Daniel Goldhaber’s second film, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, adapts Andreas Malm’s non-fiction text into an incendiary deadline thriller.
★★★★✰
Daniel Goldhaber’s first film, Cam, released in 2018. It was a strong and eerie debut, hinting at the potential of its director and making audiences squirm. After a five-year wait, Goldhaber has returned with How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a searingly intense race-against-time thriller that doubles as a didactic, political film focused on the climate crisis and how to fight it. Adapted from Andreas Malm’s book of the same name, Goldhaber makes both an excellent film and an important statement.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline focuses on an ensemble of environmental activists planning to sabotage an oil pipeline. Cutting between present and past, the film gradually reveals their various motivations, highlighting the different ways in which people become involved with climate activism. Asking important questions about the morals of eco-terrorism and what is necessary to fight against the climate crisis, Goldhaber’s film is daring and intelligent. It is a rare, shining example of a film that excellently incorporates political ideologies into entertainment.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is dizzyingly intense. As with many independent thrillers released recently, it incorporates elements of the gritty, realist style popularised by Josh & Benny Safdie with their films Good Time and Uncut Gems. It is a film packed with extreme close-ups, an unpredictable synthetic score (reminiscent of Ludwig Göransson’s work on Tenet, at times), and the beautiful grain of 16mm film. It also exists within a group of modern films focused on the climate crisis, such as First Reformed or Night Moves.
Beautifully shot by Tehillah De Castro and brutally cut by Daniel Garber, the film is a relentlessly paced visual treat. Occasionally, this relentless pacing means that some elements are slightly rushed or left behind so that the film can move on. However, this aligns with the general feeling of the film—an all-consuming tension in which each character is focused almost solely upon their pipeline plan. There is a palpable pressure present that can be hard to evoke on film, and it brings a distinct sense of immediacy to every scene.
With a fantastic, young ensemble cast, Goldhaber gives enough time to each character to make their individual circumstances felt. He is also intelligent enough to shoot flashbacks in such a way that the climate crisis is always lingering in the background. In one stand-out shot, Xochitl (Ariela Barer) stands outside with an intimidating mass of industrial pipes in the distance, serving as a reminder of the inescapability of the climate crisis. Much of the film is unconcerned with subtlety, opting for an intense and immediate approach, but shots like these are impactful by their quiet sadness. Theo’s (Sasha Lane, of American Honey) backstory in particular is affecting, as is her dialogue about how as a child she would be burnt by the rain because of its acidity. Goldhaber and co-writers Ariela Barer and Jordan Sjol understand when to incorporate these moments and how to make them effective. They’re used carefully to contrast the white-knuckle intensity of the group’s terrorist plan. Without these moments, the viewer could struggle to understand what would lead the characters to an extremist display. These flashbacks, instead, provoke empathy and understanding which makes them feel so much more alive.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a necessary, well-timed film about political action. It questions how far people should go in their efforts to make a lasting political point and, crucially, remembers to signpost the various reasons why people become involved in eco-terrorism; some are genuinely committed to their cause, but others have ulterior motives. This film is bound to be click-baited as extremist and will almost certainly anger audiences with its intense activism, but it’s undeniably an important film in terms of its discussion of these ideas. It’s one of the most intense, heart-stopping thrillers released in the last few years, while at the same time being an essential film about extremism, eco-terrorism and political action. It works brilliantly on both levels, and is not to be missed.
The Verdict
Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline is important viewing. It is a fantastic thriller, an important political text and simply a very well-made low-budget film. Its ensemble cast does a great job across the board, the grainy cinematography is beautiful and its editing is top-notch.
Words by Reece Beckett.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline will release in UK cinemas on 21 April 2023.
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