ORDER, THE
(director/writer: Justin Kurzel; screenwriters: Zach Baylin, based on the nonfiction book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn & Gary Gerhardt; cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw; editor: Nick Fenton; music: Ted Kurzel; cast: Jude Law (Terry Husk), Marc Maron (Alan Berg), Nicholas Hoult (Bob Mathews), Tye Sheridan (Jamie Bowen), Jurnee Smollett (Joanne Carney), Alison Oliver (Debbie Matthews), Odessa Young (Zillah Craig), Sebastian Pigott (Bruce Pierce), George Tchortov (Gary Yarbrough), Victor Slezak (Richard Butler); Runtime: 116; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Stuart Ford, Justin Kurzel, Jude Law, Bryan Haas; Vertical; 2024-(USA/UK/Canada)
“It’s a well-crafted, suspenseful, action-packed film that hits all the right spots.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Australian director Justin Kurzel (“The Snowtown Murders”/”Macbeth”) tunes into American neo-Nazis out West in the 1980s, in this true story crime docudrama that condemns anti-Semitism and features the FBI agents who went after these dangerous hate-mongers. Writers Kurzel and Zach Baylin adapt it to the screen from the nonfiction book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt.
The two leaders of the Aryan Nations movement are the politically motivated, suave Richard Butler (Victor Slezak), based in Idaho, and the violently militant Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult), based in the Pacific Northwest, who split over their strategy differences.
Matthews’ small group of domestic terrorists are called the Order. This group bomb synagogues. They also rob banks and Brink’s trucks, armed with sub-machine guns, to fund an army to start a revolution.
The FBI team investigating the terrorists is led by the veteran agent Terry Husk (Jude Law).
Butler is considered the more dangerous threat because his plans to infiltrate the Republican Party and attack the system from within is a real possibility, while Matthews is viewed as a criminal sociopath. His last reckless act was to murder the Denver-based Jewish talk-radio host Alan Berg (Marc Maron).
It’s a well-crafted, suspenseful, action-packed film that hits all the right spots.
It played at the Venice Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 9/12/2024 GRADE: B+
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