With its powerful narrative, Justin Kurzel’s The Order shares a message of the utmost importance and urgency in today’s political scenario.
Director: Justin Kurzel
Genre: Thriller
Run Time: 114′
Venice World Premiere: August 31, 2024
U.S. Release Date: December 6, 2024
U.K. Release Date: TBA
Based on a real group that terrorised the United States in the 1980s, Justin Kurzel’s The Order is an incredibly fascinating film that delves into a story many people in the audience might not be familiar with, or even have heard of, before watching it. Despite its 1984 setting, the movie manages to poignantly speak to today’s political issues in a fragmented country such as the United States of America. Therefore, it feels more relevant than ever, with the country on the brink of a presidential election and tensions running high.
The Order is based on the real-life events narrated in the 1989 non-fiction book “The Silent Brotherhood” by Kevin Flynn. The film follows Terry Husk (Jude Law, of Firebrand), an FBI agent who has just moved from New York to Idaho, as he takes on a new case against the white supremacist group called Aryan Nation. With the help of Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan, of The Card Counter), a local policeman, Terry spots a pattern in the recent bank robberies and counterfeit operations around the area that point in the direction of a radical group no one seems to know much about, led by the charismatic Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult, of Mad Max Fury Road).
With this subject matter, The Order is an incredibly necessary film in a political era where the far right is worryingly on the rise. The movie paints a picture of a divided country where its own citizens are ready to wage war against it in order for their harmful ideology to triumph. This is something we are unfortunately all too familiar with even in 2024. The intertitles at the end of the film also poignantly remind us that this is not just one single isolated incident in the past. In fact, this has happened quite recently in our history – the movie mentions the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill as an example – and may very well happen again.
Some of the images of The Order are genuinely terrifying to watch, especially those that feature the Nazi flag, appropriated and proudly displayed front and centre by the people of this neo-Nazi group. The very symbols of Nazism are prevalent in this film, visually conveying what the group’s prime and dangerous inspiration is. They also stand in stark contrast with where the movie is set, a beautiful and idyllic scenery made of green forests and a seemingly peaceful lake. But there is more to the setting than what meets the eye, given that this is where the group has chosen to stay. It is all even more scary when we realise that the movie is based on a real story, which the film never lets us forget.
While its political commentary certainly elevates the movie, The Order would be an excellent thriller even without it. The pacing is excellent: as the story moves forward and we follow the FBI investigation, we, too, start feeling the characters’ sense of urgency and pressure to solve this case as quickly as possible. The tension is built particularly well, especially in the third act. It immediately becomes clear that the protagonists are willing to do anything to catch the members of The Order. At the same time, the audience starts to inevitably care for both Terry and Jamie as we get to know more and more about their personal lives and loved ones as the film goes on.
The Order is an excellent film that speaks to the internal divide in the United States with a necessary urgency and importance. While the movie is set in the US, however, it would be a mistake to assume that something like this could only happen there. While the details of how the group operated at the time might be specific to the country it happened in, it is worth mentioning that the rise of neo-Nazism is not a phenomenon exclusive to North America but is very much present in Europe too.
The Order had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2024 and will be released in US theaters in December 6, 2024. Read our list of films to watch at the 2024 Venice Film Festival! Read our review of Nitram!
