A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006) (V)

Directors:

Basil Gelpke
Ray McCormack

Writers:

Basil Gelpke (writer)
Ray McCormack (writer)

Release Date:

March 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Tagline:

The Oil Crash

Plot:

A theatrical documentary on the planet's dwindling oil resources.

Plot Keywords:

Oil | Baku | Scientist | Peak Oil | Energy Crisis

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Wade Adams	...	Himself - Researcher in nanotechnology
Abdul Samad Al-Awadi	...	Himself - Oil consultant (as Abdul Samad al-Awadi)
Fadhil J. Al-Chalabi	...	Himself - Former OPEC executive secretary-general (as Fadhil al-Chalabi)
Roscoe Bartlett	...	Himself - US Congressman
Robert Bottome	...	Himself - Economist, Caracas
Colin J. Campbell	...	Himself - Oil geologist
Marcello Colitti	...	Himself - Former chief executive of ENI S.p.A.
Alberto Quirós Corradi	...	Himself - President of Allied Consulting, Caracas
Mir-Babajev Mir-Jusiv Fazilogli	...	Himself - Oil historian
Daniele Ganser	...	Himself - Historian
Dr. David L. Goodstein Ph.D.	...	Himself - Professor of physics and applied physics
Terry Lynn Karl	...	Herself - Professor of political science
Franklin M. Orr Jr.	...	Himself - Professor
Sherry Phillips	...	Herself - mayor of McCamey, Texas
Matthew David Savinar	...	Himself - Attorney
Matthew Simmons	...	Himself - Energy adviser to US President George W. Bush
Alfred M. Spormann	...	Himself - Professor of environmental microbiology
Manouchehr Takin	...	Himself - Senior petroleum analyst
Louis Woodward	...	Himself - Oil entrepreneur
Gary Yanibelli	...	Himself - Hummer car salesman

Also Known As:

A Crude Awakening (USA) (short title)
Ein böses Erwachen - Der Ölcrash (Germany) (TV title)
OilCrash (International: English title) (short title)

Runtime:

84 min | 85 min (approx)

Country:

Switzerland | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | UK:PG | Australia:G | New Zealand:G

Filming Locations:

Baku, Azerbaijan

Company:

Lava Productions

If this doesn't awake them, they ain't awakeable!

Those whom the documentary "A Crude Awakening" fails to awaken now, to the fast approaching consequences of peaked oil depletion, at a time of unprecedented, and ever growing demand, just may not be awakeable, or won't likely wake up before it's too late.

Unlike that other much hyped Hollywood liberal misappropriation of the catastrophic global warming issue, to serve the personal needs of one disingenuous politician, "A Crude Awakening" is a Swiss production, that employs a broad range of viewpoints, from 27 scientists and energy experts, who's collective opinions all provide greater credibility to the message.

There's enough information concisely crammed into this one and half hour film for it to be the basis of a full semester's self-directed course of study... perhaps several semesters. In the special features, included on the DVD version, there is an extra chapter on the problems of petrostates, and four extended interviews with the following experts:

Colin Campbell: Oil geologist; consultant to numerous oil companies; and founder of ASPO www.peakoil.net

Matt Simmons: Energy investment analyst; author of "Twilight in the Desert"

Fadhil Chalabi: Former Acting Secretary-General of OPEC; and former Iraqi Oil Minister

David L. Goodstein: Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology

While many viewing this documentary might perceive its realistic appraisal of the demise of cheap and abundant energy as pessimistic, I consider it to be objectively quite optimistic, considering that it did not linger long on the very inconvenient truth that there are over six billion people wanting to have a petroleum based high standard of living, that can't possibly be sustained for much longer, even if there were only two billion people wanting it. "Civilization" has only ever had one answer for that kind of problem. The thin thread that "A Crude Awakening" seems to hang its optimism on is the assumption that if enough people become fully aware of this totally unavoidable event sooner, rather than later, then human ingenuity, combined with a level of human cooperation the world has never before seen, might possibly attenuate the consequences for at least some of those who awaken.