“What’s it about?”
“It’s just one guy explaining why human civilization in its present form is doomed.”
A chilling monologue of imminent catastrophe, “Collapse” is not just sobering; it’s a full-on assault. Filmed over two days last March, in the basement of an abandoned meatpacking plant in downtown Los Angeles, it showcases the singular obsession of the author Michael C. Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer and investigative journalist who has seen industrial society’s tipping point — in the rearview mirror. Since 2001, Mr. Ruppert has devoted his life, two books and a self-published newsletter to connecting the dots between population, economics and energy, and concluding that the center will not hold. Lucidly and with weary conviction, he cites evidence for a declining global oil supply (like costly offshore drilling in Saudi Arabia) and demolishes hopes pinned on substitutes like ethanol (“a complete joke”) and clean coal (“no such thing”). His well-rehearsed rhetoric is shockingly persuasive, and since the majority of his premises are verifiable, any weakness in his argument lies in inferences so terrifying that reasonable listeners may find themselves taking his advice and stocking up on organic seeds.
Movie Review by Jeannette Catsoulis - The New York Times
