April 13, 2023
FILM: HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
DIRECTED BY: DANIEL GOLDHABER
STARRING: ARIELA BARER, KRISTINE FROSETH, LUKAS GAGE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
At the start of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, several young people are engaged in preparations for the title event. We don’t know why but they are completely committed to their tasks whether it be mixing some chemicals or digging deep into the ground. Couple this with some intense techno music and a tension-filled experience sets the stage for what is hopefully come. Fortunately, director Daniel Goldhaber never lets viewers down, for this is a very intense AND philosophically driven film.
The structure is such that characters’ reasons for being involved in this plot are provided through flashbacks. One just lost a parent due to chemical toxins in the air, another has a terminal illness brought on by similar environmental issues. One of the other vigilantes doesn’t like that a pipeline is going through his personal property in Texas. In other words, each of these characters feel they are justified in what they are planning and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Philosophically they all feel that the chemicals in the environment are creating disastrous results for the ecology of our planet. They’ve seen it affect each of them in one sad way or another. They know they are creating havoc for the oil industry. One character even says, ”sabotage is messy.” It’s sometimes necessary to scare people to change a way of life that is ultimately doing more harm than good.
What’s great about the way the narrative and these themes develop is that they are never labored over for too long. This isn’t the kind of film that has slow moments to balance out bigger scenes. Even the flashbacks feature their own tensions. Yet, there are still moments of reflection by the characters. Are they hurting people? They debate if they are terrorists. Essentially is one a terrorist if they are trying to help? One character goes so far as to claim then that Jesus must have been a terrorist. It’s an interesting perspective and one that is hard to argue with in the context of the film. These characters wholeheartedly believe they are doing something that will benefit the greater good. “Revolution has collateral damage,” says one of them.
None of it is ever made to look glamorous either. The cinematography is grittier than the setting might suggest. West Texas can be beautiful but that’s not what Goldhaber is going for here. He’s taking us into the dirt and sand within an atmosphere that has been poisoned by gases. Why would he want to make the area look alluring? It’s been polluted.
The actors also have a gritty quality that helps underscore their far from glamorous quest. These aren’t amateurs either. They’re a bunch of actors on the cusp of major success. Some of them are already known for other projects such as Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant), Sasha Lane (American Honey) and Marcus Scribner (Black-ish). One of the real stand out performances comes from Jayme Lawson (The Batman, Till, The Woman King.) Her character is somewhat of an outsider and doesn’t quite have the same drive for this mission as the others do. In scene after scene, Lawson beautifully expresses the turmoil facing her character as well as that of her girlfriend.
While watching the film, I couldn’t help but think of David Lean’s great Oscar-winning epic Bridge on the River Kwai. In both films, we know something “explosive” is literally going to happen. But Lean made his film in the 1950s when narratives followed a slow-building classical structure. Here, Goldhaber paces the story using modern storytelling elements that Quentin Tarantino perfected with a film like Reservoir Dogs. We’re in the action from the get go and we’re given brief but necessary details as to how all the characters reached this point in their lives. It’s very satisfying storytelling. What perhaps Tarantino didn’t include was that sense of ethical questioning that the characters in Goldhaber’s film have already pondered. Tarantino’s characters were just a bit too greedy. Goldhaber and his characters want us to see that sometimes crime can be necessary to ward off even greater travesties.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline opens in theaters this week.
FILM: HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
DIRECTED BY: DANIEL GOLDHABER
STARRING: ARIELA BARER, KRISTINE FROSETH, LUKAS GAGE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
At the start of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, several young people are engaged in preparations for the title event. We don’t know why but they are completely committed to their tasks whether it be mixing some chemicals or digging deep into the ground. Couple this with some intense techno music and a tension-filled experience sets the stage for what is hopefully come. Fortunately, director Daniel Goldhaber never lets viewers down, for this is a very intense AND philosophically driven film.
The structure is such that characters’ reasons for being involved in this plot are provided through flashbacks. One just lost a parent due to chemical toxins in the air, another has a terminal illness brought on by similar environmental issues. One of the other vigilantes doesn’t like that a pipeline is going through his personal property in Texas. In other words, each of these characters feel they are justified in what they are planning and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Philosophically they all feel that the chemicals in the environment are creating disastrous results for the ecology of our planet. They’ve seen it affect each of them in one sad way or another. They know they are creating havoc for the oil industry. One character even says, ”sabotage is messy.” It’s sometimes necessary to scare people to change a way of life that is ultimately doing more harm than good.
What’s great about the way the narrative and these themes develop is that they are never labored over for too long. This isn’t the kind of film that has slow moments to balance out bigger scenes. Even the flashbacks feature their own tensions. Yet, there are still moments of reflection by the characters. Are they hurting people? They debate if they are terrorists. Essentially is one a terrorist if they are trying to help? One character goes so far as to claim then that Jesus must have been a terrorist. It’s an interesting perspective and one that is hard to argue with in the context of the film. These characters wholeheartedly believe they are doing something that will benefit the greater good. “Revolution has collateral damage,” says one of them.
None of it is ever made to look glamorous either. The cinematography is grittier than the setting might suggest. West Texas can be beautiful but that’s not what Goldhaber is going for here. He’s taking us into the dirt and sand within an atmosphere that has been poisoned by gases. Why would he want to make the area look alluring? It’s been polluted.
The actors also have a gritty quality that helps underscore their far from glamorous quest. These aren’t amateurs either. They’re a bunch of actors on the cusp of major success. Some of them are already known for other projects such as Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant), Sasha Lane (American Honey) and Marcus Scribner (Black-ish). One of the real stand out performances comes from Jayme Lawson (The Batman, Till, The Woman King.) Her character is somewhat of an outsider and doesn’t quite have the same drive for this mission as the others do. In scene after scene, Lawson beautifully expresses the turmoil facing her character as well as that of her girlfriend.
While watching the film, I couldn’t help but think of David Lean’s great Oscar-winning epic Bridge on the River Kwai. In both films, we know something “explosive” is literally going to happen. But Lean made his film in the 1950s when narratives followed a slow-building classical structure. Here, Goldhaber paces the story using modern storytelling elements that Quentin Tarantino perfected with a film like Reservoir Dogs. We’re in the action from the get go and we’re given brief but necessary details as to how all the characters reached this point in their lives. It’s very satisfying storytelling. What perhaps Tarantino didn’t include was that sense of ethical questioning that the characters in Goldhaber’s film have already pondered. Tarantino’s characters were just a bit too greedy. Goldhaber and his characters want us to see that sometimes crime can be necessary to ward off even greater travesties.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline opens in theaters this week.