Crude Impact

James Jandak Wood's 2006 documentary focuses on the concept of “world peak oil,” defined as the point in time when the quantity of petroleum extracted from the earth begins to irreversibly decline (although, strangely, nearly an hour elapses before the film begins to detail the scientific concerns raised by this situation). Initially, Crude Impact features a number of talking heads looking at the various geopolitical, corporate, and media machinations driving our over-reliance on oil. Although much of the material here has also been presented in other documentaries—including topics such as the rise of China's economy (an oil-fueled endeavor, of course), the debate on drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, the lack of energy efficiency standards in the U.S., and American presidents openly supporting brutal dictatorships in countries that provide the U.S. with oil—the film brings these various strands together nicely to form a solid big-picture-aggregate, offering a disturbing reminder of the myriad ecological, economic, and ethical problems created by the world's oil addiction. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)