Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Writers: Ariela Barer, Jordan Sjol, and Daniel Goldbaber
Stars: Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
Synopsis: A crew of environmental activists plot a daring plan to disrupt an oil pipeline.
In Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, a frustrated Rev. Toller played by Ethan Hawke yells out “Well somebody’s got to do something” when speaking to a fellow priest about the church’s involvement in the ongoing battle of climate change. His frustrations are not singular, millions around the world have tried to make their voices heard by stating the importance of the climate change movement and how we, as a society, have to counter the environmental damages we have caused to our planet. By the end of Schrader’s film, the focus stirs away from finding a solution to the biggest problem facing humanity, leaving the door open for someone else to find answers. With How to Blow Up a Pipeline, director Daniel Goldhaber’s second feature examines how far people will (or even should) go to make a real impact on this vital issue.
Based on Andreas Malm’s nonfiction novel covering multiple accounts of various individual stories to advocate for saving the planet against the threat of climate change, the film takes all of these stories. It combines them into a group of mostly strangers who band together to make a statement big enough to change the world’s current stance on fossil fuel admissions and dependence on oil. The group’s inception starts with Xochitl (Ariela Barer) and Shawn (Marcus Scribner), who are two college students working on a documentary focused on climate change. In gathering together with their classmates, their anger and frustrations continue to grow, as they are having the same old conversations that we’ve been having about climate change for the past twenty to thirty years. They are tired of the false hope they are told to put in powerful leaders, waiting for small changes to be made, but ultimately they get nowhere close to the legislation that can make a difference. So, they decide to see if they can pull a team together of experts on the issue to make something that will get the attention of the oil companies and politicians; they decide to create a bomb.
Once this decision is made, Goldhaber cuts back and forth from the group’s creation of the bomb to more backstory of the other members of the group, showing how they all got here and how this issue affects them or why they have nothing to lose in going head in on a project as dangerous as this one is. Emotional backstories only heighten the drama happening and the importance of this mission’s success. Take Theo (Sasha Lane), who is diagnosed with leukemia and wants to leave a lasting legacy before she dies, or Dwayne (Jake Weary), who has been fighting the oil companies for the land that has been in his family for over a hundred years and is about to get kicked out so they can continue to drill on something that was never the companies, to begin with. These frustrations turn into anger, and lead to our characters having nothing to lose, thus making an individual so driven that you can’t stop. All of this is written expertly by Barer, Goldhaber, and their co-writer Jordan Sjol, who create a tight thriller filled with tension and deep emotionality.
In an effective, tension-packed 104-minute runtime, How to Blow Up a Pipeline sucks the audience into the urgency of this mission by seeing the bomb being built step by step. Every setback or shortcut is slowly examined by Goldhaber, who steadily directs each scene like an expert, even though this is only his second feature film. In doing this, the mission of the entire team keeps us, the audience, on the edge of our seats with the last 45 minutes coming at such a heart pounding pace that you can’t help but be captivated. Solid work by the entire ensemble, though there isn’t a performance that stands out above the rest. But the point of this film isn’t to have big speeches about how to fix issues, it’s about taking action and thus when we see the bomb blow up, we see this cast now have to deal with the damage they have created and how this doesn’t end happily for all involved but it serves the purpose intended; to create a movement of change.
In the film’s coda, we find out just how impactful their actions are and what we will see going forward because of it. The spark has been lit and it is up to us after the film is over to make a larger change. The message isn’t preachy but instead urgent and real. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an effective political thriller with a lot of heart and passion behind it. It seeks to change the minds of people around the world, whether or not it will do that will ultimately be the legacy of the film and the topic of climate control as a whole.
Grade: B
