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Whistle Stopper - A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash
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List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $12.87
Your Save: $ 14.08 ( 52% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: DOCURAMA
Directed By: Basil Gelpke, Reto Caduff, Ray McCormack
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: NEW VIDEO GROUP INC
EAN: 0767685992036
Format: Color
Label: DOCURAMA
Manufacturer: DOCURAMA
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: DOCURAMA
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-07-31
Running Time: 85
Studio: DOCURAMA
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Compelling arguements to consider
Comment: Today is June 12, 2008, and with oil is above $130 per barrel, we have an ideal environment to take in such a documentary as this. The scenario reminds me of a book called, "What To Do When Oil Is $200 A Barrel." Perhaps by the time you read this, it will be over $200 a barrel.
For this genre, this is a well-produced documentary that combines visual interest with good academic but energizing commentary. It plays out like a story: from the early discoveries of oil, the oil bonanza in the USA to the peaks in Venezuela, Russian states and Saudi Arabia.
As one watches how peak discovery USA or other early regions yielded to peak production then leading to ultimate decline, you quickly see the model used for calculating "peak oil" globally which many experts say is anywhere between 2003 and 2030 (many predicting around the next five years). The famous, so-called Hubbert's Peak is described by the man himself.
US production started around the 30's but peaked in 70's and has dwindled to a fraction of peak now. That's apparently what we see now in the giant of giant fields that produce a lion's share - some being pumpued with seawater to maximize output (something normally done when a field is peaking down). ALL these will eventually follow the model peaking scenario that was seen in USA, Baku and other areas. North Sea is also peaking apparently if you follow news in EU.
Arguements for being at a peak include the strong and sustained rise in demand, the apparent signs of peaking of the giant fields today and the fact that no fields this big have been discovered in a while (given oil companies have mapped much of the planet). This doc makes the strong point that huge discoveries are needed just to keep up with current demand - let alone feed growth - since all current fields will eventually decline.
But with price of oil so high, it will and is opening up discovery previously not pursued until crude hit a magic threshold price. The doc could have presented such supply-side possibiities more clearly to give more balance. But, this is a compelling documentary that will stimulate your own analysis. If nothing else, you will probably see just how oil permeates so much of our lives in the products we buy and way we live. PS: Some of the best writers on this topic in my opinion are economists who have little direct bias or professional stake in any particular outcome ("A Thousand Barrels a Second" is a quite good analysis of the situation).
Customer Rating: 
Summary: crude crap
Comment: THese guys that write these book must do one sided research, Peak Oil LOL not yet. We're finding out the earth core is producing more oil, sounds crayz ,but true. However, according to Popular Science Apr 2008 there are 175 Trillion thats right 175 TRILLION barrels of oil in Tar sands in Canada that they can extract a barrel of oil from for about $20.00 a barrel. Then you have 5 Trillion barrels of oil in OIL Shale in Colo,Wyo & Utah that they can produced a barrel of oil for about $40.00 a barrel. Then theres the Bakken Formation that stretches from Montana to N. Dakota and southern Canada that has 503 billion barrels of oil, then theres 40 or more billion barrels of oil on the Alaskan North Slope. 1/2 to 1/3 of the Gulf hasn't been explored and the present pools are refilling from deeper deposits seeping upward- from where -do you remember the core.
I have a best frined who's brother works on the Gulf oil rigs and he states they've capped off many excellent producing wells- wonder why? Maybe because Big Oil and Wall Street Commodity Traders want to keep getting richer with tight supplies.And we have all kinds of oil off the coast of Calif and Fla,plus 2 giant oil fields were just found recently off the coast of Brazil. China supposedly has all kinds of oil but no infrastructure to get it out and piped to refineries which they don't have either since it's rural country for the most part. Do we need to move from oil absolutely but not for quite awhile yet. But, fear books sell better, yet all the above info is readily available on the web if one has the time and searches for it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awakening.
Comment: This documentary describes a process that is inevitable... but at least it describes it rather than putting ones head in the sand and denying it.
The more people that are aware of what will happen when cheap plentiful energy becomes scarce expensive energy the better.
Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best environmental/political/social movies ever made
Comment: I work on a number of environmental projects and I have purchased at least 15 copies of this movie already to give to corporate decision makers and other executives. It is the most concise, balanced and articulate overview I have found on the Peak Oil issue. I can't expand much on the other reviews, except to say that this should be mandatory viewing for high school students...and the majority of adults in American who aren't even familiar with the term 'peak oil' yet. If everyone in the US could spare a couple of hours to watch this movie, I'm certain that it would take our national energy conversation to a whole new level.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just short of 5 stars...
Comment: While this movie is epic in it's ability to scare the pants off just about any oil-loving American it comes up short on it's ability to provide any sound solutions to our energy woes. While oil is indeed running out, it has been since the 1930's when the worries of this crisis first arose. While the movie makes some good points it leans heavily on the alarmist's side of view without injecting the reality of free markets and the resilience of humans to overcome the greatest of difficulties. I give it four stars since the masses need a huge dose of reality to wake up to what is truly a problem if we continue to ignore it.
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Editorial Reviews:
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While the previous eco-doc Who Killed the Electric Car? spent some time on the world's oil crisis, A Crude Awakening (formerly OilCrash) builds an entire film around the subject. Swiss journalist Basil Gelpke and Irish filmmaker Ray McCormack have constructed their narrative in a conventional manner, alternating between talking heads, archival footage, and modern-day material, but the addition of several pieces by Phillip Glass is an artful touch (and evokes his work on 1988's The Thin Blue Line). Throughout, a diverse array of experts from the U.S., Azerbaijan, Venezuela, and other countries explain how the 20th century became addicted to "the blood of the dinosaurs," and why contemporary society needs to change course. As attorney/activist Matthew David Savinar puts it, "Oil is our God." As Stanford professor Terry Lynn Karl adds, "More and more oil is going to come from less and less stable places...places that actually challenge the taking of oil in the first place." One of the more chilling revelations concerns the discrepancy between the reserves oil-producing nations claim they possess and the actual amount. These padded estimates allow them to drill with impunity, leading to an abundance of wealth in the short term and cataclysmic consequences once they've depleted their supply of this non-renewable resource. A Crude Awakening isn't exactly a day-brightener, but Gelpke and McCormack are comprehensive and impartial in their inquiry, which makes for an informative examination of a vitally important subject. Extras include extended interviews with four participants and bonus chapter Petrostates. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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