Jude Law will follow his earlier 2024 film, Firebrand, with a dark and potentially controversial thriller which just screened at the Venice Film Festival. The Order follows the FBI’s investigation into a Neo-Nazi crime group in the ’80s and is based on the true story of the titular white supremacist terrorist organization, also known as The Silent Brotherhood. The American group were responsible for a variety of heists in order to fund their movement and a war against the government, and were ultimately involved in murder. As reported by Variety, in a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Law discussed the importance of The Order and the parallels the film has with current events and extreme right-wing groups across the world. He stated:
Sadly, the relevance speaks for itself. It felt like a piece of work that needed to be made now. It’s always interesting finding a piece from the past that has some relevant relationship to the present day.
The Order also stars Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alison Oliver, Jurnee Smollett, and Odessa Young. The film is directed by Justin Kurzel, who explored similar violence and extreme ideologies in the excellent films Snowtown and Nitram. Kurzel echoed Law’s words at Venice, saying, “It’s always an extraordinary thing when you find a piece of writing or event from the past that has some sort of perspective that can have a conversation with today’s politics.” Tye Sheridan plays a younger police officer who joins Law’s character on the hunt, and he added that the role took him back to his childhood:
“It’s a great piece exploring how people from a small community can be manipulated by extreme ideology. I grew up in a small town with a population of 1,200, so I’ve definitely seen certain things growing up where people are probably getting violent, especially in these subcultures. In the U.S. you have a specific ideology that is descended from generations living in a small community and not having any exposure, so that was one thing that really drew [me] to the project.”
The Recent Rise of Far-Right Extremism Like The Order
The film may be based on the 1989 book The Silent Brotherhood, by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, but it feels all the more relevant in 2024, as Law and Kurzel said. In the past decade, dangerous far-right groups have risen around the world more than ever. In August 2024, fascist and racial extremist groups like Patriotic Alternative, British Movement, and the English Defense League rioted throughout the United Kingdom; at the end of that month, the far-right party Alternative for Germany won its first state election. Turkey has suffered waves of neo-Nazi attacks recently, either from individuals or groups like Ataman Brotherhood and The Grey Wolves. Tunisia, Brazil, Sweden, Hungary, South Africa, India, and countless other countries have suffered similarly.
In the United States, of course, the far-right has grown considerably in numbers and confidence alike for the past 10 years. One need look no further than the Heritage Foundation and its 2025 Presidential Transition Project (known colloquially as Project 2025), a massive far-right playbook aimed at criminalizing all sorts of behavior and restricting the freedoms of everyday Americans. With the American election approaching in just two months, the harrowing political themes of The Order do indeed seem just as important today than they were in the 1980s, if not more.
The Order
premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Vertical has the film set for a limited theatrical U.S. release on December 6, with Prime Video releasing the film in international territories.
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