Crude | Film reviews

by Lavanya Trichinopoly – Krishna

Newborn babies with rashes and abnormalities, teenagers with cancer having to work long hours to afford treatment, and people drinking and bathing in polluted water.

It is a scene we can all ignore merely by changing the channel on our televisions, but for the Ecuadorians living in the Amazon rainforest it is an inescapable reality.

Crude is a compelling documentary that follows the class-action lawsuit filed in 1993 by 30,000 Ecuadorians against oil-giant Texaco (and inherited by parent company 'Chevron') for the alleged pollution of areas surrounding the Laga Agrio oil field.

Premiered at the Sundance festival in January 2009, Joe Berlinger’s documentary has received numerous nominations and awards at film events across America.

Subtitled for those who do not understand Spanish, Crude is a balanced film that presents arguments from both sides of what is referred to as a “David versus Goliath” case throughout.

Momentum

Starting at the point when the case finally comes to trial in Ecuador, the film is fairly slow to begin with, but gains momentum as it explores the issues deeper and gains more interest.

Featuring high-profilers such as Vanity Fair magazine, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, as well as, at the time, newly sworn-in President, Rafael Correa, this film is as much a comment on the big impact celebrity and politics can have on a cause.

The beauty of this film is the way it delves into every area of the case, yet does not need to exaggerate – the pictorial evidence is already there.

Emotive scenes and tales, in particular the ailments and deaths of children, engage the audience, but are not over-blown.

As well as presenting people affected by the pollution, representatives from Chevron provide commentary, which, at the films slow start, appears quite logical, but by the end seems contradictory and ridiculous to the point that even the audience is fuming.

It even briefly looks into Ecuadorian prosecution lawyer Pablo Fajardo’s life, introducing us to the man fighting for his fellow countrymen.

As with most multi-national companies, Chevron are still disputing the claims, in some instances trying to shift the blame onto Texaco’s successor in the region, Petroecuador, or, in some cases, even denying any pollution exists.

But no matter how many smart diagrams or pictures they draw, or propagandist videos they make, Berlinger’s film gives the Chevron enough rope to hang themselves… at least in the public sphere.