Despite its name, Crude Independence is truly a refined piece of film-making. In a genre where authenticity is often sacrificed for directorial bias, recent Weselyn graduate Noah Hutton has created† a documentary that truly documents, detailing an oil boom in the quiet town of Stanley, N. D. in an objective, slice-of-life manner. Far from having any sort of agenda, the filmís unbiased focus on its human subject matter makes it stand out as an informative and moving piece of cinema.
The antithesis to any Michael Moore film, Crude Independence reveals absolutely nothing about the man who made it. Hutton instead invites his audience to form their own opinions on the complicated subject matter it presents. There is no narration, and only minimal background music, forcing the audienceís attention to the fears, beliefs and idiosyncrasies of the inhabitants of Stanley, N.D.
As the viewer soon realizes, the people of Stanley are more than interesting enough to hold up the film on their own. When over 200 billion gallons of crude oil is discovered beneath their hometown, many Stanley natives find themselves in a position where their lifelong neighbors have suddenly become rich, while they continue to live under financially tight circumstances. As a result, gossip runs rampant and the jealousy that inevitably accompanies such a difficult situation seeps out through the lips of these normally reticent people in many tense scenes. Hutton does a fantastic job at capturing the bitterness, elation and confusion experienced by various residents of Stanley as they become engulfed in a sea of changes in their hometown.
To balance out issues surrounding the townspeople, Hutton also features ample footage of the oil workers themselves, who drunkenly discuss the perks and pitfalls of their work in a comically blunt manner. This portion of the film is especially interesting, as it presents the lower-level workers of an often criticized industry in a very human and vulnerable light. It allows them to represent themselves as people who, because of a need to make money, have been forced to put their lives in danger on a daily basis, and spend months away from their families. The viewer comes to sympathize with these men, and see them more as humans trapped in a situation beyond their control than conscious offenders of the environment and towns they temporarily occupy.
Thus, by carefully editing together copious interviews with individuals from all sides of the oil boom, Hutton has created a final product that may be seen more as a feature length collage than a film with a clear message. It is because of this objective nature that Crude Independence succeeds. The movie beautifully shows that an oil boom is an immensely complex occurrence, affecting many people in many different ways. The end result is a film that is entertaining, moving and illuminating in a refreshingly human way.