Global Visition film series presents "Who Killed the Electric Car" The Global Vision Film Series, sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Anthropology Club, is a forum that promotes diversity at UND and within the community of Grand Forks at large through the venue of internationally acclaimed, award-winning independent films. This year, we are joined by the UND Law School’s International Human Rights Center, which will present two films under the umbrella of the Global Visions Film Series. All films in the series are award-winning films, recognized for their artistic scope and social impact. All films are open and free to UND students, faculty and Grand Forks community members. Several departments on the UND campus offer the films shown in the Global Visions Film Series as extra credit opportunities for students, who must write reviews and critiques of the issues presented in each of the outstanding films shown each semester. "Who Killed the Electric Car" will show Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Lecture Bowl. A film review and synopsis follow. New York Times By MANOHLA DARGIS A murder mystery, a call to arms and an effective inducement to rage, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is the latest and one of the more successful additions to the growing ranks of issue-oriented documentaries. Like Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" and the better nonfiction inquiries into the war in Iraq, this information-packed history about the effort to introduce — and keep — electric vehicles on the road wasn't made to soothe your brow. For the film's director, Chris Paine, the evidence is too appalling and our air too dirty for palliatives. Fast and furious, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is, in brief, the sad tale of yet one more attempt by a heroic group of civic-minded souls to save the browning, warming planet. The story mostly unfolds during the 1990s, when a few automobile manufacturers, including General Motors, were prodded to pursue — only to sabotage covertly — a cleaner future. In 1990 the state's smog-busting California Air Resources Board adopted the Zero-Emission Vehicle mandate in a bid to force auto companies to produce exhaust-free vehicles. The idea was simple: we were choking to death on our own waste. The goals were seemingly modest: by 1998, 2 percent of all new cars sold in the biggest vehicle market in the country would be exhaust-free, making California's bumper-to-bumper lifestyle a touch less hellish. It's a story Mr. Paine tells with bite. As Mr. Paine forcefully makes clear, the story of the electric car is greater than one zippy ride and the people who loved it. From the polar ice caps to Los Angeles, where many cars truly are to die for, it is a story as big as life, and just as urgent. "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is rated PG (parental guidance suggested). Revelations of big-business and government collusion may provoke shock. -- Marcia Mikulak, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, marcia.mikulak@und.nodak.edu, 777-4718