What is refreshing about this documentary is that it is balanced.
It is about the 17-year, $27.3 billion lawsuit brought against Chevron for allegedly dumping toxic oil waste in the Amazon sector of Ecuador.
The 30,000 residents of the area have filed a class action suit against Chevron, which assumed control of Texaco in 2001.
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The indigenous people claim the oil company’s practices have resulted in sickness and death.
While the beginning of the film seems to prepare the viewer for a one-sided David vs. Goliath story, it gives ample time to Chevron representatives who claim that not only is the oil company free from blame but that attention should be paid to the role Petroecuador (the national oil company) has played in the area since 1993.
At least one of the Chevron representatives explains that the company acted in a way that was consistent with the law. He says the government of Ecuador allowed for the exploitation of the area and that the condemnation belongs to the government.
Yet, people are getting sick and dying in a way that hadn’t happened before.
While a Chevron spokesman claims a big shot law firm in Manhattan is seeking to cash in on the settlement, it is obvious the people named in the lawsuit are anything but greedy people looking to capitalize on a tragedy. They are residents of an area that was pristine until oil was extracted from there.
Perhaps most unsettling is the testimony of a Chevron environmentalist who appears totally sincere when she says that she has found no evidence of toxic oil waste in the area in question.
That, juxtaposed with interviews of people crying because they cannot afford healthcare for their sick children, leaves the viewer wondering who really is to blame.
This film strikes a balance and shows both sides as neither black nor white but as gray.
A recent article in the SFGate provides a good background of the story as well as recent developments.
“Crude” is available for rent.
Murphy can be reached at: [email protected]
