-Susan Granger’s review of “The Order”
Based on a true story that delves into America’s scourge of white supremacy, “The Order” stars Jude Law as a veteran FBI agent who stumbles on a virulent hate group operating in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s.
When grizzled Terry Husk (Law) is dispatched to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1983, his assignment is to investigate a series of bank and armored-car robberies, along with a synagogue bombing and murder of Denver talk-show host Alan Berg.
Working with conscientous local cop Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan), Husk discovers undeniable links to a secluded mountain cult called Aryan Nations, headed by cautious Rev. Richard Butler (Victor Slezak).
While Aryan Nations believers’ goal is to seize control of the United States government through duly elected officials, an extremist splinter group, dubbed ‘The Order’, headed by charismatic zealot Robert “Bob” J. Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), is determined to use violence/domestic terrorism to overthrow it.
His motto is “Victory forever, defeat never!”
As a sidebar, Bob seems to have two families: his submissive wife Debbie (Alison Oliver), mother of their adopted son, and very pregnant mistress (Odessa Young).
Adapted by Zach Baylin from “The Silent Brotherhood” by Kevin Flynn & Gary Gerhardt, reporters for the “Rocky Mountain News,” with Australian director/producer Justin Kurzel, the character of Terry Husk is actually a fictional composite of several law enforcement officers who took part in the investigation.
What makes this crime thriller timely is that many considered the concept of a neo-Nazi movement with tacit presidential approval just a fantasy until there were January 6, 2021, photos of Capitol rioters – fanatic Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – waving copies of “The Turner Diaries,” the 1978 novel that became the foundational text for white nationalists, and Donald Trump was reelected.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Order” is a cautionary 6, available to buy/rent on Prime Video.
