Kristine Forseth – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 14, 2023August 15, 2023 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Andreas Malm, Ariela Barer, daniel goldhaber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Jayme Lawson, Kristine Forseth, Lukas Gage, Melbourne IFF 2023

There is a sense of urgency that permeates every frame of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, not just in terms to the necessary fast pacing that a film like this relies on as its generic backbone, but of course also in regards to its very subject matter. The feeling that we are running out of time is an explicit drumbeat throughout the film, a sense of desperation and speed driving the film’s cast of ensemble characters towards the act of domestic ‘terrorism’ from which the film takes its name. But even the label ‘terrorist’ is up for grabs here; in one of the film’s quieter moments before the crew get to work, a heated debate regarding what it means for their actions to be defined through the lens of domestic terrorism is one of the film’s many thoughtful moments where subtext and text collide.

Reviews

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE – Review by Rachel West

April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 Rachel West Andreas Malm, Ariela Barer, daniel goldhaber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Jayme Lawson, Kristine Forseth, Lukas Gage

Director Daniel Goldhaber’s How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a timely eco-thriller with all the suspense of a true heist film. Based on ideas in the non-fiction book of the same name by Andreas Malm, How To Blow Up A Pipeline structures its plot around Malm’s argument that environmental sabotage is a perfectly reasonable and encouraged form of climate activism. In 2023, we are living in a reality where climate scientists and activists have time and again said we are past the point of passivism when it comes to global climate change. Extreme weather like floods, droughts, heatwaves, and fires are now a common occurrence while governments, major corporations, and the wealthiest nations in the world still debate climate action plans at a glacial pace. And even then, those glaciers are melting faster than climate action.

Reviews

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE – Review by MaryAnn Johanson

April 3, 2023April 12, 2023 MaryAnn Johanson Andreas Malm, Ariela Barer, daniel goldhaber, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Jayme Lawson, Kristine Forseth, Lukas Gage

Even before I saw this movie, I thought it had a good chance of being the film of the year. Of the decade, even. And I don’t mean that I think it’s gonna win tons of Oscars. I mean in a more fundamental, profoundly philosophical way. I wondered if this might even feel like the first movie of the 21st century, zeitgeist-wise.