New Order (2020 Film) Review
This movie set in Mexico City, present day (2020) by Michel Franco was recommended by a popular YouTuber who specializes in prepping for the impending apocalypse. It was emphasized as a dystopian pitstop after a SHTF event. In this case the SHTF event is a Revolution. A revolution by the poor against the rich. The focus of the film is on a rich pretty young woman, from a wealthy well connected family, trying to be a good person, living her best life. Her house maid and the house maid’s son are also key characters. Hilarity does not ensue for any of these people.
The movie is supposed to make us think that this is some warning from the poors to the elites. It’s simply not the case. The class divide thing is a cheap ploy in this movie. I read another review on this film that described it as just some rich person projecting his worst nightmare. This is a far more accurate assessment of the movie rather than some type of “shots fired” to the upper crust. It’s like those Hostel movies, but reversed.
Criminality was more of the theme of the movie. This is why you don’t let gangs into positions of authority. The movie is a nightmare scenario of what society would be like if people who have zero morals were in charge instead of decent people with integrity. While class inequality may have been the spark, the movie quickly devolves into a story of corruption within the ranks, using the revolution as a stepping stone to abuse power. Undertones of class division is played up of course, but it had nothing to do with a government protected kidnapping ring. It’s not the the poor masses that want to do these terrible things to people. It was the corruption within the government institutions that was the real threat.
In the movie, we see an oppressive government, controlling every aspect of their peoples lives with curfews, limiting water & power. We see the ironic spraying of disinfectants to the public. Running a work permit program to control peoples movements. All while corruption is through the chain, the rich and poor in this environment are both victims.
If it’s one thing this movie drives home, it’s that no good deed goes unpunished. No matter how noble your reasons for doing something, it affects nothing. The events in the movie were not really of any relation to an actual SHTF event. If you don’t know what SHTF is, you haven’t been spending enough time on the internet. By definition, a SHTF event includes the total break down of civilization and social order. An apocalyptic event. A real Shit Hits The Fan moment.
New Order was not so much about society’s collapse into a dystopian world, as much as an indictment on the perils of letting thugs run governments, thereby the military also. Ironically, if a society is so broken that there is a State sponsored kidnapping ring operating; a SHTF event could only improve it at that point.
The events in the movie felt very present. This is sadly not a maybe in the future problem as it is a happens all the time now problem. Kidnapping for ransom is not new. People doing brutal shit to each other is also not new. The bad guys in the movie were not doing those things because they had no other option and were pushed to extremes after a collapse. There was still a functioning society, they had enough resources to run a work permit circus for ffs!
I agree with most other reviews of this movie that it pulls no punches. It struck fear in our hearts, because we know terrible things happen to good people all the time, sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw. We know the cruelty and meanness, even the pettiest ones lurking in peoples hearts just waiting to be sanctioned. We know how easily corruption can take hold, play on our fears and insecurities. A cautionary tale for the elite specifically? No not at all, its for all of us. Cruelty is an enemy to us all. If it’s one thing I learned from this movie, it is that if I ever become wealthy enough to cross into the great 1%, I would buy a gun and bring it with me to parties.
