Joe Berlinger's documentary follows a legal campaign being fought on behalf of many rainforest-dwelling Ecuadorians, whose lives have been blighted by pollution allegedly caused by the oil-drilling activities of Texaco, a company since subsumed by Chevron. It's a pretty even-handed account, letting Chevron's spokespeople make their case and noting that the New York law firm backing the plaintiffs will take a cut if the oil company is forced to pay compensation. What's lacking, however, is cinematic oomph. The images of the Ecuadorians' suffering are powerful, to be sure, but the film has little narrative structure. Not so much a movie as an extended news report.
PG, 105 mins