The Pipe
Delightfully shot and stirring in message, the story begins in 2005 when a group of locals – to become known as the Rossport Five, who later served time in jail – decline to let Shell lay pipeline across their land, and find themselves in a tussle not only with the petroleum giant but also with local police, the Garda.
Mark Adams, Screen International
The film is beautifully composed and valiantly photographed (Ó Domhnaill (...) shoots clashes between Rossport villagers and members of the Irish Garda so closely you can virtually feel the rioters' breath in your face). But it's also politically astute: It isn't just one village that's at stake, but democracy itself, especially when the Irish government all but abdicates its role in the case and the Garda essentially assumes the role of corporate muscle. Shell will move on, The Pipe implies, but the wounds left behind on a small community like Rossport – where neighbor essentially fought neighbor – will take generations to heal, if at all.
John Anderson, Variety
Duration: 83 min
Dialogue: English
Age limit: K7
