Set amid a proletarian rebellion encroaching upon an extravagant wedding for the children of Mexico’s elite class, director Michel Franco’s (AFTER LUCIA) dystopian thriller NEW ORDER is an artful indictment of class divide and authoritarianism. Frustrated by her wealthy family’s refusal to help out a former employee’s seriously ill wife, empathic bride Marianne (Naian Gonzaléz Norvind) braves the rebellion outside the family compound to shepherd the ailing woman to a treatment facility — hoping to return before the judge arrives to officiate her marriage. Intense, fast-paced and unapologetic, Franco’s film paints a vibrantly detailed portrait of the political chaos societies reap when a chasmal gap between classes is left unchecked. While NEW ORDER speaks poignantly to Mexico’s denizens, the film’s themes reverberate well beyond borders, depicting the destabilizing effect of pan-global, socio-economic disparity.
“Writer-director [Michel] Franco and his co-editor, Oscar Figueroa, ratchet up the stakes notch by notch, so that by the end of the film’s 88-minute running time, we completely believe each step that has plunged the nation into horror. The script almost never makes us privy to information that at least one of the characters doesn’t have, so rather than present this shift into turmoil from the outside, we get a vividly unsettling ground’s-eye view of events.” —Alonso Duralde, The Wrap “Franco’s ultimate message might be obvious — there is always another level of power operating above the one you think is controlling things — but he delivers it in such a riveting manner that you absolutely cannot turn away…. I’m going to call this a masterpiece.” —Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail “Bursts on the screen with a series of almost breath-takingly bold images…. A carnival-colored nightmare of a society out of control.” —Matthew Sorrento, Film International
