If you are aware of Michel Franco’s work, his latest film New Order may not be that much of a shock, but if you are coming fresh to this, it may not be quite what you are expecting.

It would be extremely easy to go into New Order thinking it was going to be a protest movie with a certain amount of violence, but with a conclusion within certain civilised bounds.  The truth though is that it is pretty brutal in its delivery and completely dystopian at its core.

That fact flashes before our eyes as the film starts, with images of riots and green paint daubed across people and property strobing into view without context.  The film then drops us into the first scene proper, at a wealthy wedding, located in a rich suburb of Mexico City.  As the guests arrive, they bring cash gifts to the bride and groom, while outside the populace is rioting over poor conditions.  It is a clearly contrasting situation, with an extreme ‘us and them’ dynamic, with the rich completely ignoring the outside world.

The bride and groom get congratulated in New Order.

With injured rioters being taken to the public hospitals, a desperate former employee, Rolando (Eligio Meléndez) visits the wedding to ask for help in paying for a private operation for his wife.  Aside from the bride Marian (Naian González Norvind), he is fobbed off, and seen as a nuisance.  Determined to help, Marian leaves the party with one of the staff, Cristian (Fernando Cuautle) to try to take Rolando and his wife to a private hospital.  While she is absent, the rioters break into the compound, with shocking results. Marian is not safe, however, as the military start to exert control and things go from bad to worse.

Marian and Cristian try to escape the rioters in her car, in 'New Order'.

Part of the impact of this ‘social-horror’, is that it does not seem too unrealistic, and with social divisions rife across the world, you could imagine this happening.  Yes, this is satire, and things are taken to extremes, but there are enough elements that resonate to make you shudder.  In addition, there are no clear lines of good and bad, and there is enough guilt to spread around, with no one coming out as heroic.

Cristian looks solemn as he works under the new regime, in New Order.

New Order is an examination of a corrupt regime and the 1% exploiting it, taken to task by a weary populace, who then get overwhelmed by a military coup d’état that is possibly even more corrupt.  There is no justice here for anyone, and that bleakness is a sobering thought, as it should be.  One weakness here though, is that we do not get to know any of the protestors, and they are an amorphous mass as far as the film is concerned.  In terms of character details, we really only learn about the rich party guests, and those few staff caught in the middle.  This may be by design, but knowing more could have given some greater context to the ensuing events, and not make it so much of a one-sided portrayal.

At the centre of it all, González Norvind is fantastic though, shouldering much of the emotional weight of New Order as the chaos ensues. We see her privilege, but also her empathy and then fear as she is caught up in that chaos and horror.

Rioters attack the rich compound in New Order.

Franco takes New Order up through several gears, after starting from the relatively sedate pace of the party.  This continues to ramp up through the horror and beyond, and you are not really prepared for it.  There is no shying away from the brutalism when the riots come full into frame, and he displays it without flinching.  So much so that there are a couple of sections that take you by surprise, especially as they are displayed in passing.

New Order is a raw and interesting film, but away from the frank violence, could have done with some more nuance and context for some of the actions.  This is not to say there isn’t a lot to take from it, and at the very least it will linger in the memory long after seeing it.

New Order is on general release in Mexico on the 22nd October 2020, and in France on the 31st March 2021.