Review: “New Order” (2020)

Part of my São Paulo International Film Festival movie marathon – Movie #2.

“New Order” is a Mexican-French co-production, written and directed by Michel Franco. In it, a very high-class wedding in Mexico turns violent after the arrival of some protesters. From then on, the film follows the chaos that unfolds.

The movie is fast-paced and filled with violence and very graphic visuals. It has a very meh rating on IMDb, but, as a citizen of a Latin American country myself, it hit harder than it might have for viewers of other regions of the world.

The movies not-so underlying themes, in my opinion, deal precisely with class inequalities, political corruption, and undue influence of the military in everyday politics – something probably all Latin Americans countries deal with on a daily basis, especially those that went through dictatorships. This reality makes what takes place in this movie quite believable – we’re all living inside tinder boxes that are prone to blowing up at any minute.

“New Order” fails to explore the before, or what was the catalyst for that blow-up, but it does a good job in exploring the messiness of revolution – those who started it are not necessarily those who will be in charge of things, violence is rampant and women are screwed over in all the ways possible. It also explores human character, or just how rotten people can be. The ending particularly angers me, and if you watch it I’m sure it’ll anger you too. Or I hope, anyway.

It is an unflinching look at what looms right around the corner if we are not careful about who we elect – something particularly poignant at current times. The world needs to look to democratic candidates, who have a real interest in reducing inequalities and creating a fairer and freer world. This is ultimately what “New Order” leaves me with, and I definitely recommend watching it!