The title of "An Unreasonable Man," an improbably riveting portrait of Ralph Nader, is from George Bernard Shaw, who wrote: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
I guess "Inconvenient" was taken.
Choosing the Shaw quote as the film's opening epigram speaks volumes about the filmmakers' perspective on Nader, who for millions of Democrats immolated a heroic legacy of consumer activism and advocacy by running for president in 2000 -- thus, in their view, contributing to the election of George W. Bush.
That issue is tackled head-on at the top of "An Unreasonable Man," setting up the narrative tension of a film that then doubles back to document Nader's epic battle with the auto industry over safety issues in the 1960s and the juggernaut of consumer consciousness and policy shifts he so effectively piloted thereafter. Using a combination of archival footage and talking heads, directors Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan also chronicle how Nader came to make that quixotic 2000 run.
