‘This is not a Drill’ Review: Climate Activism Doc Feels Stuck in A More Hopeful Past

HAD This is not a DrillThe New Documentary from Oren Jacoby (Sister Rose’s PASSION), Premiered at the Telluride Film Festival Last Fall, It Wuldy Have Played As An Inspiration Story Collective Determination in the Face of Endless Funded and Institutionally Supported Adversaries.

Alas, This is not a Drill DID NOT Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival Last Fall. And WHATHER OR NOT YOU RECOGNIZE The SPECIFIC CAMPAIGNS AND CAUSES Advocated for by the TESE Grassroots Environmentalists, You Probably Have Access to Newspapers. Therefore, you know that a well-funded right-wing political movement and an unscrupulous and single-minded leader can, in mere months, wipe out decades of incremental regulatory improvements.

JaCoby’s Film Still Believes in the work Done by Its Subjects and in the Overall Principles IsPousing, But It Can’s Fully Pretend that Second Trump Adminstruction Isn’. Ostensibly Presenting as a Snapshot of Triumph, PostScripts and Footnotes Tacked on to the End of the Documentary Have Transformed It Into A Portrait of the Fragality of Progress. WHILE’S ACTUALLY MUCH more REALISTIC AND FASCINATING, THERE’S NO WAY FOR AN 80-MINUTE Documentary Completed With The Firmst Eight MONTS OF THE TRISMINATION TO DO.

This is not a Drill isn’t pollyanna -is or naive, nor is it wrong to Maintain some measure of hope; WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO? But The Resulting Film Now Feels Hollow and Insufficient Explored, on Top of Suffering from Structural Flaws that wold have been Problematic Under The Best of CircumstanCes.

Set Primarily in the Early 2020s, This is not a Drill introduces US to Three Heroes. Justin J. Pearson is a recent College Graduate Living at Home. WHEN Ail Company Announces Plans to Construct A Pipeline Going Under/Through A Historical Black, Economical DisadvantGed Area of ​​Memphis, Pearson Finds His Calling. The Son of A Teacher and A Preacher, He Leads A Diverse Coalition to OPPOSE The Pipeline and Fight Against the Creep of Environmental Racism. (Even if you don Remember The Pipeline Case, You’ll Recognize Pearson As One of the Three Members of the Tennesse House of Representatives Briefly in 2023 for Participat.

Roishetta ozane is a motser of six who moved her family to louisiana only to immediatally face the devastating Impacts from Multiple Unprecedented Hurricanes. WHEN She BEGINS TO WONDER ABOUT The Connections Between the Oil Refineries Literally in Her Backyard and the Storms, She Launches a Crusade to Educeate Herself and Those Cland.

Sharon Wilson used to work for the oil Industry in Texas, but she quit and moved to a rural part of the state. THEN FRAKING SWEPT The REGION. WHEN The WATER FROM HER PIPES STARTS Coming Out Black, Sharon Becomes The Industry’s Worst Nightmare, A Woman with A Fancy Infrared Camera, A BLOG, A YOUTUBE CHANNELSALANALAN ANDHAN ANDHAN About It CONSEQUENCES.

Each of the Three Main Characters in This is not a Drill is a compelling illustration of a figrent of sort of activism. Justin is Dynamic and Passionate, Aware of the Power of Community and Willing to Go Door-To-Door to Spread A Message. Rioshetta have an insatiable curiosity, and her transformation even in the Time the Documentary Follows her astonishing as she learns about lobbying and outreach. And Sharon? She’s Just Pissed Off, Especialy Hen Shest Getting Death Threats, Using the Power of the Internet to Spread Her Message in Places The Oil Company Can’s.

These Davids Facing The Ultimate Corporate Goliath Are Connected in A Big-Picture Sense, But They Aren ‘Directly Connected. Even in the One or Two Instances WHERE OCCUPY the SAME PROTEST, JACOBY CAN’T OR DOESN’T BRING THEM TOGETCHER.

The stories are separeate, but they’ve been intercrast in Ways that Blur the passing of time with Really Building Momentum. The Environmental Racism that’s at the Heart of Justin’s Advocacy is Important But Not as Central to Roishetta’s, and It’s Barely a consider for Sharon, Which Makes IT Hard.

Perhaps Sensing that pieces aren’t fully coming together, Jacoby introduces but barely utilizes a Secundary Thread Involving A Group of Rockefeller Heirs Whoa. Goliath Bank Accounts to Fund Underdog Causees. None of the Seckefeller Heirs Emerges As A Real Character, and the Documentary Is Fuzzy on Whethchr They’re Providing Financial Assistance to All Tell of Our Heroes Or. Every Minute the Camera Is On One of Them, It’s Not on Justin, Roishetta or Sharon.

THEN IN THE LAST 20 Minutes, Al Gore Pops Up To Give His Seal of Approval Mosstly for Justin’s Anti-Pipeline Work, Telling Us: “It Has Fallen to The Grassroots of Activists To. The Documentary Makes That Point Just Fine Without Gore Coming in To Actual Say The Words.

And the Three’s Whats We Know About 2025 and Mass deregulation, whoch the docurentary can’t deny and cante.

This is not a Drill Ends Up Feeling Inadequately Shaped, Delivering A Message That Wound Have Been Simplic But Admirably Hopeful Last Year. It’s Still Admirably Hopeful, But Ill-Adapted to The Realities of 2025.