The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

REVIEW: Crude

Crude is an impressively involving exposé documentary about the injustices that the oil drilling giants Texaco have enforced upon the native dwellers of Ecuador along the Amazonian River.  This is protest cinema at its best.  This highly effective portrayal of the terribly wronged indigenous tribes of Ecuador follows their trail in the courts as they try to claim back their basic human rights that the US corporate group Chevron took away from them.

BY LAURA ANN SHEARER

www.queensfilmtheatre.com

The ever-present contemporary worry of the cost of the earth’s natural resources that we use daily is brought to the foreground by director Joe Berlinger.  The recent success of other eco-documentaries such as The Cove has set the bar high for any followers.  Luckily Berlinger has the right amount of intimate footage so this film not only fulfils expectations, but presents itself as a direct challenge to documentary makers.  Crude is honest and hard-hitting, and even if you know a relative amount about the real price of oil this is still a big eye-opener.

Crude premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is the winner of over a dozen esteemed awards for documentary film, and rightly so, this is a must-see for all those that enjoy a good gritty documentary.  We are indulged in the harsh realities that the tribal families face due to huge pits where Texaco and owners Chevron dumped their industrial waste, sadly which they refuse to accept any responsibility of.  The stark facts put forward by the inhabitants are barely believable, but just in case the message of the film seems too out of reach, we hear the horrifying tales of the village people.

The images this film seeks to get noticed are sometimes graphic and disturbing, but the film comes across as relatively subjective.  Although there is a strong bias and bold opinions are being expressed throughout, the audience are allowed that comfortable distance that documentary rarely offers.  The firsthand accounts seem barely edited and you get this sense of minimal editing from the film, perhaps the only major work put into the editing is in piecing the events together in a relative order, but that’s what makes this film so refreshing.  Do prepare yourself for an emotional journey, but also be reassured that you’ll definitely come away feeling satisfied by the progress that even the production of this film has made.  Berlinger makes a statement, but stresses that it’s only a starting point, so definitely a film that encourages you’re inner human rights activist.  Crude is wonderfully thought provoking.

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