THE ISLAND PRESIDENT

In 2008, Mohamed Nasheed, the hero and victim of Jon Shenk's documentary, ended the 30-year rule of a brutal dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, by easily winning the presidential election in the Maldives. Three years later, the army removed Nasheed from power and replaced him with politicians directly and indirectly linked to Gayoom. Now we get to the matter of the documentary: global warming. After taking power, Nasheed became an important figure regarding this issue because, one, he is a humanist, and, two, his country (the lowest country on our planet) is immediately threatened by rising sea levels. During the 2009 UN climate talks in Copenhagen (the doc begins and ends with this conference), Nasheed fought very hard and loudly for an international treaty that would require countries to really (not slightly) reduce CO2 emissions. Nasheed did not win this fight, but he did make a lot of enemies in the most powerful countries in the world. What this doc ultimately reveals? The global elite permitted Nasheed to challenge and defeat his country's aging dictator, but it would not permit him to challenge the current international market system. (CHARLES MUDEDE) SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, Wed May 16 9:15 pm.