Crude
First Run Features | Release Date: September 9, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Ahead of us lie many more documentaries similar in tone and spirit to this one. We can hope that at least a few of them are as intelligently and artfully made. Read full review
90
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Remarkable documentary. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Here’s a powerhouse of a documentary that makes you feel mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
What's less clear, and more maddening, is how several generations of Ecuadorans have been left to live on toxic land, their health and livelihoods compromised, while lawyers file motions and counter-motions and blame is passed around. Read full review
88
Washington PostJohn Anderson
If the movie is any indication, Chevron would have the public believe there was no Amazon at all -- something people might be willing to believe, were Berlinger not sticking Crude in their faces. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Crude is so crammed with facts and figures that it can be a little dizzying, but what’s more important is what Berlinger records between all the talking-head interviews and vérité footage. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's a David-and-Goliath tale, full of anger and disturbing accusation, but it's also inspiring. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterEric Monder
Minor flaws and all, Crude represents a crucial document as much as any evidence put forward in the courtroom itself. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis Harvey
Picture makes an engrossing case for justice. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Corporate inhumanity Berlinger ferociously exposes. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
For what Crude does best is take us behind the scenes and show in often candid detail how campaigns are waged, tactics decided on and strategies prioritized. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Crude's moving testimony and careful documentation make it hard to turn away from this issue. It will certainly remain in your mind the next time you stop for gas. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
No film could convey all the complexities of the case - what Crude does is air the plaintiffs' claims and show the lawyers at work. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Part eco-doc, part legal-doc, it is a troubling, real story -- and a well-told one at that -- that is inspiring and infuriating all at once. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
What makes Crude worthy of the overused term “epic” is the way the case symbolizes a host of contemporary issues: the iron-fistedness of multinational corporations; environmental despoliation; the disappearance of indigenous cultures; and the power of celebrity and the media to influence justice. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
So, yes, something needs to be done, and if it takes Sting reuniting the Police in-concert to sing “sending out an SOS’’ on behalf of the plaintiffs (among other worthy causes), so be it. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianStan Hall
Crude is only a progress report of a case that might last until well into the decade, the sordid details of which are still, pardon the pun, spilling out. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Here's what's depressing: that, given the millions spent on defense by multinational conglomerates, our last best hope isn't the courts but the fickle attentions of glossy magazines and the noblesse oblige of celebrities. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Berlinger is fully invested here, but a little distance might have helped. Read full review
60
EmpireDan Jolin
Not exactly genre-bending innovation or anything but a decent documentary about an important episode in history of oil company exploitation. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
Like its subject, a lawsuit that is expected to go on for another 10 years, Crude has no ending. This is the perfect ending for this Goliath versus Goliath documentary about powerful personal-injury lawyers taking on a powerful corporation. Read full review
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