The Plot

A cautionary tale set during a violent protest in Mexico City exploring how quickly the tenuous social fabric we rely on can collapse. A bride finds herself caught up in the military crackdown against protests and imprisoned in order to be ransomed back to her wealthy upper class family.

The Good

In 2020 as the world seemingly descends once more into widespread rioting and aggressive tensions between the wealthy elite and the perpetually impoverished there is a vivid urgency in playing out that reality to a dramatized extreme. While deeply rooted in the often savage political history of Latin America this is undoubtedly a film that will speak readily to people across both sides of those ever widening social divides. It’s a story that speaks widely and vividly to a global crisis.

The film’s deeply operatic and graphically visual opening sets a visceral tone for proceedings. The screen burst with flashes of colour, chaos and blood drenched violence set against a grandly ominous soundtrack. It’s a fierce statement of intent before the film regresses to a more comfortably normal opening at a high class family gathering.

Nain Gonzallez Norvind is a very effective lead as Marianne, the young elite frustrated by her families refusal to help pay for surgery for the wife of a former employee. That initial act of compassion catalyses a journey outside of the apparent gated security of her family’s wealthy fortress home, ironically just before the world erupts into an apocalyptic nightmare.

The film brutally juxtaposes lurid beauty and violence, the extremes of luxury and deprivation. Peeling away the veneer of civilisation and exposing how quickly it can be subsumed within the ugly horrors of devastating social unrest and furious anarchy. It moves towards an unforgiving and savage finale that lays bare the true horrors mankind if collectively and politically capable of.

The Bad

New Order is such a compelling authentic depiction of total societal collapse that it may be uncomfortable viewing. There is a sincere brutality to the violence and anger depicted on screen which will likely sit uneasily with those increasingly concerned by the ruinous social unrest playing out on the streets of major cities across the globe. The film serves as a legitimately horrifying glimpse into our own all too possible future.

Corruption and extreme acts of brutality are always difficult to confront on screen and the most savage scenes in this movie will be deeply unsettling. In particular many global audiences will likely seek to comfort themselves by dismissing the film’s nightmarish vision as a uniquely Latin American horror. The notion that the threat of anarchy and absolute corruption might extend to the first world as well as the third will not be a welcome thought to be confronted with and it may cause many audiences to pull away for absorbing the full weight of the film’s warning.

The Ugly Truth

New Order is an unflinchingly violent and traumatic plunge into the nightmarish horrors of a world collapsing in a fiery furious rage. It is a powerful reminder of how fragile our world is and how the growing gulf between social classes can explode if left unchecked for too long. It is brutal but compelling apocalyptic viewing, made even more

Review by Russell Nelson