Film Review: How to Blow Up a Pipeline & Mafia Mamma

Killing to be Free

How to Blow Up a Pipeline & Mafia Mamma

By Marc Glassman

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Daniel Goldhaber, director & co-script w/Ariela Barer & Jordan Sjol

Based on a non-fiction book by Andreas Malm

Starring: Ariel Barer (Xochitl), Sasha Lane (Theo), Jayme Lawson (Alisha), Forest Goodluck (Michael), Marcus Scribner (Shawn), Jake Weary (Dwayne), Lukas Gage (Logan), Kristine Froseth (Rowan)

Mafia Mamma

Catherine Hardwicke, director

Debbie Jhoon & Michael J. Feldman, script based on a story by Amanda Sthers

Amanda Sthers, Toni Collette, Christopher Simon, producers

Starring: Toni Collette (Kristin), Monica Bellucci (Bianca), Giuseppe Zeno (Carlo), Eduardo Scarpetta (Fabrizio), Francesco Mastroianni (bodyguard), Alfonso Perugini (bodyguard)

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

With the climate crisis looking to be unsolvable, and so many caring people in despair, what will it take to save our world? The shrill cry of Greta Thunberg can be heard in How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a new film by Daniel Goldhaber, which envisions eight disparate young people coming together to violently oppose the oil industry and all that it represents to an increasingly angry population. Inspired by a non-fiction book by Andreas Malm, which argues for a fierce response to our contemporary predicament, Goldhaber has created a tense thriller that incorporates politics into a high voltage heist flick.

 How to Blow Up a Pipeline hooks us with two sets of compelling tales. The first almost unnervingly gripping narrative revolves around how a group of impassioned amateurs are able to construct a bomb and place it where the detonation can create the greatest damage without killing innocent people. The second, and just as fascinating, asks who these young activists are and how they’ve come to the conclusion that savage action is the only solution to the global crisis. As a fine storyteller does, Goldhaber moves seamlessly between the two, offering revelatory flashbacks while propelling the inexorable plot forward as the conspirators arrive in Texas and form into a group working to strike a blow against Big Oil. 

Much of the film focuses on the eight who come together to fight by any means necessary against those who are continuing to destroy the environment. It may be key to understanding the unique nature of this Indie film that Ariela Barer, who plays the leader of the conspiracy, Xochitl, is one of the writers and producers of How to Blow Up a Pipeline and brings a visceral intensity to the story. It’s Xochitl who brings fellow college student Shawn into the plot and is motivated towards radical action after she learns that her childhood friend Theo is dying of leukemia, likely caused by exposure to toxic elements when she was young. Theo brings Alisha, her lover, into the scheme while Shawn draws in Dwayne, a tough taciturn Texan, who is in despair because his property has been expropriated by the government so that the oil industry can exploit the land. Michael, an angry Indigenous explosives expert is an easy recruit as are two strange Northwest punks, Logan and his girlfriend Rowan. 

This crazy quilt of angry activists work together for their common goal but there is little affection between them apart from long standing friendships and love relationships. They are together on a mission: Goldhaber makes that clear. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is focused on the conspiracy and whether it can succeed or not. Character takes a second place as the film reaches its denouement. 

Ultimately, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an eco-thriller that works. The audience will be hooked by a fast paced story that makes an act of violence something that is worthy of support. This is a film that is radical in its roots. It’s so well-crafted that many will find themselves cheering for that pipeline to blow up—a truly surprising conclusion for any conservative viewers, but this is a thriller with something to say. 

Mafia Mamma

Can women make farces any better than men? We’ve seen enormous amounts of raunchy comedies over the years starring everyone from Will Ferrell to Seth Rogan to Adam Sandler to—huge in the old days—John Belushi. Many have been big hits in their day but few have stood the test of time. Can women do any better?

Mafia Mamma is an interesting test case. With the exception of co-screenwriter Michael J. Feldman, the key creative team is made up of women. The film stars the brilliant Toni Collette, acclaimed for such films as Muriel’s Wedding, The Sixth Sense and About a Boy and the great TV series The United States of Tara. She’s accompanied by the Italian iconic actress Monica Bellucci, still beautiful in her late 50s. Mafia Mamma’s director Catherine Hardwicke is a veteran whose biggest hit was the initial entry in the Twilight series. The story is by Amanda Sthers, who is also a co-producer and the co-scriptwriter is Debbie Jhoon. So we know that this comedy should flow from a female perspective.

Mafia Mamma is a broad comedy that switches from slapstick violence and over the top Italian stereotypes to surprisingly insightful looks at the life of a woman who is in her own mid-life crisis. Collette plays Kristin, the granddaughter of a Mafia boss in Calabria, shown murdered by an opposing family in the opening scene. His dying wish is that Kristin, who knows nothing about the family business, should nonetheless take over the illegal operations including their “front,” a vineyard that produces terrible wine. 

To underscore how unprepared Kristin is for this absolute change in her life, we see her in mid-America as a ditzy wife, who is unhinged by her son departing for college and totally unprepared when she discovers that her husband is cheating on her. Arriving in Italy, Kristin is focused on having an affair with an Italian man—anyone handsome will do—while eating gnocchi and drinking wine. Her consigliore Bianca (Bellucci) has to keep reminding her that there’s a war going on with another family who are bent on killing her. Some low comedy mixed with violence is played out with Kristin accidentally poisoning one Mafia boss and rather unbelievably murdering a hit man. 

As in most rude comedies made by men, there isn’t much scope for character development in the film although we do see Kristin gradually take responsibility for her life, rejecting her now pathetic husband and building up the wine business. Too much of the film is taken up with Kristin’s clueless behaviour. Collette, who is a genuinely great talent, can do little with the character until she finally wises up and starts becoming—unsurprisingly—a proper Mafia mamma. Bellucci is underused except in one funny scene where she admits to having had sex with a now-dead Mafia boss. 

So is a raunchy comedy made by women different from one created by men? The set pieces are big and violent and sorta funny, which follows the genre exactly. The stereotypes about Italian men being handsome womanizers or violent gangsters are all too typical and rather deplorable. We do get some understanding of Kristin’s dilemma as a 40-something woman, still wanting to be desirable as she gets older but most comedies make at least an effort to do something interesting with male leads, too. Ultimately, Mafia Mamma doesn’t feel particularly feminist or subversive. You’ll like it if broad comedies appeal to you or if you’re a huge Toni Collette fan. If not, it will likely show up on a streaming service all too soon.