Big Oil vs. Little People

Large oil companies have a deservedly hostile public image for corrupting democracy with their lobbying, causing environmental damage and consorting with unsavoury regimes to maximise profits. From Nigeria to Burma, they have been trailed by documentary film-makers. Crude: The Real Price of Oil [2009], a Joe Berlinger documentary, looks at what Chevron has done to the oil-rich Amazonian region of Ecuador.

Now the indigenous people of Ecuador are suing Chevron for basically poisoning their water sources and the land. Berlinger’s documentary follows this and the reality on the ground. The Ecuadorian President, Rafael Correa, has said his country is willing not to tap the oil reserves at the Yasuni national park if the international community forks out only half its projected earnings. Not one Western government has reacted so far. [It is worth sticking with the trailer below even if it stalls at times]

Another documentary with a similar theme is Total Denial [2006] which followed a law suit against the Total oil company by 15 indigenous Burmese people who had been forced to flee to Thailand by the military regime of Yangkon, Total’s and Unocal’s business associates.

At the other end of the spectrum is Red Oil[2008], which looks at how President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has rewired the oil industry to work for the benefit of the majority. Red Oil presents all sides of the argument in Venezuela and leaves it for the viewer to decide.