To what extent do you think this was deserved? Could our opinions on climate change be positively influenced? Was the film any good? Was it effective?

I Deffinatly think that a massive wakeup call was needed at the time of the documentaries release. Even now there are far too many people who don’t think climate change is happening and some of the people are influencing others in thinking the same thing such as Sammy Wilson, an MP from Northern Ireland who thinks climate change is a hoax and has commented several times about his views in the media [1]. He was even appointed minister of the environment so he was influencing even more people! [2] The great extent that Al Gore went in making this documentary along with the IPCC was just to cement the idea firmly into people's heads that climate change is happening. I do think that the extent the documentary went was deserved because if they are trying to raise awareness (like they are still doing on their website [3]) then the more people they make realise, the better.
When asking about my opinion being influenced by the film I will have to say no. I do think climate change is happening and there are many reasons for why along with the many MANY facts and figures telling us about it [4]. The thing is, before seeing the documentary I already had a good background about climate change and its effects on the planet so it was like preaching to the converted in a way. It might have influenced some others in the room because I did hear some discussion in parts where he would unveil a shock statistic, so perhaps it has altered some other people’s views... or maybe they were discussing counter arguments to them as the discussions I witnessed were very heated.
I thought the film was pretty good to be honest. I liked how it changed from his presentation to separately filmed footage where he was discussing why it was important to him, it helped put some human interest behind the ideas. Seeing how he got more determined after what happened to his son and how he responded to losing the campaign to become president made me realise that he was greatly passionate for the future of the planet, and not just for his own interests. It’s good to know people like that are behind the idea of spreading awareness and realisation of climate change to new people.
I think its effectiveness has been very varied. I don't think that initially it reached its target of convincing people about climate change because most people who would go to the cinema and watch it would already be interested in climate change and know it’s happening (whether they think its humans or not doesn't matter). I think later when it was allowed to be used in education [5] then it finally broke through and reached an audience of school students who didn't know about climate change yet, then it served the purpose it was made for, and started to raise awareness of the issue to the unknowing students. The massive controversy that came about from it helped boost interest in the story and allowed people to become open to the idea so that scientists could introduce them properly to the idea and what can be done about it.

[1] Sammy Wilson: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/environment-minister-sammy-wilson-i-still-think-manmade-climate-change-is-a-con-14123972.html

[2] Sammy Wilson appointed Environmental Minister: http://www.doeni.gov.uk/sammy_wilson_biography.pdf

[3] The Inconvenient Truth, official website: http://www.climatecrisis.net/thescience/

[4] The Royal Society: A guide to facts and fictions about climate change: http://royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?id=1630

[5] BBC news: Gore’s Climate film’s nine ‘errors’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7037671.stm