Stream It Or Skip It: ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ on Hulu, A Political Manifesto Turned Dynamite Heist Thriller

A non-fiction text by a climate scientist might not sound like the most natural basis for a sizzling eco-thriller. But just add this task to the list of surprising things that How to Blow Up a Pipeline (now streaming on Hulu) shows can be accomplished. This is not a guidebook, nor is it a soapbox – it’s a look at whether people can really unite around a process to achieve collective action.

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Truth in advertising – How to Blow Up a Pipeline does, in fact, show the steps of how to use explosives to detonate the infrastructure of Big Oil (though not with an eye toward tactical detail for the purposes of re-creation). A group of ecological activists from a wide-ranging set of ideologies and identities, no longer convinced the strategy of divestment from fossil fuels meets the urgent needs of climate change’s ravages, turns to the next frontier of their political engagement. Each is affected by the human-made contributions to earth’s extreme temperatures in a distinct way, but they are all willing to come together around an act of ecological terrorism in the hopes that it will disrupt the crude oil trade. From evading detection by the FBI to managing their own internal divisions, their disruptive action proves even more difficult than anticipated.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Think Reservoir Dogs or Ocean’s Eleven remade by your most online lefty friends who were the most vocal Bernie Sanders supporters.

Performance Worth Watching: Given the collective nature of the film, it almost feels like a betrayal to single out one performance from the group as more impressive than the other. Having said that, Ariela Barer’s Xochitl really jumps off the screen as the film’s most completely realized character – which is especially impressive given her full-throated and vocal embrace of radical action. (It probably helps that Barer served as co-writer and producer of the project.)

Memorable Dialogue: “Let those who profit from mass death know their properties will be trashed,” Xochitl declares. “They will defame us and claim this was violence or vandalism, but this was justified. This was an act of self-defense.”

Sex and Skin: The planet’s too warm for anyone to contribute too much heat from the bedroom. There’s nothing too scandalous and certainly no skin, except that which the gang has in the game to take out the pipeline.

Our Take: How to Blow Up a Pipeline blows up (pun fully intended) just about every expectation you might bring to the table in watching it. Director Daniel Goldhaber puts procedure and people over politics, though that dimension of the film never shrinks out of sight. He, along with co-writers Ariela Barer and Jordan Sjol, realize that the mechanics of cinematic storytelling require a different form of engagement with the issues at hand. By exploring the diverse backgrounds of the crew and how these different perspectives are a necessary but difficult component of uniting in activism, the film allows for a richer understanding of the action at hand. But they also aren’t overthinking it, either. After all, what’s more narratively interesting than a group of very motivated people taking clear and concrete steps toward achieving a big goal?

Our Call: STREAM IT! How to Blow Up a Pipeline provides a propulsive, combustible watch as it moves towards the realization of the characters’ pipe dream. By rooting this mission in the people behind the politics, the film gives a new way to make sense of ecological activism’s more fringe elements. You might not agree by the end of the film, but you’ll almost certainly understand.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.