Jude Law's latest film, The Order, received a seven-minute standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival and promises to be one of the best movies of the year. While much of the attention went to the film's leading man, Law's co-stars and director also enjoyed the celebration-like reception of the crime thriller, which is based on a true story. The Order is director Justin Kurzel's latest drama and stars Law alongside Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Sebastian Pigott, Jurnee Smollett, Huxley Fisher, and Marc Maron, among others.
Per a report from the event via Variety, the premiere in Venice resonated with the audience, who cheered for the director and cast for seven whole minutes (some reports put the number as high as eight), during a standing ovation that would likely have lasted longer if the cast and crew hadn't exited the theater. Other films that received standing ovations at the festival this year include Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I'm Still Here, Maria, and The Brutalist.
The Order was written by Zach Baylin, the screenwriter behind projects such as King Richard, Creed III, and this year's polarizing adaptation of The Crow. We'll try not to hold that last one against them. Director Justin Kurzel, meanwhile, is the Australian auteur who debuted with the bloodcurdling thriller Snowtown back in 2011 before going on to make films such as Macbeth, Assassin's Creed, and True History of the Kelly Gang.
The Order Is More Relevant Than Ever
The Order is an adaptation of 1989's "The Silent Brotherhood," a non-fiction book written by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt that offers a glimpse into the white supremacist group known as The Order, which operated in the country in the early 1980s. The film focuses on an FBI agent who identifies the source of several bank robberies across the Pacific Northwest: it's all the work of Bob Matthews, the neo-Nazi leader who is now planning to overthrow the U.S. government.
During the film's press conference, Law shared some details as to why the film is extremely relevant today, especially considering how far-right extremist groups have become influential in recent years:
"Sadly, the relevance speaks for itself. It felt like a piece of work that needed to be made now. It’s always interesting finding a piece from the past that has some relevant relationship to the present day."
Kurzel has also commented on why the film is so relevant to today's social turmoil, calling The Order "a foreshadowing of a divided America."
"[The film is] a manhunt into the depths of that hate, a foreshadowing of a divided America, a warning shot of what has been and what may come.”
