Joe Berlinger has chronicled children's murders in the gut wrenching Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,  a heavy metal band's meltdown in Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and the lives of accomplished people in the Sundance Channel's series, Iconoclasts. In his latest documentary, he travels deep into the Ecuadorean Amazon jungle for a modern-day look at the heart of darkness. Crude, which has won a series of environmental and human rights awards, follows the 17-year struggle of a group of indigenous people in Ecuador suing Chevron for the devastation oil production has wrought on them and their villages. He tells the story through a formidable Ecuadorean lawyer named Pablo Fajardo who grew up impoverished in the oil rich village, worked the petroleum fields and then went on to get an education. His first case as a lawyer was against Chevron. Sometime this fall, the Ecuadorean government is expected to hand down a $27 billion judgment against Chevron but the oil company has vowed to continue fighting.  Berlinger, who lives outside of Manhattan, hopes his documentary will cause Chevron a public relations nightmare.

By Lorenza Muñoz

How were you turned on to this story?

Steven Donziger (the plaintiff's attorney) came to my office and told me about the case. So I went on a scouting mission down there in 2005. I was dubious at first because it sounded like so much had happened in the past and I like to follow stories in the present tense as a story is unfolding. Also, my style of filmmaking is not purely advocacy filmmaking. I think the truth rises to the top and you have to trust your audience. I think a film is more persuasive when the audience is treated like a jury member and has to wrestle with the issues. Also, I am not an environmental filmmaker. I consider myself a storyteller first and a journalist second. I needed a character that I could sink my teeth into. So, I didn't know if I had a film-I just had a lawyer who was aggressively pitching me horrors. 

What did you find when you went down to the Amazon village?

I  was shocked. All the water was polluted, the pits stink, they are constantly burning these gas flares, even the rain is black rain. This was once a little corner of paradise. It is where the headwaters of the Amazon River begin but 30 years of oil production has been devastating to the plants and animals, not to mention the people who have lived there forever.

So then what happened?

I thought maybe I needed to rethink my aesthetic about this film. The second day we went downriver to another town. I got out of the canoe and saw that the villagers were preparing a communal meal. They were using a giant vat of canned tuna as their food. I was dumbfounded that they were using canned tuna-like the bargain basement kind you find in Costco, here in the heart of the Amazon rainforest next to a river that used to sustain them. That broke my heart. That convinced me that I should use my skills as a filmmaker. I was also shocked that the story was swept under the rug. The combination of my shock at how devastating the pollution was and how little press coverage there was combined with this heartbreaking feeling for these indigenous people convinced me. I said ‘I don't care who is going to show this or who is going to pay for this.' I needed to make this film.

So you didn't have financing or distribution in place...

Exactly. Ever since Brother's Keeper which we made on credit cards and hoped that it would work out, I have never started a project where there wasn't a budget and a distribution outlet in place. To survive as an independent filmmaker you have to do the business end of the piece.

So when you decided to make the movie regardless of financing, did you come back to the States to prepare?

Yes. I was dealing with other projects but I made a commitment that I would not forget about the canned tuna. Once I gave in and made the decision that I was going to make the film, then things just magically started clicking into place.

What do you mean?

Well, I met Pablo. He is this incredible hero with incredible charisma. He blew me away as an impoverished guy who grew up in the oil fields. His first legal case was the Chevron case. He believes in the truth. As he says, ‘they have to think of a thousand lies to counter my truth.' I had this incredible character to sink my teeth into. I could not have predicted everything else that happened. 

And you even had a trial in the jungle...

You couldn't ask for anything more theatrical.

How was it in terms of filming in the Amazon?

It was truly the most challenging production situation I have ever had. First of all you are at the Equator-120 degree heat. It's a malaria zone. You had to be covered from head to toe. I took a malaria medication but by the third day it was making me psychotic. I had my own Martin Sheen Apocalypse Now moment in my hotel room. The natural elements combined with the pollution, you just had a splitting headache by the end of the day. Plus we were a mile-and-a-half from the Colombian border where the FARC (Colombian guerrillas) and drug runners were very active. Our hotel rooms were ransacked. Our equipment was
stolen. And then you add the dimension of being heartbroken for these poor people. It hit me over the head like a ton of bricks.

How many times did you have to fly down to the jungle?

Probably around 25 times.  I had a really great crew down there that was on the ground doing reconnaissance. After a year I put a fundraising trailer together and raised a respectable budget.

How much did you raise?

About $1 million. It sounds like a lot but with all the trips to the jungle and  the editing, it adds up. 

And the story is still not over...

Exactly. Observers think it will still be another decade before this is resolved. This is a case that has dragged on for 17 years and probably another 10 and meanwhile generations of people will suffer and die.

When you finished the film, it showed at Sundance but it did not get picked up?

I left Sundance without a deal and not really expecting one. I didn't have very high expectations. I mean, this is a Spanish language movie about indigenous people dying of cancer... 

And so then what did you do?

I was prepared for self-distribution. I went to Berlin to make international sales deals. I felt it was important for the film to have a slow platform theatrical release and then a DVD release and then go on TV. But on my way back from Berlin, I sat next to Seymour Wishman head of First Run Features in New York. I gave him a DVD and a few days later he told me he would like to distribute the film. When something needs to happen it seems to happen with this film. When I finally let go of my criteria, and decided it would be something else, things just happened.

So now you will be in theaters, but it will still be tough...

I am sure this film will be very challenged at the box office. I am expecting it to play in the top 30 cities. It's not like I am expecting this thing to go great guns. But the fact that it has a theatrical release, and that it has been to 40 film festivals and won some nice human rights and environmental awards is great.

What is next?

I am really just all over the distribution of this film. I have invested some of my own money into this film just to give it the best shot possible. But we are also in the process of doing Paradise Lost III. I am also doing a film about the horror director Clive Barker and I am also trying to get a feature film off the ground called Facing the Wind-it's about a guy who kills his whole family and then starts all over again...

Nice! You just love those uppers, huh?

I do, I do. I am actually funny at parties.