Crude (2009)

The story of lawsuit by tens of thousands of Ecuadorans against Chevron over contamination of the Ecuadorean Amazon.

Director:

Joe Berlinger

Stars:

Dan Ashley, Pablo Fajardo, Kent Robertson

12 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dan Ashley	...	Himself - ABC 7 News (archive footage)
Pablo Fajardo	...	Himself
Kent Robertson	...	Himself - Chevron
German Yanez	...	Himself (as Judge German Yanez)
Adolfo Callejas	...	Himself (as Dr. Adolfo Callejas)
Ebergeldo Criollo	...	Himself
Steve Donziger	...	Himself - Attorney
Atossa Soltani	...	Herself
Joseph Kohn	...	Himself - Attorney
Maria Garafalo	...	Herself - San Carlos Resident
Sara McMillen	...	Herself - Chevron
Ricardo Reis Veiga	...	Himself - Chevron
Diego Larrea	...	Himself - Attorney
Alejandro Ponce	...	Himself - Attorney
Rosa Moreno	...	Herself - San Carlos Resident

Storyline

One of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" case, CRUDE is a real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film examines a complicated situation from several angles while bringing a story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

---

Plot Keywords:

environmental disaster | oil | one word title

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

15 January 2010 (UK)

Also Known As:

Argo petrelaio

Filming Locations:

Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$16,595 (USA) (11 September 2009)

Gross:

$170,295 (USA) (27 August 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Entendre Films, Radical Media, Red Envelope Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 105 min (European Film Market)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Footage not included in the documentary was later used as evidence of fraud on behalf of the plaintiffs in US courts.

---

Quotes

Protester at 2008 Chevron Shareholders meeting: [Protester at 2008 Chevron Shareholders meeting] In Ecuador as in Nigeria, as in Richmond, as in Iraq, as in Burma, this company chose profit over people. It's clear that this company has no moral responsibility, no ethics. And that's why we're all here.

---

Connections

References Cobra Verde (1987)

User Reviews

Texaco/Chevron's contributions

Crude is a courtroom drama that never actually sees the inside of a courtroom. After years of stalling, Chevron's lawyers managed to move a class action case accusing them of large scale pollution of a native Amazonian community from the United States to Ecuador, and it's as the proceedings are finally getting underway there that director Joe Berlinger and his crew pick up the action. I don't really enjoy life nor do I really want to knowing the amount of injustice and suffering that is going on.

The thing we are starting to see is what comes around goes around, because all the outsourcing of jobs and exploitation of workers in other countries is ruing the economies all over. But people wont stop having kids, no matter how impoverished they are or how their children suffer, they seem to think procreating is a function like sh!tting that cant be helped. I hear so many parents of 3 b!tching about how bad life sucks and how unfair it is. and Im like WHAaaa? I have a friend whos a single mother and shes my only friend shes a really great and strong person she doesn't even let herself feel down, but what really upsets me are the people who are depressed or struggling or who hate life, having children. Thats one thing about the human race that never ceases to amaze me besides the greed. People who hate life, or who don't have enough, or who don't care about their children, having them. The people who run sweatshops lie to the hiring companies about the conditions but they claim when caught they just cant afford to pay the workers or care about the environment, but that's not true, they simply want to skim so much from the top that the people below suffer. The Indians have suffered the effects of pollution, but not pollution generated by Chevron, or possibly even by oil production. People are so damn selfish.

And who is behind the plaintiffs? A little-known group concocted by an alliance of anti-capitalists and trial lawyers who are probably not working pro bono.