Had It is not a drillThe new documentary by Oren Jacoby (The passion of sister Rose), Created at the Telluride Film Festival last fall, he would have played as an inspiring history of three basic environmentalists who take great oil, offering optimistic examples of individual courage and collective determination in the face of funded and supported adversaries.
Alas, It is not a drill was not presented at the Film Festival Telluride last fall. And whether or not you recognize the specific campaigns and causes recommended by these basic environmentalists, you probably have access to newspapers. Therefore, you know that a well -funded right -wing political movement and an unscrupulous and resolved leader can, in a few months, destroy decades of additional regulatory improvements.
It is not a drill
The bottom line
Inspiring characters, but rushed and ill -trained.
Place: Tellurid film festival
Director: Oren Jacoby
1 hour 20 minutes
Jacoby’s film always believes in the work carried out by his subjects and global principles, he married, but he cannot fully pretend that the second Trump administration does not happen. Ostensibly presenting as an snapshot of triumph, the post -cript and the footnote notes at the end of the documentary transformed it into a portrait of the fragility of progress. Although this is actually much more realistic and fascinating, there is no way that an 80 -minute documentary is completed in the first eight months of this administration to do justice to pragmatism.
It is not a drill Is it not Pollyanna-ish or naive, and it is not bad to maintain a certain measure of hope; What can you do else? But the resulting film now feels hollow and insufficiently explored, in addition to suffering from structural defects which would have been problematic in the best circumstances.
Takes place mainly in the early 2020s, It is not a drill Three heroes presents us. Justin J. Pearson is a recent academic graduate living at home. When an oil company announces its intention to build a pipeline that underlies / through a historically black and economically disadvantaged area of Memphis, Pearson finds its vocation. Son of a teacher and preacher, he directs a diversified coalition to oppose the pipeline and fight against the flucture of environmental racism. (Even if you do not remember the case of the pipeline, you will recognize Pearson as one of the three members of the House of Representatives of Tennessee briefly expelled in 2023 for having participated in a gathering of firearms control.)
Roishetta Ozane is a mother of six children who moved her family to Louisiana to immediately cope with the devastating impacts of several unprecedented hurricanes. When she begins to question the links between the oil refineries literally in her backyard and the storms, she launches a crusade to find out and those around her on climate change.
Sharon Wilson worked for the petroleum industry in Texas, but she resigned and moved into a rural part of the state. Hydraulic fracturing then swept the region. When the water of its pipes begins to come out black, Sharon becomes the worst nightmare of the industry, a woman with a fancy infrared camera, a blog, a YouTube channel and a desire to follow the exit from methane and pass the word over its consequences.
Each of the three main characters of It is not a drill is a convincing illustration of another type of activism. Justin is dynamic and passionate, aware of the power of the community and ready to do door-to-door to disseminate a message. Rioshetta has an insatiable curiosity, and its transformation even when the documentary follows it is surprising while it learns on lobbying and awareness. And Sharon? She is just annoyed, especially when she starts getting death threats, using Internet power to disseminate her message in places where the oil company cannot prevent.
These Davids confronted with the ultimate Corporate Goliath are connected in a large scale, but they are not directly connected. Even in one or two cases where they occupy the same demonstration, Jacoby cannot or do not bring them together.
The stories are separated, but they were interspersed together in a way that blurs the time without really taking momentum. The environmental racism which is at the heart of Justin’s plea is important but not as central for that of Roishetta, and it is barely a consideration for Sharon, which makes it difficult to take place.
Perhaps feeling that the parts do not meet fully, Jacoby presents but barely uses a secondary thread involving a group of heirs of Rockefeller who are the opposite of Davids, but use their Bank accounts of Goliath to finance the causes of the outsiders. None of these Rockefeller heirs appears as a real character, and the documentary is vague that they provide financial assistance to our three heroes or none. Every minute, the camera is on one of them, it’s not on Justin, Roistta or Sharon.
Then in the last 20 minutes, Al Gore appears to give his approval seal mainly for the anti-pipeline work of Justin, saying to us: “He fell to the basic activists to speak with the voice of mental health.” The documentary makes this point very good without Gore coming to really say the words.
And then there is what we know in 2025 and mass deregulation, which the documentary cannot deny and cannot engage.
It is not a drill ends up feeling insufficiently shaped, transmitting a message that would have been simplistic but admirably full of hope last year. It is still admirably full of hope, but poorly suited to the realities of 2025.
