Crude (2009 film) Crude (2009 film) Crude is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Joe Berlinger. It follows a two-year portion of an ongoing class action lawsuit against the Chevron Corporation in Ecuador. The film follows the progress during 2006 and 2007 of a $27 billion legal case brought against the Chevron Corporation following the drilling of the Lago Agrio oil field, a case described by activists as an "Amazon Chernobyl". The plaintiffs of the class action lawsuit are 30,000 Ecuadorians living in the Amazonian rainforest who claim their ancestral homeland has been polluted by the oil industry. In addition
Peruvian Amazon Company César Arana ran the company in Peru. Its British Board of Directors included Sir J. Lister Kaye. The company operated in the area of the Putumayo River, a river that flows from the Andes to join the Amazon River deep in the tropical jungle. This area was contested at the time among Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and it was inhabited by numerous indigenous people. The company participated in abuses and criminal actions against laborers in the area, with its overseers using force and even killing to suppress the workers. An investigative report by Roger Casement, British consul, exposed the abuses, embarrassing