The Pipe

This film by director Risteard O'Domhnaill is an engrossing account of an unequal four-year battle between the inhabitants of the Irish fishing village Rossport and the Shell corporation. After the multinational company had found natural gas deposits in the sea nearby, it began building a pipeline with the consent of government officials which was meant to run across the land of local farmers. This gave rise to one of the most dramatic protest campaigns in the history of modern Ireland. The inhabitants of Rossport, who had fundamentally opposed the pipeline from the outset, decided to resist. Using old fishing boats, inflatable dinghies and their own bodies, they defend their territory by every possible means for several years. When even a European Court intervention fails, a local teacher begins a hunger strike and one of the fishermen decides to block a giant tanker with his own boat. The construction of the next part of the pipeline can only continue with massive police assistance and the doubletalk of state representatives. This thrillingly edited documentary underscored with impressive music makes use of dramatic protest footage and the breathtaking scenery of the unspoilt natural landscape around Rossport to present an example of civic activism in its purest form.