A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
Basil Gelpke & Ray McCormack
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Plot Summary
An unforgettable and shocking wake-up call, A CRUDE AWAKENING offers the rock-solid argument that the era of cheap oil is in the past. Relentless and clear-eyed, this intensively-researched film drills deep into the uncomfortable realities of a world that is both addicted to fossil fuels and blissfully unaware of the looming “peak oil” crisis. Drawing on an international cast of maverick energy experts and thinkers, directors Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack debunk the conventional wisdom that oil production will continue to climb, and instead stare bleakly at a planet facing economic meltdown and conflict over its most valuable resource. Featuring a haunting score by Phillip Glass and a fascinating array of rare archival footage, the film explores oil’s rocky relationship with human progress in locales ranging from ancient Baku, Azerbaijan to dusty oilpatch town McCamey, Texas. Amidst a dark and disturbing vision of our future, A CRUDE AWAKENING hints at a humbler way of life built around sustainability and alternative energy, providing a visually stunning, boldly prophetic testament which provokes not just thought but action.
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Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
79%- Reviews Counted: 14
- Fresh: 11
- Rotten: 3
- Average Rating: 6.5/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: You leave a viewing with a sense of utter defeat. I can envision a future DVD special edition that comes with a razor blade, to facilitate wrist slashing.
Fresh: Slick, striking and sobering.
Fresh: An informative and unashamedly apocalyptic documentary about the world's obsession with oil that makes An Inconvenient Truth look positively chipper.
Fresh: A chilling picture of coming global crisis fuelled by our lack of fuel.
Customer Reviews
Good Introduction
I've been interested in Peak Oil for the last five or six years and it was nice to see some documentaries come out about the subject. I've seen this as well "Crude Impact". Both are a good introduction to the subject. What I found most interesting, was that interviewees are not "dirty smelly hippies" or "doomsday religious fanatics" -- they're rich white guys in suits who've been in the industry a long time. Now, I'm not saying hair length or clothing habits are evidence of the quality of an opinion (in either direction), but the people interviewed are pretty conservative types. If even they're worried .... As for the reviewer talking about the 100 billion barrels in N. Dakota -- google "Bakken". This field was discovered in the 50s. Nobody knows how much of the oil in place is recoverable, but they do know that the wells are slow producers and about 5x more expensive than a typical land well. The Bakken oil is very difficult and expensive to get out of the ground. There is no question however, Bakken will certainly help keep us supplied with oil, but only while oil is very expensive. If oil is cheap, Bakken plays lose money -- which is exactly why it hasn't been developed in the last 60 years. It's only current high oil prices that make this area viable.
almost there
enjoyed the information describing our lust for oil, however with this movie being two years old and so much of our oil crises beginning more recently wish this movie would have been updated for 2008. furtherly wish the movie would have given some more insit into resolutions to wing ourselves off oil such as solar wind algea fuel ect.
Open your damn eyes
Landon needs to get a clue. The black "goldrush" in North Dakota is the Bakken oil formation. Mostly shale and probably only 1-2 billion barrels recoverable. Yeah, that'll last the world a whole 23 days. Whew, for a moment there I was concerned. Time to wake up people and this documentary is a good place to start.
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