How to Blow Up a Pipeline

In an appearance on US talk show The View in February 2023, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg commented, ​“If we look through history [at] people who were advocating for social justice, if they had only used the legal methods, then we wouldn’t be where we are today.” She was reacting to her recent arrest at a German protest against a coal mine planning to expand; two weeks later she was detained by Norwegian police for action against a wind farm being built on indigenous land near Oslo. ​“We need to think outside the box,” Thunberg said. ​“Because this is an existential crisis.”

The sentiment that we’re past the point of peaceful protest being enough to sway global powers into action against the threat of climate annihilation is shared by ecologist Andreas Malm, whose incendiary 2021 non-fiction book ​‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ forms the basis for Daniel Goldhaber’s deft sophomore feature. Adapted by Goldhaber, Jordan Sjol and Ariela Barer (who also stars in the film as Xochitl) into a fictional scenario, the result is a tense thriller about those disenfranchised by the same corporate greed which is killing the planet.

A central component of any good heist is a crew, and Goldhaber assembles a striking cast. First there’s de-facto leader Xochitl, who grew up in the shadow of a coal processing planet and recently lost her mother to an unprecedented heatwave. She meets Shawn (Marcus Scribner) at a college climate activism group, but frustrated by the group’s lack of action, the pair soon start working on a project of their own. They make contact with Michael (the magnetic Forrest Goodluck), a young Native American from North Dakota – an area rich with oil refineries – who antagonises the out-of-state men who work at the plants, and makes videos of himself creating improvised explosives.

Xochitl’s childhood friend Theo (Sasha Lane) joins the cause after being diagnosed with a type of leukaemia linked to the industrial plants they grew up near, joined by her girlfriend Alisha (Jayme Lawson). They connect with energetic couple Rowan (Kristine Froseth) and Logan (Lukas Gage) who have form for eco-vandalism, and their search for a suitable target leads the group to Texas native Dwayne (Jake Weary) who has lost his home after the government seized the land for oil.

They conspire to commit an act that will cause substantial property damage to the oil industry, and hopefully highlight to the wider public how grave the climate situation is – the clue as to what this act might be is in the film’s title. The fact that this is a group of largely blue collar individuals with little in common beyond a shared enemy helps How to Blow Up a Pipeline centre the experiences of those more likely to be impacted by climate change.

Despite a large ensemble, each character’s motivation is explored succinctly, and demonstrates the power that exists in grassroots organising and action. Not only does the film succeed as a tense heist movie, it’s a sharp reminder of what we stand to lose when we allow ourselves to be taken in by capitalist propaganda or become numb to impending climate disaster.

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