Screening of Documentary Film 'Crude--The Real Price of Oil'

In May Peace Action of San Mateo County will follow up on its March presentation of Antonia Juhasz from the Global Exchange Chevron Program. On Sunday, May 16 we will screen the documentary film "Crude - The Real Price of Oil", which deals with a lawsuit of Chevron Corp. by 30,000 residents of the Ecuadorean rainforest.

In 2001 Chevron merged with Texaco, which had for three decades contaminated and polluted water, air and land in the region. The result of Texaco's handiwork, according to the indigenous plaintiffs, was a preponderance of disease, and destruction of their way of life. They thus chose to hold the parent company Chevron ultimately responsible.

Producer and Director Joel Berlinger created "Crude", which runs 104 minutes, with a cinema verite style, using a backdrop of both the affected rainforest and the courtroom, among other settings. The amazing scenery of the rainforest - including contaminated sections - contrasts the film's depiction of a courtroom drama in real life. Berlinger trained his camera on players on all sides of the conflict to tell the story as thoroughly as possible.

The film's web site says it "focuses on the human cost of our addiction to oil and the increasingly difficult task of holding a major corporation accountable for its past deeds." The film's release last year - it premiered at the Sundance Festival in January 2009, and screened later at the San Francisco, Boston (where it received a Grand Jury Prize) and Human Rights Watch Film Festivals, among others - brought a heretofore little-known lawsuit to a much wider scope of attention. On Sunday, May 16 PASMC will bring it to your attention.

The film showing takes place at 7 PM in Beck Hall at the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo, 300 E. Santa Inez (at Ellsworth) in San Mateo. Admission is free, and refreshments will be on hand. Beck Hall is wheelchair accessible.