HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE (2022)
This review may contain spoilers.
It's not hard to imagine a better version of this film—one where the performances are a bit more nuanced, the tension a bit more palpable, the editing a bit more taut. But I think this succeeds on its own merits—as a proudly low-budget realist, character-driven thriller—and I must say that I was happy that the film doesn't hedge from its premise: although it acknowledges that the titular act may have some morally questionable overtones, it largely commits to making an argument for its ethical justness, and it doesn't cop out at the last second and turn it into a "crime doesn't pay" story or engage in "yes, but at what cost" handwringing. I'm not saying a film has to share my politics to be good, but I am saying it's refreshing to see a film that commits to a set of genuinely counterhegemonic convictions, that wants to do more than just flirt noncommittally with leftist politics (or, worse, to borrow cynically from leftist aesthetics as a source of attractive people and a vibes-based authenticity that can be discarded once it's narratively inconvenient).
jbushnell
