The Order (2024)

I reckon it's quite a testament to the confidence of Nicholas Hoult that he's prepared to take on a role quite this odious. He's "Bob", an intelligent white supremacist who has splintered from an arian church scenario and allied with a few like-minded people. The arrival of "Husk" (Jude Law) to the area's long abandoned FBI office might put a fly in his ointment, though, as he befriends enthusiastic cop "Jamie" (Tye Sheridan) and both try to get to the bottom of the increasingly audacious crimes being carried out in the name of reclaiming the beautiful and unspoilt land of Idaho, and even the broader USA itself, from it's impure interlopers. It's a little slow off the mark, but once we have the battle lines set out and realise that both of these men are capable of playing cat and mouse ruthlessly, the drama gathers a pace that's well held together by the two protagonists. It shines quite a forceful light on the dangers of jingoism and also quite interestingly tries to present us with some modicum of the rationales behind what drives this innate hatred, or at least tolerates it. With an increasing degree of zealousness appearing once again in Europe, this serves as quite a well written and characterful lesson in just how easily traction can be found when fear and loathing are peddled together with ignorance or religion or, most toxically, both. I could have been doing without the agent's familial backstory. It seems we just can't hit the ground running with the story in hand without having to trawl through his past, his traumas and his excessive drinking habits; but I don't suppose that interfered too much as we headed to a denouement that's historical fact, and quite potently presented.

I found "The Order" unsettling but perhaps not quite for the reasons you might think.

First off, whilst a lot of license has been taken here the bones of this tale of Neo Nazi's attempting to replace the US government in the 1980's really did happen. The facts of the tale have however been misconstrued in a way that makes the core antagonists look worse than they really were. The question then becomes, why? Its not as if they were especially nice people to start with, right?

In my opinion, its hard not to see a thread of contemporary politicking in this film. In essence the underlying message appears to be the US government are promoters of peace and stability, whilst anyone opposing them is a violent merchant of chaos. Its a simplistic perspective that ignores the real need for change in the USA. A nation that has made political corruption and destructive war, its core business. Moreover, its governmental system has a nasty habit of going after even peaceful, non radical reformers, as well as racist violent ones.

Putting this consideration aside, how does this stack up as a film? Well, I'm seeing Jude Law in a new light. I'd never taken much notice of him in the past but he hands in a top notch performance in the role of an obsessive FBI agent, with a troubled personal life. Indeed, broadly speaking, acting in this film is excellent and it breathes life into the wholly believable characters.

The story flows well too, starting off slowly and gradually picking up pace. I'm not especially a fan of "terrorists under the bed", style films so for me to say I enjoyed this, for the most part and found it thoughtful is quite the compliment.

In summary, excellent acting and a strong script bring this tale of violent political extremists, to life. That said, its worth remembering that not all political reform is bigoted and violent. In fact, sometimes its very much needed. As is the case in the USA and elsewhere in the West, today