How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a 2023 film about a group of eco-terrorists conspiring to blow up an oil pipeline in protest of climate change and other negative effects that it causes.
It stars Ariela Barer (Xochitl; Barer also co-wrote the screenplay), Kristine Froseth (Rowan), Lukas Gage (Logan), Forrest Goodluck (Michael), Sasha Lane (Theo), Jayme Lawson (Alisha), Marcus Scribner (Shawn), Jake Weary (Dwayne), and Irene Bedard (Joanna).
Examples:
- Affectionate Nickname: Xochitl is called "Xochi" by all of her friends.
- The Alibi: The group devise these so the authorities can't prove they destroyed the pipeline aside from Xochitl and Theo, who take the fall.
- Ambiguous Ending: The last thing Shawn does is look over his shoulder at a suspicious SUV followng him, leaving it an open question whether Xochitl and Theo's plan to take the fall for everyone else worked.
- Bittersweet Ending: The pipeline does get blown up as the group planned and they do inspire others as Xochitl wanted. However, it isn't clear if the consequences are what they want. Xochitl might well spend the rest of her life in prison, Theo looks set to die alone from her cancer and it's implied the authorities might be onto the others given Shawn sees a suspicious SUV that might be the FBI.
- Boyish Short Hair: Xochitl cuts her hair short right before committing herself to violent direct action.
- Brand X: Characters drink Heisler beer, a fictional brand used for props.
- The Caper: We follow the group as they get ready to blow up the pipeline, with extensive planning for how to make the bomb, set it and get away afterward.
- Childhood Friends: Xochitl and Theo have been best friends since they were both kids.
- Contrived Coincidence: Shawn just happens to pick up the book How to Blow Up a Pipeline in front of the boyfriend of an FBI informant.
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: Dwayne wishes the other conspirators a "Merry Christmas" when he goes to leave, and it's Christmas at the bar when he has a drink afterwards. Otherwise, it has no impact on the plot.
- Double Agent: Rowan is feeding information to law enforcement throughout the heist but is actually helping Xochitl by giving the feds only the information she wants them to know.
- Dreadlock Rasta: Theo is a free-spirited young woman who has dreadlocks and jumps at her best friend Xochi's plan to blow up the pipeline.
- Eco-Terrorist: The group plan to blow up a pipeline, hoping it will crash the whole oil industry and spark change which can save the environment from further degradation plus stop its pollution from poisoning people. Some of them openly accept the term "terrorist" for themselves, and know they'll be called this regardless.
- The Eeyore: Michael is continually dour for most of the film and even implied to be a death seeker at one point.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The film is, indeed, about blowing up a pipeline and shows in detail how it's done.
- Fiery Cover-Up: Xochitl and Theo burn the house down where the group had stayed, covering up the evidence anyone except them was there.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Almost right after some of the group talk about how people who make bombs accidentally blow themselves up quite often, bomb maker Michael almost really does.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Narrowly subverted. Michael nearly blows himself up with a bomb he's making by accident. It's mentioned to be something that happens frequently when people make bombs.
- Hollywood Density: When Michael grabs a gallon jug of drain cleaner, it's weightless in his hand. He also brushes a box next to it, which wobbles so much that it's also obviously empty.
- How We Got Here: All the characters get sequences showing how their lives were prior to the bombing and why they joined up with the plan.
- Idiot Ball: A drone surveying the pipeline shows up as the group is burying one of the devices and they subsequently knock it down. Instead of destroying its on-board data storage, they just leave it behind because one of the group says that it just takes measurements. The camera even lingers on it when they leave.
- Important Haircut: After her mom's death, Xochitl cuts her hair short, reflecting her determination to blow up a pipeline and devising the plan for this.
- It's Personal:
- Xochitl and Theo have more than just the cause of the environment/humanity being saved from being harmed by oil pollution as a motive to join the plan. It turns out Xochitl's mom died from poisoning by the oil refinery they lived nearby. Theo as well was poisoned from this and has cancer which is likely going to be fatal. It's unsurprising that Xochitl is the one who had proposed the plan to blow up the oil pipeline, with Theo eagerly joining before anyone else did.
- Dwayne's family also lost land that had been in their family for generations to eminent domain to build an oil pipeline, ended up losing a lawsuit, saddled with thousands in legal fees and live in a trailer that lacks safe drinking water.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Logan and Rowan, waiting to do their part of the plan, have a quickie in the desert, turned on by the danger.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Rowan was given the choice of fifteen years in prison or giving the FBI evidence against other activists. She took the deal, but used it against them nonetheless.
- Outlaw Couple: Logan and Rowan, two of the activists in the group, are a couple. Even before the plot to blow up the pipeline, they had both been involved with illegal sabotage efforts together as part of their radical environmentalism.
- Penny Among Diamonds: Logan is a Defector from Decadence among a generally poor group.
- Perpetual Frowner: Michael never once smiles in the film. He usually frowns, grimaces or otherwise appears dour.
- Police Are Useless: Xochitl's opinion of them in a nutshell—specifically the FBI—and one of the reasons why she thinks they'll get away with it. She thinks that the FBI Agents will be more interested in making themselves look good than actually investigating as long as they have their terrorists.
- Police Brutality:
- Security guards for the pipeline shoot at Logan as he runs away, which is illegal, though he'd have to get caught to actually get them in trouble for it.
- Xochitl and Theo get brutalized by cops as they attempt to surrender peacefully.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Theo and Alisha, two of the female main characters, are shown to be a couple early, kissing each other on the lips while they live together too.
- The Reveal: Xochitl and Theo planned to take the fall all along, covering for everyone else with help from Rowan.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: The scene cuts away when Rowan and Logan get busy, then shows them again after they had sex.
- Smooch of Victory: Rowan and Logan kiss when they see the pipeline blow. It escalates to them having sex in the desert.
- Taking the Heat: Xochitl and Theo, with help from Rowan, make it appear like they did the bombing all on their own, with the others getting away. It's left ambiguous if this works.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Rowan may be fine with committing eco-terrorism, but she forbids Logan from killing the two property inspectors who show up.Rowan: "We are not fucking murderers."
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: Rowan digs the bullet out of her boyfriend Logan's arm and bandages the wound, apparently with no lasting negative effects. In their case, they can't go to a hospital since a gunshot wound requires filing a police report which, in turn, could connect him to the bomb plot, invalidating Rowan's deal with the FBI and expose the others.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Discussed by the group the night before blowing up the pipeline. They know this will be called terrorism, and some are fine with the term. Xochitl notes that many people fighting in the name of good causes were also called this before their struggle caught on later, and that many past very revered actions also could qualify (such as the Boston Tea Party).
