POLITICAL THRILLERS (based on real events/people): “The Order.” / “The Baader Meinhof Complex.”

-

“The Order” (2024, Hulu) true to life crime thriller, based on the 1989 non-fiction book “The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America's Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement” by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. The film revolves around an FBI agent who goes after a white supremacist terrorist group known as the Order that was active in the United States in the 1980s. 



       This is a pretty decent indie movie with fine acting, especially the usually good Nicholas Hoult as Robert Jay Mathews, leader of The Order. Diabolically restrained evil. Jude Law is a hot-headed FBI agent and Tye Sheridan as a young police officer.

       This would have been great as an 8-episode TV series so we could get an inner look at Me Mathews’ transformation into a deluded neo-Nazi plus an understanding of Mr Law's fictional character's tortured soul. But as is was fine with me, anyhow. 🎥👍📽


“The Baader Meinhof Complex” (2008, Plex), historical political thriller, based on the 1985 German best selling non-fiction book of the same name by Stefan Aust. It retells the story of the early years of the West German far-left terrorist organisation the Rote Armee Fraktion (a.k.a. Baader-Meinhof) from 1967 to 1977.



       The film, tackled in a documentary-style narrative spliced with footage of real events, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards. It was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards.

       The no-frills, no dramatic meandering direction by Uli Edel and gunfire crisp and cold as a bullet (with some fictionalized) script by Bernd Eichinger are unfailingly on-target. 

       The only misgiving is the acting, which is stereotypically one-dimensional and devoid of individual soul. Main players Martina Gedeck (as Meinhof), Moritz Bleibtreu (as Baader), and Johanna Wokalek (as Ensslin) are all icy talking heads. (An interesting info: Only living founding member Horst Mahler has switched to neo-Nazism.)

       Although contrary to the movie, jailed key Baader Meinhof leaders Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan Carl Raspe, were not held in the same cell or even necessarily the same prison initially. While they were held in separate cells and later barred from any direct contact, they were all incarcerated at Stammheim Prison, a high-security facility constructed for their trial. 🎥💻📽


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Mayor of Kingstown." Season 3.

-
Image
“Mayor of Kingstown” (Paramount+) Season 3, crime thriller . Kingstown, Michigan , is a fictional company town where the business is incarceration. The McLusky family kept the peace (sort of) in Kingstown for decades, acting as the mediators between the street gangs, prisoners, guards, and cops.         Intrigue: Does a “mayor” of this vein actually exist? A power broker and gangland negotiator or “shot caller” who could be more powerful than a non-fiction Mayor? Maybe.         But never mind. This is TVland. Just enjoy but don't be too queasy with the “macho maddafucqa” language. These guys are hardened inmates, battle-weary cops, hellbound gangsters and narcos monsters, exasperated DAs, and the likes.         Jeremy Renner is Mike McLusky, caught between no way out evil and vulnerability in the crossroads. His spunk and grit are an unfailing gladiator armor but his...
Read more

MOVIES That I Just Saw: “Dream Scenario.” / “Arizona.”

-
Image
“Dream Scenario” (2023, Amazon Prime) dark comedy fantasy film written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli , and starring Nicolas Cage. I didn't know who Mr Borgli was until this fine movie reminded me of Mr Cage in 2002's “Adaptation.”        This movie received positive reviews and was nominated for awards including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Nicolas Cage .        Plot take off: Sophie, a teenage girl, has a dream in which a man is raking leaves by a swimming pool. As Sophie starts floating up to the sky, she cries for help from this man whom she calls Dad. Her father, Paul Matthews (Nic) is a professor of evolutionary biology at a local university. The story threads into the same “dream scenario” plot point.         Nic carries on with his usual brand of oblique comedy: Stutters, cluelessness, wrinkled fore...
Read more

“Toxic Town."

-
Image
“Toxic Town” (Netflix) British drama miniseries , follows the story of three mothers involved in the Corby toxic waste case , which was a London court case that was decided in 2009. The Corby Borough Council was found liable in negligence , public nuisance and a breach of statutory duty for its reclamation of a Corby Steelworks in the town of Corby , Northamptonshire , between 1985 and 1997.          The landmark decision was historically significant as the first in the world to establish a link between atmospheric toxic waste and birth defects – all previous cases have involved water pollution – and held implications for other council reclamation programmes and the methods of conducting reclamation in England and Wales.        The case easily reminds us of Erin Brockovich and the 2000 movie that chronicled Erin's legal fight against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in the early 1990s involv...
Read more