Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Michel Franco
Starring: Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Diego Boneta, Mónica Del Carmen, Fernando
Cuautle, Darío Yazbek, Eligio Meléndez
In director Michel Franco's New Order, revolution is in the air, and on the streets. It's even in the water.
The taps at the upper class home where a society wedding is being prepared
are spewing green water. In the Mexican flag, green represents
independence and hope, and in Franco's fictionalised revolution it has
been adopted as a symbol of the oppressed lower classes, who are violently
striking back against their wealthy oppressors.
Aware of the symbolism, the mother of the bride-to-be begins to worry
that her fenced off domicile has been breached by the plebs, but everyone
is too busy enjoying the festivities to pay her any heed. Things are set
in motion when a former employee, Rolando (Eligio Meléndez),
interrupts the party. His wife is in urgent need of an operation which he
can't afford to pay for, and he's hoping to appeal to his former
employer's altruistic instincts for a loan. Rolando is fobbed off with
some money, far short of the total required, and even threatened. His one
shining light is bride-to-be Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), who
agrees to go to the hospital and pay for the procedure with her credit
card.
It's at this point that New Order explodes in violence, as
the wedding party is assaulted by armed protestors who massacre the
attendants and steal their valuables (there are shades of that infamous
Dynasty season finale). Marianne finds herself in an
internment camp run by soldiers who have turned their back on their
government and are now extorting money from the families of the well-off
citizens they've managed to round up off the streets, while mowing down
any protestors who get in their way.
Caught between the three groups is Cristian (Fernando Cuautle), a
young employee of Marianne's. He finds himself in the unfortunate and
uncomfortable position of a go-between who liaises between Marianne's
kidnappers and her family, the latter of whom begin to suspect he may have
an involvement in her disappearance.
New Order is about as nihilistic as cinema gets. Franco
refuses to take a political stance, with "good and bad people on both
sides" as a certain world leader might say. It's a cynical and dispiriting
film, and if it can be boiled down to a single message it's that you
shouldn't put your neck on the line for anyone. Altruism bites the
protagonists in the ass here, their naivete exploited in deadly fashion by
more cynical forces. Its final moments aim for the jolt of the climax of
Night of the Living Dead, but Franco never quite earns the moment the way Romero did, as we never
really get to know any single protagonist sufficiently for us to invest in
their plight.
A more conventional approach may have centred Cristian, a figure who
represents the three colours of the Mexican flag - hope, Catholicism and
ultimately blood. But Franco opts for a
Battle of Algiers
inspired process, favouring an overview of the conflict over an intimate
character focussed drama. The scenes of chaos are impressively staged and
give the impression of a much larger budgeted movie, but Franco seems a
little too enchanted with his backdrop. There are shades of Kurosawa's
class conflict drama High and Low, with that film's kidnapping scenario undergoing a class reversal, and I
wish Franco had leaned more into this more compelling aspect.
Is Franco making an important statement here or is he simply out to
shock? I suspect only Mexican audiences will be able to provide a clear
answer to that question, but either way he's delivered a film that's
undeniably gripping in spells. Shot with the cold detachment of a Mafia
hitman carrying out his 37th murder, Franco's film plants us at a safe
distance from the atrocities it depicts. There's an undeniable craft to
the glossy chill Franco creates, and if his intention was to imitate
European shockmeisters like Haneke and Von Trier, he's succeeded. But this
is a story that needs more amity with its heroes and contempt for its
antagonists. Ultimately it's too easy to wash off that green paint once
the credits roll.
New Order is on MUBI UK now.