The opening scenes offer nightmarish and alarming images of green water flooding down some stairs and a person dragging a body along a corridor. This all sets the mood for a drama that is to unfold at a terrific pace, with constant suspense and graphic violence.
Naian González Norvind, Diego Boneta and Darío Yazbek Bernal
The storyline spins a web around a lavish society wedding between Marian (Naian González Norvind) and her groom (Darío Yazbek Bernal). Tensions rise as growing social discontent erupts in the streets, leading to riots that block the roads and cause the Registrar and many guests to arrive late. This is seen as a minor inconvenience.
Naian González Norvind and Fernando Cuautle
When a former and elderly employee, Rolando, arrives to request financial help for urgent medical treatment to save his ailing wife’s life, the bride Marian, (Naian González Norvind), upset that her mother and brother give him no more than a paltry sum, decides to leave the celebrations to accompany Rolando to his home to take his wife to hospital and pay with her credit card. They leave, only to find themselves caught up in the disturbances with shocking consequences, while back at her home, the wedding celebrations are also violently disrupted, with everyone’s lives thrown into chaos.
Michel Franco
Michel Franco’s vision of a nihilistic dystopia takes us on a shocking roller-coaster of a journey where the theme is dog eats dog. It is deeply disturbing, not only for its obvious message but also because we are aware that many of the events are already happening in many parts of the world. We see that there is nowhere you can be safe, no one that you could trust, people whom should protect you, do not. Could we be closer to this scenario than we would like to admit? Is this really only a movie, or a warning?
Bodies burning in ' Nuevo Orden'
Franco does not flinch before the horror, so there is a brutal honesty in how the characters are depicted, with everyone out for themselves, to a degree that is deeply disturbing. Few can fail to recognize its relevance to life today with unrest in so many parts of the world.
Michel Franco hit the international film scene with his film ‘After Lucia’ (which deals with teenage bullying), when it won the prize ‘Un Certain Regard’ at the 2012 Cannes Film festival. In 2015, 'Chronic' was also a multi-award-winning film, featuring Tim Roth as a male nurse who deals with the dying. The film was selected to compete for the ‘Palme d’Or’ and Franco, who hit the ground running, has continued to go from strength to strength. Franco likes high drama and his subject matter is consistently uncompromising. He deals with tough issues, bullying, death and also birth, as in ‘April’s Daughter’ which starred Emma Suárez as April, who turns up to care for her very young and heavily-pregnant daughter, but once the baby is born, she turns out to be a chilling ‘mother from hell’. No easy pickings from Franco’s films.
Emma Suárez in 'April's Daughter'
In ‘Nuevo Orden’, excellent performances enhance the power of the film, considered by many to be Michel Franco’s best to date. Naian González Norvind as the central character Marian, maintains a strong screen presence as she carries the main thread throughout, as what should have been the best day of her life descends into violence and life-changing events. Much of this type of horror is ingrained in many of our minds, being chillingly reminiscent of what took place during the Dirty War in Argentina (1976-1983), Brazil’s Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) and Chile’s Military Dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990. Not to mention the horrors that drug cartels inflict on each other in Colombia and Mexico.
Fernando Cuautle and Mónica del Carmen
In supporting roles and holding their own, Fernando Cuautle, plays the chauffeur Cristian and nephew of Rolando and Mónica del Carmen as the maid Marta. They both find themselves embroiled much deeper over their heads than they would wish. The cast has been carefully picked, with Daniel Boneta as Marian’s brother and the spine-chilling Gustavo Sánchez Parra as General Oribe. Sánchez Parra is already known for his award-winning cameo roles in 'Amores Perros' (2000) and 'Rage' (2009).
Acting dynasties are also at work in this production. Naian González Norvind's mother is the renowned Mexican actress Nailea Norvind and Darío Yazbek Bernal has an equally royal status, with Patricia Bernal as a mother and none other than Gaël García Bernal as a sibling!
'Nuevo Orden' Poster
This is a hard hitting and disturbing thriller. An alarming indictment of social and economic inequality and its consequences. As one critic pointed out, it should be required viewing at G8 summit meetings! Franco aims to shock and succeeds; the film could be considered manipulative and even exploitative to do this, as audiences could feel chastised and guilty for sitting comfortably to watch such social meltdown on the screen.
Naian González Norvind
The film has already garnered awards at the festivals. It had its world première in September at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the ‘Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award’, the ‘Grand Jury Prize’ and the Best Film ‘Golden Lion’. It was also nominated for a ‘Golden Hugo’ in Chicago and an ‘Audience Award’ at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
As the film points out, not even money or social standing can save you, Franco traces the collapse of a political system as a terrifying ‘New Order’ starts to replace it. Will it succeed? It remains to be seen.
Warning: there is male and female frontal nudity.
'Nuevo Orden' (2020) will be released on various platforms on August 13th 2021.
Credits: -
Written and Directed by Michel Franco
Producers Michel Franco/ Eréndira Nuñez/ Cristina Velazco. Diego Boneta
DOP Yves Cape
Editors Oscar Figueroa/ Michel Franco
Original music Corman Roth
Cast:
Marian Naian González Norvind
Alan Darío Yazbek Bernal
Cristian Fernando Cuautle
Marta Mónica del Carmen
Rolando Eligio Meléndez
Daniel Diego Boneta
Victor Enrique Singer
General Oribe Gustavo Sánchez Parra
Release dates to be announced.
