SOVEREIGN
(director/writer: Christian Swegal; cinematographer: Dustin Lane; editor: David Henry; music: James McAlister; cast: Nick Offerman (Jerry Kane), Jacob Tremblay (Joe Kane), Dennis Quaid (John Bouchart), Nancy Travis (John’s wife, Patty Bouchard), Ruby Wolf (Adam’s wife, Jess Bouchart), Terry J. Nelson (Deputy Hall), Megan Mullally (Beverly), Bobby Gilchrist (Mr. Friedman), Kezia DaCosta (Candace Jeffers), Thomas Mann (Adam), Tommy Kramer (Tommy); Runtime: 100; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Nick Moceri;A Briarcliff Entertainment release; 2025)
“Offerman is exceptional, as his extremely provocative performance carries the film.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Christian Swegal is the first-time feature film director of this well-crafted, tense, and edgy psychological political thriller set in 2010. It’s loosely based on true events that took place in Arkansas fifteen years ago. It’s a perceptive character study of someone who turns to the far-right for answers. It makes a strong case that a system that works for the business community instead of its citizens is a broken one, but urges us to not try to solve our problems by brute force or through uncompromising extremism.
The radical widower Jerry Kane (Nick Offerman), a former roofer, resides in Arkansas in a run-down place the bank is foreclosing because of non-payment on his mortgage. He home-schools his 15-year-old son Joe (Jacob Tremblay), teaches him how to use a gun, and brings him along on the road to seminars on debt-elimination he gives while dressed in a white suit, like those worn by Christian evangelicals, as he works for the sovereign anti-government movement.
When Jerry is arrested for driving without a license in Tulsa, Oklahoma (in real-life, it took place in West Memphis, Arkansas, where two cops were killed in a shoot-out), he’s given a chance to explain his misdeed to the no-nonsense but empathic Tulsa police chief John Bouchart (Dennis Quaid) and his cop son Adam (Thomas Mann). Comparisons are made on how each father raises their son.
The film is a grim and uneasy watch. It gets violent when the extremist sovereign father and his unfortunate son hit the road in America’s heartland.
Offerman is exceptional, as his extremely provocative performance carries the well-conceived film, that without being sensational but nuanced, warns us of the possible increase in violence down the road if we don’t come to terms with the wide divide in the country (especially as perpetuated by the unnamed current administration, that tries to prevent us from living in harmony).
It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 7/17/2025 GRADE: B+
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