CineLatino: Crude: The Real Price of Oil

Directed by Joe Berlinger (United States, 2009)

Part of the Spring 2010 Cine Latino Series

March 10, 2010

Crude: The Real Price of Oil trailer

Synopsis 

“Crude” looks at all sides of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case, a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that pits 30,000 Ecuadorean rainforest dwellers against Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land and leaving its inhabitants to suffer the consequences: skyrocketing rates of birth defects and cancer. Chevron denies the claims, arguing that the case was cooked up by greedy “environmental con men” seeking to line their pockets with the company’s billions. 105 minutes. English, Spanish, A’ingae and Secoya with English subtitles.

“These real characters and events play out on the screen like a sprawling legal thriller.” — Stephen Holden, The New York Times