How to Blow Up a Pipeline is the perfect blend of radical politics and heist-movie thrills

In 2021, Swedish author and human ecology professor Andreas Malm published the non-fiction book How to blow up a pipelinewhich argues that sabotage of industrial facilities and other polluting properties is a necessary part of the climate activism movement.

Two years later, director Daniel Goldhaber (Cam) and his co-writers Jordan Sjol and Ariela Barer (who also stars in the film) have taken that message and worked with it, with an unconventional and captivating adaptation of the book. Instead of a simple conversion of the source material, the movie How to blow up a pipeline builds on the book’s ethos with a fictional screenplay, to great effect.

In the film, a coalition of young people from many different backgrounds and areas of the United States come together to bomb an oil pipeline in West Texas. There are university students, domestic and service workers, a local country boy and a couple best described as ‘chaotic punks’. They hail from places like North Dakota, Texas, California, and Chicago. They each bring their own skills to work and their own reasons for being there – it’s a true coalition of people coming together to make a real difference against the forces wreak havoc on the environment for own gain.

The film immerses viewers in this group with a lightning-quick opening, tracking small actions (cutting the tires of a gas-guzzling car and leaving an info pamphlet explaining why) and preparation for the film’s big job, with a sharp focus on the details . The tactical planning immerses the audience in the process, in much the same way as Todd Haynes’ masterful anti-DuPont legal thriller. Dark waters: There are printed YouTube screengrabs (no phones, no paper trail!), notebooks, and regular zooms into the details of the preparation process. Even with an intense focus on the details, Goldhaber wastes no time. How to blow up a pipeline leave enough for viewers to fill in, creating a perfect balance to keep the movie from getting bogged down in the moments before the big job.

One of the most exciting elements of How to blow up a pipeline is that it’s also just a fun crime thriller. Gold Haber skillfully uses the language and form of a heist movie to weave a radically political narrative in a way that remains suspenseful and tense throughout, opening the doors to a wider potential audience than the one who might show up for a political documentary or a message-based film. It’s a propulsive story with clever, interrupted editing, likable characters and a non-linear narrative that reveals crucial information over time as only the best heist movies can.

Another element of great heist thrillers that How to blow up a pipeline well incorporated is the group itself. It’s a group of charming people with distinctive roles and personalities, and it’s not a dour group. They have serious business, but they have fun, just like young people, with jokes and jokes (one member of the crew rolls an explosive barrel and exclaims: “Oh, she’s big!!!”), lighthearted frenzy of each other , and lots of gallows humor. They are full of energy, justified anger and life. It’s a treat to see the group come together for the first time, and when the film’s defining action unfolds, it’s thrilling and suspenseful.

Image: Neon

crucial, How to blow up a pipeline shows that environmental activism is not just for academics. This is evident in the composition of the group – most of them are from the working class – but it also shows directly in the characters’ interactions with each other and the world.

Goldhaber shows how each member of the group radicalizes, through a perfectly placed series of flashbacks that underline the action in the present and broaden the characters’ understanding. Some have relatives who have died due to climate and pollution problems. Some are caretakers who are concerned about the people in their lives who are at risk from the changes in our atmosphere. Some are sick themselves. The film also depicts doomscrolling as a potentially radicalizing activity, sticking with a character looking at his Twitter timeline as the urgency and desperation of the situation completely penetrate him.

The group’s local member, Dwayne (Jake Weary), a country boy from Odessa, Texas, who dips chaw and wears a camo hat with the American flag on it, is caught up in a land dispute over a pipeline being built on his property. He knows how much destruction it will bring to his home, his community and his family. His house no longer has potable water and he fears for the future. He tried to fight the company in court, but the preeminent domain prevailed. (How to blow up a pipeline deftly shows how many of the group’s members tried to implement change the “right” way — protesting, filing lawsuits, etc. — but their actions weren’t enough to stop the pipeline on the necessary timeline.) In a flashback, an academic documentary filmmaker interviews Dwayne and asks insensitive questions in an attempt to “humanize” him and his family’s struggles, as if the precariousness of their situation wasn’t enough. Through this moment and others, How to blow up a pipeline exposes the futility of “raising awareness” as a meaningful action.

Image: Neon

Image: Neon

Image: Neon

All the main characters excel in this How to blow up a pipelinebut the highlight has to be Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant), as quiet, bumbling self-taught demolition expert Michael from North Dakota. Michael does most of the group’s bomb-building and gets their supplies after getting a job at a local market. It’s a tough role: his clumsiness puts him at a distance from the others, but his intensity and dedication to bring down the pipeline builds deep trust with the rest of the group. Goodluck strikes that balance perfectly, bringing a righteous, seething fury to the kind of star-making performance that suggests a promising career.

There is one crucial place where How to blow up a pipeline deviates from most crime thriller stories, to its great advantage: there is no real police or detective storyline to match the saboteurs’ planning. A law enforcement officer shows up later, but as a small part of another character’s story – the movie really focuses on the young people and their scheme, with great results.

While the preparation phase introduces the group and their motives, the action really starts when they execute the plan. The film immediately becomes exciting, with sparing use of camera movements and fast zooms (on a burning pit, on barrels, on the pipeline) that give a tightly controlled DIY feel. The movie builds and builds ahead until it’s ready to explode, and like many good crime thrillers, the non-linear narrative ensures that the outcome is remembered until the moment of greatest impact.

Image: Neon

The film is also full of striking images. Goldhaber and DP Tehillah De Castro make the most of the vast landscapes of West Texas, North Dakota and Southern California, hinting at a past beauty destroyed by industrialization. All of these environments — snowy North Dakota, sprawling West Texas, sunny Southern California — are depicted with factories blowing smoke in the background, inviting viewers to imagine what these environments would look like if they were shot with care would be treated.

There is a shot at the beginning of the film where the group is driving along a highway in West Texas, where oil rigs can be seen in the landscape like cattle or horses in the distance. Another moment in the beginning, Xochi (co-writer Ariela Barer) sees two of the group dig a grave-sized rectangular hole for an oil barrel these days, then flash back to a coffin being lowered into a grave during a funeral. where she and another character mourn, in the background an industrial compound fuming with smoke. It’s a simple, beautiful visual parallel that gets straight to the point: an environmental catastrophe is all-encompassing and already there, and the film skillfully weaves that both visually and in the characters’ stories.

How to blow up a pipeline is the rare film that effectively weaponizes a radical political message by combining it with conventional genre storytelling. It feels like a game-changer: the kind of film that will inspire artists and budding activists alike for generations. It’s thrilling, tense entertainment with an explosive, memorable closing line. 2023 has been a great movie year so far, but this year will be hard to beat.

How to blow up a pipeline debuts in theaters on April 7.