An interestingly non-judgemental and dramatically gripping look at climate action sabotage.

A disparate group of activists have gathered in West Texas. Holed up in an abandoned ranch house, they each bring a skill that will see them blow up a gas pipeline and disrupt capitalism and environmental destruction for a moment in time.

There’s big picture planner Xochi (Ariela Barer), who has been stirred to action after the death of her mother. Theo (Sasha Lane) has a cancer brought on by industry. Michael (Forrest Goodluck) has learnt how to build bombs. Their stories are revealed episodically in flashbacks, often just as we reach a moment of dramatic tension.

And the tension is a tangible thing. They are all taking risks, and we are never 100% sure that each has the capacity to do their task and hold it all together. There is the inherent danger of building explosives, the chance that someone might be harmed, and the likely imprisonment if they are caught.

Sympathies are definitely with the group, and there are nods to other less violent strategies and why the groups sees the issue as too urgent for incremental progress. I’m not sure an audience not already predisposed to wanting climate action will necessarily be swayed to think differently, perhaps because the backstories seem plot notes rather than something we feel.

The ending is gratifying, even though it may not feel gritty enough to be real. It left me wondering about the impact of the action on the participants. Was it the start of something positive, or of always looking over their shoulder?

Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Origin: USA (2022)
Language: English
Genre: Drama

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