AS ALBERT ARNOLD Gore Jnr steps into the Bunuel Theatre in Cannes, the auditorium explodes in a standing ovation for the man who was almost president of the United States. The movie hasn't even started and I'm sure many, like me, are wondering if the applause was for the message Gore was bringing to us or for Gore being a loser - in the 2000 US elections, that is.
The night is the Cannes premiere of Gore's film debut in An Inconvenient Truth. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the documentary is Gore's global warning about global warming. It's the slideshow that Gore has been toting around the world for the past five years, warning of the consequences for all of us if we continue to do nothing about the climate crisis.
Its screenings at the earlier Sundance Festival in the US and, now, the Cannes festival have been met by shock and surprise. Shock, when Gore presents his facts and surprise at the way he delivers them. Here is a new Gore - self-deprecating, witty, funny even, although at times the old Al Bore does rise to the surface.
At the end of the night, the crowd descends on him, shaking his hand, clapping him on his shoulders, congratulating him ... it could almost have been a scene from his first State of the Union address, had the US Supreme Court not whisked the presidency away from him. But it has, and this night, Cannes saw Gore not so much as a presidential candidate but perhaps more as an accidental movie star. 'We don't like to use the word movie star. He's like ... a rock star,' says Guggenheim the next day, as the duo hold court on the roof of the Noga Hilton on the Croisette.
'Rock star!' Gore interjects with a laugh. He's discarded the disastrous earth tones advised by feminist author Naomi Wolf for his electoral campaign and opted for a navy blue suit and a light blue shirt, no tie. Although significantly heavier than he was in his days as vice-president - the hair is a little greyer, too - Gore is looking good. 'I get kidded about these things but I'm old enough to put any such praise in proper perspective,' he says.
Perspective is something the 58-year-old Gore hopes An Inconvenient Truth will bring to its audiences - and quickly. According to his statistics, the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes have almost doubled in the past 30 years. The flow of ice from the glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. Plants and animals are being displaced from their habitats. If we do nothing, he says, in a decade it will be too late.