MUST SEE

A bit further under the radar than AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, (the stunning documentary about global warming and the fight being waged by Al Gore) is a film that is even more disturbing--WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? Narrated by America's fantasy President (Martin Sheen, long a political activist when not Jed Bartlett on The West Wing), this is the tale of America's electric car--not a fantasy but a functioning reality that was then quashed by the forces who support the continuing dependence on oil--ie., the oil companies, the car manufacturers, and, oh yes, those Texas oilmen who run Washington. (Just yesterday, it was announced that the fuel efficiency calculations the Bush Administration has been using for calculating estimated miles per gallon are off by at least 20 years in terms of the technology and driving patterns of American citizens.) The documentary tracks from the time California Air Resources Board mandated a reduction in fuel emissions from the country's auto manufactures, leading to an active search to create newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. (Political pressure eventually caused California to repeal their own measures.) Apparently, GM and several other companies created the EV1, an electric car that could be plugged in at home to charge and would get at least 60 miles per charge--with no emissions and at a much lower fuel cost than either gas or the hydrogen fuel cell technology being touted as this administration's favored "alternate" energy source. Since the average American driver only drives 29 miles a day, this was not a bad alternative. The EV1 owners loved them passionately, not only for their "green solution" but because they were quiet, stylish and handled beautifully. But this threatened American oil interests and so the cars had to die--literally. (The most powerful section of the film is when GM recalls all their leases for the EV1's, literally hauling them all away and crushing them rather than allowing them to exist on the road as an example of what could be.) This film, sadly, explains much about what has gone crazy in this country and the ways in which power has been grossly misused. Governments don't protect us or our future--they're here to service the business activities of those in power, the oil people. And hence you have the war in Iraq, the ravaging of nature preserves for petroleum resources, global warming and high prices at the gas pumps.

Of course, documentaries these days are no more held to journalistic ethics than is, say, the White House. Facts can be distorted, and numbers can be made to add up any way you please. (Michael Moore is an entertainer first, after all, and an effective one even as he gets us all riled up.) But so much of this story was clearly under-reported that we all missed a major event going on under our very noses--and at a time when the battle over fuel is key to all major economic discussion in this country. If this film doesn't raise your dander, nothing will. (Who Killed the Electric Car?, following a national theatrical release, is now available on cable on-demand.)