It’s hard not to think that Michael Ruppert might be a bit of a crackpot when you see him warn viewers of a Mad Max-style societal breakdown in Chris Smith’s recent documentary Collapse. And yet it’s also hard to argue with a lot of the points he makes: that fossil fuels are a finite resource, that when said resource expires havoc will be unleashed on the world and that no serious steps have been taken to prepare for this inevitable event.

First, a primer on Ruppert. The LAPD officer-turned-reporter-turned-professional-doomsayer has been leading the Peak Oil charge for some time now, starting from when he began publishing his newsletter From the Wilderness in 1998. Smith (The Yes Men, American Movie) originally approached him to talk about CIA involvement in the drug trade but instead ending up making a entire documentary on Ruppert’s theories about Peak Oil. The result is vaguely reminiscent of Errol Morris’ stellar Fog of War, where he intersperses various video clips between long stretches of the subject talking over dramatic music. It works well for Smith; Ruppert is energetic, engaging and seems absolutely convinced of the veracity of his ideas.

His final prediction (total societal collapse) might seem like the rantings of a conspiracy theorist if only he didn’t make his preceding points so well. Is he overstating the urgency and consequences of the problem? Perhaps. That doesn’t mean Collapse isn’t worth a viewing.