Crude

Crude by Joe Berlinger (2009, 105 min). Go inside the story of the "Amazon Chernobyl" case, in which 30,000 indigenous Amazon rainforest dwellers filed a lawsuit against corporate giant Chevron-Texaco: the oil company fights allegations of increasing health problems, birth defects, and destruction of their indigenous way of life. Although our sympathy lies with the indigenous people and their lawyer, Pablo Fajardo, Berlinger presents this epic environmental law cases from multiple points of view, including interviews with Chevron-Texaco's lawyer and environmental scientists. The case, whose battleground spread from the court to the jungle and to three different continents, grew to epic proportions, attracting media attention and celebrity involvement. "Rarely have such conflicts been examined with the depth and power of Crude. These real characters and events play out on the screen like a sprawling legal thriller" (Stephen Holden, The New York Times).
Discussion with the director follows the Nov. 7 screening.
Location: Remis Auditorium