Old Order Actually

 “New Order / Nuevo Orden" a film by Michel Franco, 2020

This work of speculative fiction is about an upper-class wedding in Mexico interrupted by an uprising of urban poor and workers, which prompts a military dictatorship. The period is in the near future. Its real message is that ‘revolution’ can only be a failure, as it consists of incoherent looting and indiscriminate violence, and will lead to, as Orwell put it, “…a boot stamping on a human face, forever.”  In that, the film is profoundly anti-political and conservative, and as one critic said, nihilistic.

Loyal servants wait under Martial Law

The wedding is attended by a privileged crowd of over-drinking twits, engaged in quiet deals, upper-class solidarity and ‘partying’ in a luxurious modern home.  Servants reluctantly serve the guests, while drivers stand at the entrance to the home waiting for their bosses to leave.  A money safe plays a key role. Yet ‘outside’ the wedding party things are not so happy.  Green paint is splashed on cars by looters, streets are blocked, a hospital is taken over by protesters, and a bathroom water tap runs green for a bit, spooking the lady of the house.   

A former servant, Rollando, comes to the entrance, begging for money for his wife’s serious surgery.  The most sympathetic character, the ‘bride-to-be,’ Marianne, failing to open the safe, leaves her own wedding party to help pay the private clinic.  This is because only a bit of ‘pocket money’ had been collected from some guests for the surgery. 

The party is eventually invaded by looters, who shoot several indiscriminately.  Servants begin taking the silverware; rich wedding guests are forced to wire money to some account; the safe is opened under gunpoint, watches and other valuables are taken; the rioters abuse the guests, large, beautiful paintings are spray-painted.  This latter seems to indicate how ‘uncultured’ the protesters are.  In Mexico, there was a controversy because the rioters were darker-skinned and the guests lighter-skinned.  Given how brutal the rioters were, this had both Left and Right upset.  It was supposed to reflect the color line in Mexican society, but fails in that.

In response to the uprising, the army declares martial law, massacres crowds, detains many, holding Marianne hostage for a ransom along with others.  Prisoners are raped and tortured while waiting for cash to be delivered. Martial law involves work permits, ID badges, street blockades, curfews and shooting.  Eventually the military leadership collects enough ransom money and kills those carrying out their hostage orders, along with the hostages themselves, to cover their tracks.  This including Marianne, a comely blonde in a red dress. 

The final scene is of capitalist Mexican political and military leaders attending a patriotic execution, where three are hung, including a loyal servant women who is blamed for Marianne’s kidnapping.  Inequality has retained power and the ‘boot’ continues to stomp. 

Class uprisings do involve looting, but they do not center around it.  Looting is inevitable in a class-stratified situation, as we saw once again here in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd. Yet this film pictures class struggle only as a very large flash mob stealing everything.  No organization, no politics, no leadership, no goal, no plan, just vengeful chaos.

The director, Franco, has received awards from the Venice, Cannes and Chicago film festivals.  He is best at looking at the Mexican rich, but fails to understand proletarian subjects which this film illustrates. In fact, if you can sit through this shit show without being upset or irritated, you’d be lucky.

The Kultur Kommissar

June 1, 2022