Crude Impact
May 2009 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

In the 1950s, the United States was the world’s biggest producer of petroleum. Shell geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that US oil production would peak in the mid-1970s and decline steadily thereafter. That dire prediction has come true, as the United States now buys so much of its oil abroad that it is willing to go to war to protect it.

But the makers of this documentary envision something even more dire: a day when the whole globe will reach a tipping point, a day beyond peak oil, when demand will exceed supply. At that point, says the film, life as we know it will cease to exist. Oil will be priced through the roof and only the wealthy will be able to travel.

As oil becomes harder to find, as many predict, oil companies will become ruthless in their efforts to secure it. Present-day incidents in Nigeria and Ecuador are explored to show how oil can bring out the worst in people. Other parts of the documentary show how the media’s concern has turned toward entertainment and decries the lack of real information that the public needs. The mainstream media, according to this film, have turned their backs on reports of animal species reaching extinction due to global warming and petroleum pollution.

It’s all grim information presented in rather dour terms by a revolving group of talking heads that are experts in their fields. A tiny bit of humor is injected by the use of old cartoon footage, but by and large we rotate from speaker to speaker with appropriate stock footage underlining what each expert has said. Once in a while the film goes in the direction of fear mongering, but the leash is pulled tight just at the final moment. So most of what one sees here is pretty level-headed.

As usual with documentaries of this sort, the footage ranges from good to passable in terms of video quality. This one seems a little better than others. But this is not the sort of movie you rent to show off your big-screen television. You rent it be become more informed about the world around you and perhaps turn over a new leaf that will cause someone to follow your example, perpetuating real change. There is some hope that we can stave off the loss of oil by using new energy techniques. Let’s hope so, or the waiting-in-the-wings sequel of this film will be a true horror story too difficult to watch.

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