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We can feel that our institutions are broken, that we are careening toward collapse, and that our systems will likely not save us. And our responses—in classrooms and churches, in halls of power, in bedrooms and on the street—are taking on a fervid tenor. From teenagers throwing soup at masterpieces to riots, mass shootings, and insurrections, we are turning from proscribed routes of grievance to more visceral, unruly, direct actions. It feels necessary to ask: do we need to escalate our tactics?
Explosions are fun to watch. A fireball is a form of pure cinematic excess. But what about cinema that takes throwing bombs seriously? In concert with the 35mm premiere of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, we have selected three films that informed our approach. Each of these four movies features an explosive device. Each pays careful attention to the physical reality of bombs—to their heft and texture, their seductiveness and repulsiveness. Each cares what these explosives mean to the people who wield them. These films ask overlapping questions, yet any answers they give are all their own.