Jude Law lit up the Lido Square with his powerful performance as an FBI agent fighting neo-Nazi terrorists in Justin Kurzel's crime thriller “The Order,” which drew a seven-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere.
Based on true events, the film is set in 1983 Idaho, where a lone FBI agent follows a series of increasingly violent bank and car robberies, only to realize that they are the work of a group of dangerous local neo-Nazi terrorists, inspired by radical leader Robert J. Matthews, played by Nicholas Hoult, who are plotting a war against the U.S. government.
The Order, based on the 1989 book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, also stars Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Allison Oliver and Odessa Young.
Earlier today, during a press conference for the film, Law spoke about the importance of the film at a time when far-right ideologies are on the rise again.
“It’s unfortunate that the significance of this work speaks for itself,” he said. “It felt like a work of art that had to be done now. It’s always interesting to find a piece of the past that has such a connection to the present.”
“On January 6, 2021, a noose was hung in front of the Capitol to mimic a fictional insurrection from the 1970s novel The Turner Diaries, America’s first master plan for domestic terrorism,” Kurzel said in a statement, emphasizing the film’s current relevance. The director describes The Order as “a hunt into the depths of that hatred, a harbinger of a divided America, and a warning shot of what was and what might come.”
Law had previously come to Venice to film the satirical series “The Young Pope” in 2016, while Hoult has been at the festival sporadically since one of his first big-screen roles, in 2009's “A Simple Man” alongside Colin Firth.
Vertical is set to release “The Order” in the US in December, while Amazon Prime Video will distribute the film in several international territories.
