How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Filled with heart-in-mouth action and brimming with righteous anger, Daniel Goldhaber’s nerve-shredding thriller is a compelling portrait of radical activism
Few films can boast the urgency of How to Blow Up a Pipeline. It’s based on Andreas Malm’s political manifesto of the same name from last year, but there’s nothing academic about what writer-director Daniel Goldhaber (along with co-writers Ariela Barer and Jordan Sjol) has produced. They have spun Malm’s potent political ideas into a nerve-shredding thriller that’s smart, kinetic and utterly gripping.
From its opening moments, How to Blow Up a Pipeline throws us in with a ragtag group of idealistic young people who’ve come together from all across the United States to take part in an act of sabotage on a key oil pipeline in Texas. Their plan plays out in exacting detail, with every ounce of tension wrung from its execution, from making improvised explosives from a cocktail of household chemicals to moving the volatile devices to their targets.
With their righteous fury and go-for-broke attitude, this fresh-faced posse (played by a who’s who of upcoming talents like Forrest Goodluck, Lucas Gage and Sasha Lane) could be mistaken for foolhardy eco-warriors if it were not for Goldhader’s ingenious structure, which intermittently pauses the breakneck plot at moments of high anxiety to flashback to the inciting incidents that drove each of these youngsters into taking a stand. It’s a technique that not only develops deep empathy with characters who initially read as shallow and reckless, but acts as a welcome pressure cooker release valve for the on-the-edge-of-their-seat audience. The result is one of the most exciting films of the year – and the most necessary one.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is released 21 Apr by Vertigo; listen to an interview with director Daniel Goldhaber from The Cineskinny podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube