.
Who Killed The Electric Car? is centered around the crusade of Californian EV (that's the name of the model) drivers to keep driving their non-polluting machines. They are an upstanding little bunch, I have to give them that. But as soon as they started pulling on the string, follow some leads and find ugly truths about automobile companies, they saw their efforts thwarted. They were reprimanded, turned into a joke and left in the dust. Companies such as Ford and GM went as far as nabbing their cars off their driveway. How un-American is that, to forbid citizens to drive the goddamn car they want? Curiously enough, the death rattles of the electric car coincided with the rise of the Hummer, a gas-guzzling, über-polluting monster who has been increasingly popular ever since. Coincidence? If you think it is, you're probably a Hummer driver yourself. Or aspiring to drive one someday. They had to come up with something cooler than that Clean-Eco-Friendly-Batmobile that foreshadowed a new era.
The most fascinating part of Who Killed The Electric Car? is the explanation of the craft behind one huge lie that everybody believes. The electric car was discontinued because it didn't generate enough demand, citing limiting technology and the fragility of the car itself. Chris Paine and his team did a nice job at proving otherwise and digging up the inventor of the battery that was SUPPOSED to be in the EV at the first place. The man's invention was deliberately set aside and replaced by an inferior product. The documentary team also followed the fate of the cars to the Nevada, where brand new EVs were crushed for no other reason than being a threat to the current state of things. Here's something that would have made life on Earth cooler, who got sacrificed to the gods of money. Really, who cares if you need to re-charge your car every sixty miles? Just put in charging station and people will have to take more time, relax and talk to each other in vast electric parking lots. That sounds like a cool idea to me. Amazing documentary. Made me happy to still be a pedestrian.
SCORE: 89%
