“Collapse”–a challenging watch.

A while back (December 2009) I read several reviews of the then just released documentary “Collapse.”  They were all favorable, with some squirmy reservations, so I dumped it into my Netflix queue.  I wasn’t paying attention to the queue and “Collapse” eventually migrated to the top and got delivered about a week ago.  I was not that enthused about watching it, but I figured I might as well check it out rather then return it unwatched.

I’m glad I watched it.  It is very difficult to describe but it is basically a weird, passionate, educational, scary, riveting  82 minute rant by a guy named “Michael Ruppert.”  He got his start on the conspiracy beat in the seventies by outing the CIA on its drug dealing and he’s gone on from there.  I guess you could say that the cornerstone of his current views is the world’s dependency on oil, and the eventual collapse of life as we know it.

Here is a quote from the SF Chronicle review of December 2009, which should give you an idea of the tenor of the movie:

And that's exactly his belief: There will be no tomorrow because of our alarming dependence on oil, which is about to dry up, and because our economic system has become one big pyramid scheme. Electric cars are a smoke screen, clean coal is a joke and ethanol is an even bigger joke. You better start saving organic seeds, because they'll be the real currency when (not if) the apocalypse hits.

Ruppert may seem like a kook, but he's the Cadillac of conspiracy theorists - looking and dressing like the guy who does your taxes, while delivering his beliefs in nonpartisan assaultive bursts that defy the possibility of selfish interest. Who would want to buy this guy's book or visit his Web site? After hearing 82 minutes of Ruppert, who would want to do anything except hug the kids extra tight and start tilling whatever land you have in the backyard?

What that quote says is true but don’t let that deter you.  Everything he says makes perfect sense to me, but it’s something I suppress because of the enormity of its consequences.  

An excellent review of the movie is Roger Ebert’s take.  It’s pretty comprehensive, but here are a couple of short quotes from the review that I think are right on:

I have no way of assuring you that the bleak version of the future outlined by Michael Ruppert in Chris Smith's "Collapse" is accurate. I can only tell you I have a pretty good built-in B.S. detector, and its needle never bounced off zero

And

I don't know when I've seen a thriller more frightening. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. "Collapse" is even entertaining, in a macabre sense. I think you owe it to yourself to see it.

Tom says, “check it out.”