Jude Law, Jurnee Smollett and Tye Sheridan (L-R) star in “The Order” (Photo Credit: Charlie Nelson).
(“The Order” trailer courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes Trailers)
In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr coined a phrase that translates to “the more things change the more things stay the same.”
That phrase applies perfectly to mankind in general, and more specifically to the racial caste system that is present in current-day America, and dates to 1619.
And although “The Order” takes place in the early 1980s Pacific Northwest, the order that many of the movie’s characters want to maintain mirrors modern-day politics and the notion that “real Americans” need to take their country back.
Throughout American history, extreme White backlash has often followed major minority progress.
For every minority gain, some in White society believe that an opportunity has been stolen from them.
Sometimes, that frustration only resorts to empty rhetoric.
Sometimes, the anger resorts to people voting for certain candidates and political parties.
And sometimes, that disgust also leads to violence, White supremacy and homegrown terrorism.
Unfortunately, some in White society believe that violence is the only way to stop a minority invasion, and in “The Order,” which is based on true events, filmmaker Justin Kurzel presents a bleak and dangerous wakeup call that shows that America has never truly gotten over its obsession with hate, racism and upheaval.
And that obsession will always lead to pointless carnage.
“The Order” begins with a mafioso-like bang.
When a person gets involved with any type of organized crime, one key to long term survival is keeping a closed mouth because, as they say, loose lips sink ships.
Even if loose lips do not sink actual ships, loose lips can get a loudmouth lowered six feet below the Earth’s surface prior to the time that God actually wanted that person to expire.
However, violence will not just shut up a loudmouth.
The thought that someone could become the next to take a permanent “dirt nap” also gives others in the movement incentive to shut what they call the heck up.
Unfortunately for law abiding citizens, the government and minorities, that is exactly what happens in “The Order.”
In the movie, that begins in 1983 and ends one year later, Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult, “The Banker”) is tired of the empty rhetoric that comes from older leaders in the White supremacist movement.
Yes, he agrees with them that one day the Aryan brotherhood will take back their land from the Jews and the Blacks.
But he is tired of simply waiting and praying for a White Heaven on Earth.
In “The Order,” Bob wants to take back his country violently and restore order to the way his God intended.
Blessed with an evil charisma, Bob begins to steal away members from some of the older leaders in the movement.
With his new devoted followers, Bob begins a mission to raise money to support a planned race war against the United States government that would restore order once and for all.
To get to that perceived promised land, Bob and his band of hooligans resort to counterfeiting money and armed bank and armored truck robberies to fund their unholy war.
The group is so brazen that they begin openly recruiting potential members by placing flyers up everywhere in their small Idaho town.
Even when FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”) begins investigating, he receives hesitation from the town’s police chief.
Despite receiving the cold shoulder from the police chief, officer Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan, “Ready Player One”) tells Terry do not think everyone in that part of Idaho wears a white sheet over their heads because in every bad situation, there are always good people that want to do the right thing and rebuke evil.
Married to a woman of color and raising a mixed-race son, Jamie is determined to bring down the White supremacists and has the trust from many in the community being a hometown boy, which is a privilege that Terry does not enjoy.
But with a local police department dragging its feet and a group of thugs seemingly staying two steps ahead of the FBI and agents like Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett, “Birds of Prey”), total destruction and an all-out race war might become a reality if law enforcement does not restore order in “The Order.”
The thriller and period piece has so many parallels to modern American society and politics that it should be required viewing for students old enough to handle the violence.
“The Order” portrays how hate does not go away.
Instead, it just reinvents itself in bigger and bolder ways.
Once upon a time, hatred hid in the woods like a hermit.
Now, hatred has become mainstream.
That sad reality is why one of the quotes in the movie is so chilling.
In “The Order,” a White supremacist church leader speaks of a day when they will have one of their own in Congress.
The characters in the movie get their inspiration from a book that depicts how to take over the power structure in America and reshape it in the image of White nationalists.
That reality is coming to fruition in the form of Project 2025.
Getting White “Christian” nationalists into positions of power is something that has happened as well, which means 21st century White supremacists might not need violence to put things in the order that they see fit.
It might happen through legislation.
Thankfully, “The Order” shows how true order, like racial harmony and unity, can win the day with a few dedicated people who might be willing to put their own health on the line to stop total anarchy and destruction.
Law is his usual stellar self.
Smollett holds her own opposite the aforementioned legend.
And Sheridan, a Palestine, Texas native, gives “The Order” its heart and hope.
Unfortunately, “The Order” will have its built-in enemies like “The Apprentice” had when it appeared in theaters recently.
Nevertheless, when people watch movies like “The Order” and “The Apprentice” with an open mind, hopefully they realize that this country does not need to stay the same because that means staying hateful and divided.
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