A Crude Awakening (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Bonus Episode-Petrostates Interviews-Cast-Extended Interviews Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	83:00
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Basil Gelpke Ray McCormack Reto Caduff Basil Gelpke
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Daniel Schnyder

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Recently I reviewed the Australian documentary Crude: The Incredible Journey of Oil. Today I look at the film A Crude Awakening.

Peak Oil is a phrase that has been tossed around since the 1950's. M. King Hubbert coined the phrase to explain the point at which oil production reaches it's maximum before beginning a steady and irretrievable decline. Not suprisingly his views were treated with a good deal of skepticism. After all, this was the glorious 50's in the U.S. Cars were getting bigger, oil exploration was continuing and , what's more, the Middle East had just entered an exciting stage of discovery. His critics wrote him off as a crackpot and the World continued to burn up juice like there was no tomorrow.

If there was ever a more sobering call to attention it came when, only a few weeks ago, when the chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors, Rick Wagoner , admitted in a speech that the supply of oil was finite and retreating and that they would have to look for other forms of power for automobiles.His exact words:
There is no doubt demand for oil is outpacing supply at a rapid pace, and has been for some time now. As a business necessity and an obligation to society we need to develop alternate sources of propulsion. So, are electrically driven vehicles the answer for the mid- and long-term? Yes, for sure. But we need something else to significantly reduce our reliance on petroleum in the interim.

The meaning of these words has become more apparent recently when General Motors pledged to have 11 ethanol-capable vehicles on the road this year. GM has entered into an alliance with a company to construct a plant converting feedstock, biomass, agricultural waste and even municipal solid waste into ethanol. In 2005, the US Department of Energy published a report titled Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, & Risk Management otherwise known as the Hirsch report. The report is a detailed analysis of the future of World oil. The conclusion?:
The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and, without timely mitigation, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking.

In the light of the Report and the announcements by General Motors there is never a better time to invest in these two documentaries. Viewers should not be concerned that they are repetitive. A few of the same speakers appear in both but otherwise they are equally informative and interesting.

A Crude Awakening is a dead serious look at the crisis in World oil. The by-line for the film is : We're running out, and we don't have a plan. The overall tone of the film, made by Swiss pair Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, both highly qualified scientists. is not exactly despairing but it does suggest that we need to focus immediately on our options before it is too late.

For the film the pair (who are unseen) interview a collection of scientists, intellectuals and former oil company executives to present some cogent evidence that our friend oil is on its way out. The documentary is a blend of talking heads, contemporary and stock footage and old newsreels and advertising material. It is in their presentation of the last group of material that the filmmakers introduce humour , albeit of a black kind, into the film. We are shown a series of advertisements for gleaming gas guzzlers and even get to visit a large Hummer franchise which chews up more juice than a small city.

At least one commentator suggest that there is no chance that people will take the issue seriously until it costs the same for a cup of fuel as it does for a cup of coffee. The problem is that oil is just too cheap.

A Crude Awakening doesn't hold back from showing the terrible toll that oil production has taken on some formerly pristine landscapes such as Baku in Azherbajan and Venezuela. These images, more than anything else, bring home the realisation that once the well is dry it is gone forever. It also shows that greed and short-sightedness have resulted in an aggressive plan for exploitation of the earth but not any plan for the future.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers suggest that there are no easy options. Nuclear power, touted in this country as one possible as a saviour, does indeed create vast amounts of energy but there is far less uranium in the ground than oil. Electrical power and hydrogen fuelled cars are another option but these energ sources presently burn more oil to produce than they save. Etanol is a short term solution as it takes its own toll on the environment.

This is a fascinating documentary and one which every family should watch. If it has a flaw it is that the film is organized somewhat thematically making the ideas and concepts at times a little hard to follow. But this is a minor criticism. Like the Australian documentary Crude this is a must watch film.

Video

 A Crude Awakening was shot on digital at an original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This DVD preserves that ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

This is no visual World beater but the transfer is perfectly acceptable. There is stock footage included as well as archival footage and these vary in artefacts according to the original condition of the material. The talking heads segments are fairly crisp and very watchable. There are no compression issues and the the original material is all free of any defects bar a small amount of aliasing.

There are English subtitles which are clear and easy to read.

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Audio

   The sound for A Crude Awakening is English Dolby Digital 5.1 running at 448Kb/s.

The DVD case highlights this soundtrack as a special feature although the documentary doesn't really call for it. Ther is very little surround information in the film. The only advantage of the expansivce soundscape is to give greter depth to the music. This is culled from a variety of sources. The most notable is Phillip Glass whose music for the Errol Morris documentary A Brief History of Time finds its way into some of the key moments in the film. There is nothing quite like Glass's minimalist sound to convey the future with an undercurrent of dread. Typically the music is used for scenes featuring time lapse photography of cars on freeways or venhicles being constructed in a automated plant.

There are no technical problems with the sound and audio sync appears fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Bonus Episode - Petrostates

The bonus episode is a short look at Venezuela and how countries rich in oil can find themselves becoming prisoners to the oil. That country, it is suggested, earned billions but spent more and now is no better off financially. It is a lesson to countries like Dubai who race headlong to build the greatest monuments to oil wealth.

Interviews-Cast

There are extended interviews with some of the key commentators. Colin Campbell (19.58), Matt Simmons (24.41), Fadhitt Chalabi (23.42) and David Goodstein (18.44) are all given ample time to expound their theories in full. The interviews have had the eyes picked out for the film but there is enough remaining to actually improve the film watching experience a second time.

Theatrical Trailer

A trailer deep on portent and entirely appropriate to the film.

    A Crude Awakening is available in other regions in a form identical to Region 4.

    A Crude Awakening is a though provoking examination of the peak oil theory which should energize (no pun intended) anyone with the vaguest green tendencies to seriously consider the planet.

The film is pretty well transferred given the nature of the source material.

The lengthy extras are a good addition to the package.

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