In addition to the legal struggle, Crude shows interviews from representatives of the plaintiffs and defendants of the class action lawsuit, and explores the influence of media support such as Vanity Fair, celebrity activism including support from musical artist Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, the power of multinational corporations, the shifting power in Ecuadorian politics, and rapidly disappearing indigenous cultures are explored in the movie.

On May 6, 2010 federal judge Lewis Kaplan sided with a petition submitted by Chevron and ruled that Berlinger turn over more than 600 hours of original footage created during the film's production.

[5] Berlinger noted that the movie has received international acclaim, that he maintained complete editorial control over the film at all times and argued that he had in fact gone to great lengths to make Crude a balanced portrayal.

[6] Berlinger admitted that he was stunned at the level of environmental devastation he saw in Ecuador,[4] but pointed out that the film also included many arguments from Chevron’s perspective on the court case.

[8] The judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in 2014 that the American lawyers for the plaintiffs had used fraud in obtaining the $19 billion Ecuadorian court judgment against Chevron and cited the film outtakes as a reason for his decision.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Dynamic, tightly arranged, and deliberately provocative, Joe Berlinger's Crude is a sobering, enraging wake-up call.