Collapse (2009)

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I watched this movie, mostly because of the reviews I read here. What a joke. While I may agree (to a point) with the message this guy was trying to get across, I do not with his need to lie to support it. From citing false prophets (the "great scientist" David Pimentel is an ENTOMOLOGIST (a bug expert) from Cornell University, and a well known climate change denier. He's not a chemist, nor a physicist, so he has no qualifications to pontificate about energy, fuels, climate, etc.), to misusing science (the laws of thermodynamics don't apply to economics), to perpetuating false concepts (like ethanol only being produced from corn, when countries like Brazil have turned around their economies producing it from sugarcane), or stating half truths (it's true that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than the energy it delivers, but that's also true for gasoline, which delivers about half the energy needed for its manufacture), or just straight lies (tidal energy extraction is not limited to the coastline, and tidal generators are already working in many places around the World, and have been for years, or "internal combustion engines can not be made to work with anything but oil", when there are thousands of people around the World driving their cars on alternative fuels, from ethanol, to biodiesel, even to used cooking oil), the whole "documentary" is just an awful example of irresponsible fear mongering. Finally, for those who are serious about learning what really produced this last economic crisis, I recommend you watch the movie "Inside Job", which is a real documentary about it, not some conspiracy nut's ego trip.

This film is a mixture of dubious links, interesting tidbits, important truths, questionable claims and statements of the obvious.It's an interesting watch, even if you might be sceptical of the broader predictions of Ruppert's, and I certainly am. He seems to sway from interesting observation to a need to tie them all together into one centralised conspiracy. I'm not sure it's quite as simple as he paints it. Nevertheless I enjoyed the film.But I gave this film a 3 out of 10 anyway, because the style of this documentary is a complete rip of Errol Morris. Not influenced by. Not a nod to. A direct copy of the unique style of Morris, down to the music, the late cuts...everything.But Morris' films aren't just interesting for their style. They're interesting because he chooses fascinatingly nuanced and complex personalities who speak honestly about their subject matter.Ruppert just sounds like a guy who's a little too convinced he has it all figured out, and what's everyone to seek guidance from him as to what we should do next.

Well, it has to be said from the off that Michael Ruppert is either one canny fella, or he's the craziest ding-bat you ever heard of. I have to take this with some level of salt grain-age, because we've heard these sort of arguments before. Plus, he's a self-confessed (at least at one time) Conservative, which gives me pause for thought.But... and it's a biggie... the things he says make so much sense, and at some level I've had similar thoughts myself. I truly believe that we need to find alternatives to oil, but at the same time I know that oil is used in so many applications that there simply anything else that will do the full job. Literally everything you own, barring a few items, contains some level of plastic. And even if it doesn't you can bet that plastic played some part in its manufacture or packaging. But I digress.Simply put, Ruppert is foretelling the complete breakdown of the life you know. He absolutely positively predicted the economic disaster we're now living through, and like him, I don't think it's getting better. His foreshadowing of riots and revolutions hits home when one considers the recent events in Egypt, Libya, and other places around the world. And then there's Japan, literally making nuclear energy a long-shot too.Individually, these notions don't seem to add up to much, but Ruppert does manage to tell a compelling narrative, glues all the pieces together with a level of knowledge that's certainly impressive. So why imagine that we're in the final throes of modern civilization? The answers all surround the notion of Peak Oil, that we're on the downward spiral and the supply is getting less and less. Oil is literally everywhere, from the tires on your car, to the pesticides that are used to grow your food, and there's no quick way to turn this roller-coaster around. So, Ruppert advocates preparing for the long haul, learn to live locally, and stop relying on the miracle of the supermarket.Either way, it's advice that can't hurt. Just one question: should I stock up on duct tape and bullets as well?

The best documentary I've ever seen, Never got boring and sets the impending alarm bells off. What he talks of could effects 99% of the human race.... and all within a lifetime.The truth does hurt and ignorance is bliss. But ultimately people should know the likeliness of truth. Capitalism is the main culprit in all of this, as well as laziness, wastefulness of resources and an overpopulation. It won't be the end of the world, it will be the end of us, as we are now. A lot of people will struggle, way more than they do now. He ain't a prophet as some will suggest, he's just thinking for himself and coming to the conclusion he has. His points are valid and I admire anyone who can stand up and shout from the rooftop, of the stuff people/companies/governments brush under the carpet. Even if his time-lines are inaccurate, I don't think people should disregard his claims and regard him as a crackpot. What he says in this astonishing interview is weighing up a likely outcome that will effect virtually everyone on this planet.