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WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? / Chris Paine (2006)

November 3rd, 2007 by Scott Marks

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WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? (2006)

Written and Directed by Chris Paine

With: S. David Freeman, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., Mel Gibson and Phyllis Diller

Running Time: 86 min.

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Although the similarly-themed “Who Killed the Electric Car?” doesn’t open for another week, I suggest that you save your entertainment dollars for when it does. While the visual monotony of “An Inconvenient Truth” will lose nothing when it plays television, WKTEC? is worth a trip to the theater.

The film presents a devastating overview of General Motors’ EV1, one of the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. Powered by electricity, the environmentally friendly auto produce no emissions. In fact, the only things it did generate were owners happy and enemies of oil companies and Republican presidents.

We follow the scant six year rise and fall of the technological wonder car that was sacked in part by a government that now blames us for being addicted to oil. Shots of the fleet being rounded up and confined to a yard where they will eventually be crushed and shredded remind the viewer of a vehicular “Night and Fog.”

Director Chris Paine, eager to lay blame on the guilty, breaks down his film into seven different sets of “suspects” ranging from car and oil companies to the government and we the people. Even batteries and the hydrogen fuel cell are given a rigorous grilling.

From political insiders to adoring owners, the film relies on dozens of onscreen contributors to get its points across. There are even a few unlikely witnesses. Comic legend Phyllis Diller, positioned before a portrait of GOP henchman Bob Hope, remembers early pre-1920 EVs. Even Mel Gibson takes time away from the men who killed Christ to extol the virtues of the EV1.

Ultimately, the electric car was silenced because it threatened to rock the status quo. Chris Paine presents an “allegory for failure” that he sees “reflected in today’s oil prices and air quality.” Paine uses a steady hand to hold his mirror against society. Prepare to leave the theater a lot angrier than when you arrived.

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Filed Under DVD, Reviews