New Order

A film set in Mexico. There is a wedding at a wealthy family's house. Tables are set in the garden, the guests arrive and money is given in envelopes as gifts. At the same time an uprising has begun in the city. News comes in but the wedding goes on; the gates are shut and inside is taken to be safe. One of the bride's former employees comes to the gate: he needs money for his wife's operation. The bride leaves the wedding to deal with it and goes out of the house. Shortly after she leaves, the crowd comes in. The second half goes somewhere else entirely. The uprising is put down and the army takes control; after that the danger is not in the street but in the uniform. What the narrative says is this: when an order collapses, what replaces it does not have to be better, and the people most harmed by the disorder are the same ones as before. The film is short, about eighty minutes, and never stops to explain. Naian González Norvind, Diego Boneta and Fernando Cuautle are in the cast. Michel Franco directed. It won the grand jury prize at the Venice Film Festival. A shattering production for anyone who likes hard political films. Before you watch, know this: the film shows violence directly and coldly, it contains torture and it offers no hope.