How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Bombs Before the Storm

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

This full-on propaganda movie tries to energize its message-heavy core by building it as a multi-step, suspenseful heist tale, and, aside from the thinly-drawn characters, it mostly succeeds.

Eight young people from different backgrounds assemble in Texas to blow up an oil pipeline as a form of protest. Theo (Sasha Lane) and Xochitl (Ariela Barer) are childhood friends; Theo has been diagnosed with leukemia due to toxic pollution near their home. Native American Michael (Forrest Goodluck) has taught himself to make homemade bombs. Dwayne (Jake Weary) is a married homeowner whose land has been seized by the government.

Rowan (Kristine Froseth) and her boyfriend Logan (Lukas Gage) are a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like pair of eco-saboteurs. A friend of Xochitl's, Shawn (Marcus Scribner), and Theo's girlfriend, Alisha (Jayme Lawson), also join in. The plan has been percolating for a long time, and as it finally goes into motion, several unexpected factors threaten to trip them up...

Based on a non-fiction book by Andreas Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline takes the stance that sabotage is an acceptable form of protest, as it hits a most effective target: the wallet and the pocketbook.

Perhaps hoping to avoid too much preaching, director and co-writer Daniel Goldhaber (of the creepy horror movie Cam) and co-writers Ariela Barer (who plays the role of Xochitl) and Jordan Sjol, structure their movie with a series of flashbacks, introducing each of the characters, their connections to one another, and why they are interested in radical activism.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to time or pacing, the movie neglects to let us know who they are, outside of their anger and their actions. The result is a kind of emotional detachment.

Nonetheless, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a bold movie, demonstrating that, for better or for worse, there are always ways of taking back power.