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| INNOCENT INFANT VICTIMS OF "CRUDE" |
Reviewer: M.K. Abissath (MA Student AES)
Title: “CRUDE”
Duration: 1 hr 90 MN
Director: Joe Berlinger
Abstract
The film is a true story of $27
Billion Legal Battle which ended in $8.6 Billion Verdict victory for over 300 00
poor victims of some rural communities in Ecuador against Chevron for Polluting
their environment. It was based on an investigative journalism work in the heart
of the Amazon Rain-forest where land and rivers were contaminated by Texaco/Chevron
oil companies from America. The result was that babies whose mothers drank water
from these rivers started developing skin, liver, kidney cancers and other
deadly diseases even before they were born. The movie was shown to us in class
by our Environmental Studies Professor Dr Murat Arsel on Friday, 21 February 2014
as part of his lecture. But before he
clicked the mouse, he warned us about some of the scenes of hard core ‘brutalities’ and ‘fatalities’
which could extract tears from the eyes of even those who eat the head of a tortoise.
The Cruelty of “CRUDE”
The movie opens with an
octogenarian woman with an angelic voice. This traditional old beauty has
decorated her face with a pink flower with a long stem piercing through her nose horizontally
across. She was lonely and lamenting in her song. The song was interpreted
thus: “We live upon the river with rich clear water…but with arrival of the
contamination…my brothers are now dead and I am the only survivor of my
family.” This sorrowful grieving poor
old woman’s lamentation is just the tip of the iceberg of the hardships and
suffering of the people of the rural community in Ecuador.
The theme bothers on
environmental criminalities of some foreign oil companies who place premium on
profit than human life. It further depicts how industrial capitalism has no
regard for ecological sustainability. Their
goal is profit and profit; nothing but profit damn the environmental
consequences. “CRUDE” is a film that must be watched globally for the
edification of all countries where oil and gas have been discovered and have
just started or about to start exploration like Ghana.
What the oil companies did in
Ecuador cannot only be termed as unethical or immoral. That will be tantamount
to glorifying them for their infanticide and homicide. In traditional Africa,
even before you slaughter a fowl for your meal, you are obligated to give it
water. Apart from polluting and contaminating rivers and water bodies in the
Amazon Rain-forests the oil companies deliberately dug dip and large holes or
trenches in various parts of the forest and buried their industrial and chemical
wastes in them. Some of the holes were covered and others left for weeds to
cover them. They created canals or drains from the oil fields taking the wastes
directly into these with careless abandon.
If slavery was described as
‘inhumanity of man against man,’ then this ecological criminality of
Texaco/Chevron against the people of Ecuador was worse than slavery. It would
have been better if the oil companies had forcefully removed all the poor
people from their villages and dumped them in some desert to fight for their
own survival rather than going to poison their rivers and burying industrial waste
in the belly of their soil. Now it is not only children, youth, adults, elderly
and other living creatures including animals and birds that are dying but
unborn babies are already traumatized and rendered vegetables even before they
see day light. It means it is not only the present generations that are being
poisoned and exterminated but there will be no future generations at all. That
is the difference between ‘CRUDE’ and slavery. While the latter had left some
descendants who could tell the story of their ancestors the former has no
future generations at all to narrate their ordeals to anybody.
Another pertinent issue the film
brought to the fore was the socio-economic, political and cultural corruption
of capitalism. Almost all the characters involved in the film, ranging from judges,
lawyers, office workers, were all incriminated in one way or another in
corruption through bribery, dishonesty, twisting of fats to suite one’s whims
and caprices were the order of the day. In one scene lawyers of the plaintiffs
and those of Chevron were seen physically in brawls in court or out of court
rooms.
The roles played by the
Environmental NGOs or activists in fighting for the rights of the poor victims
were phenomenal. The media played a central role starting with the
investigative journalism leading to the disclosure of this heinous crime
against the poor people of Ecuador. In
one of the scenes the power of the media was deployed in promotional, publicity
and awareness creation by inviting some celebrities from the UK or the US. These
were flown by helicopters into the Amazon Rain-forest to see things for
themselves. The media covered these events for the global audience. And the
effect was overwhelming. This strategy led to fund raising activities for the
provision of storage of rain waters in huge plastic tanks for the consumption
of the people. This and other water purification equipment were supplied to the
rural poor to prevent them from drinking contaminated river water for their
health sake. In fact, the Director of the Film Mr. Joe Berlinger is a master of
the game.
The object of this review is to
highlight some of the ethical and moral issue underscored in the film. But I
cannot end it without acknowledging the
behind the scene roles played by some of our Professors of ISS. Besides
classroom lecturing some of these Professors are engaged in various
environmental and agricultural projects in various parts of the developing
world. For instance, in December 2013, Professor Jun Borras also showed us a
film about Land grabbing in Mozambique where he and others were using their expertise
in assisting the disadvantaged in some developing countries.
In this particular film “CRUDE”
our own Professor Murat Arsel told us he is currently involved in a project
where the victims of the environmental catastrophe in Ecuador are being
provided with some scientific and technological equipment where he is assisting
some field workers in training the local people how to detect the level of
contamination in water to prevent the people from being poisoned. Again,
although it was American companies that were involved the environment
destruction of Ecuador in the first place it also took some other American
legal brains to fight the cause of the helpless victims. This explains why the
legal victory of the case was seen as a victory for humanity. But the
perpetrators of this environmental suicide and their cohorts must bow their
heads in shame!
Watch “CRUDE” here < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSonToHe8i4>
Story by Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath (Mawu)
