We, the Hated: Inside the Abuse Aimed at Just Stop Oil

A documentary filmed from inside Just Stop Oil's protests captures drivers punching, kicking and dragging activists, with one man appearing to drive his van directly at them. We, the Hated, made by film-maker Rich Felgate, records the level of violence and abuse directed at the climate group as its members block roads — and the movement's stated reason for enduring it.

The Guardian's review, published 27 October, does not soften what the camera finds. "Hated is not putting it too strongly," the reviewer writes of the strength of feeling against the group.

What does the film actually show?

Felgate could hardly be closer to his subjects. His girlfriend, Indigo Rumbelow, is an activist. "Don't look at the camera. I'm a fly on the wall," he tells her at their shared house, where books about the suffragettes and Gandhi sit on the shelves.

On the streets, the footage is blunt:

• Furious drivers hurl abuse at activists blocking roads: "Have a wash you fucking idiots!" and "Middle class wankers!"
• The confrontation turns physical — punching, kicking and dragging.
• One man appears to drive his van at protesters.
• Another walks along a line of activists, pouring water over their heads, one by one.

The review notes that the levels of violence aimed at the protesters is "depressing", but sets it against their stated aim: to save the planet. The activists' own framing is quoted directly: "If they want to destroy everything, they've got to go through us."

Who are the protesters?

The film punctures the assumption that the movement is uniformly youthful. At one road shutdown an angry driver shouts: "You're children." But the footage shows they are not all young. A vicar in late middle age, who has Parkinson's, quickly takes his medicine before he is cuffed.

The documentary also situates the group within its direct-action repertoire. Activists glue themselves to roads and fasten their necks together with bike locks. In October 2022, campaigners notoriously lobbed tomato soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers — an action that generated worldwide attention and, the film implies, a measure of the hatred its title names.

What does this change for the viewer?

The review's caveat is implicit but real: a film made by a participant's partner, with a fly-on-the-wall method, will show the movement as it wants to be understood. What it documents without dispute is the price paid on the roadside — the kicks, the water, the van — and the conviction of those who keep standing in the road regardless.