The Order

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 ...

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 simpli...