5/11/23 - How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023) - 7/10

A booming echo towards the capitalistic/climate decimated wasteland of our collective futures, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an evocative and sneakily thrilling manifesto of activism via terrorism that explodes with a palpable intentionality. Passionate and gripping, it deftly ties together the thread of 8 disaffected and damaged individual stories and their shared goal of purposeful destruction - all taut , tender, and touch-and-go. The pacing and tension are finely tuned and purring.

The acting is consuming, the structure compelling, and the aim crucial. Each vignette is proficient and punchy. There is a fastidiousness within the core of the story; examining the nature of their actions and their repercussions but holding fast to the virtue in their malevolence. It was refreshing to revel and root for the “criminal” in their quest for achievement in havoc.

Vivid and captivating filmmaking. A terrific film.