In the past, film reviews have not been a particular speciality of the American Futurist – but, for 2024’s “The Order”, we had to make an exception. The new film, which tells the story of Robert Jay Mathews and his famed Silent Brotherhood, almost cries out for commentary from an NS publication. So, we made a point to see it in the theater as soon as it was released, and we have quite a bit to say.
If the intent of the filmmakers was to make you dislike Robert Jay Mathews or his group, they failed utterly. RJM is depicted as competent, charismatic, and loyal to a fault. The film portrays him as completely devoted to his cause, and willing to sacrifice anything for his people. The FBI and local police, by contrast, come off as bunglers. The main FBI agent, portrayed by Jude Law, is an alcoholic loser with a terrible family life, who sort of stumbles into the case against RJM through a combination of luck and treachery.
The film also fails in its efforts to coherently denounce White Nationalism or National Socialism. Two anti-White “points” are occasionally brought up throughout the film, namely, that White Nationalists are in some way “selfish” or only in it for themselves as individuals, and that White Nationalists are “losers”, who simply don’t have anything else going on in their lives. Of course, these halfway thought out “points” are disproven in the film itself by RJM, a totally unselfish man with a family life, business interests, etc.
Regarding the plot of the film itself, it relays the events of 1983-1984 with relative accuracy, though it, of course, has many fabrications or non-factual events. It mostly alternates between interesting scenes involving Robert Mathews and the Silent Brotherhood, and relatively boring scenes showing a relatively typical police investigation. The filmmakers made sure to include a few of the more famous moments in the history of the Silent Brotherhood, including the Brinks Truck Robbery, the oath-swearing, Robert Mathews “Stand Up Like Men” speech, the shootout at the Capri Hotel, and the fatal confrontation at Whidbey Island. All of these scenes are well-filmed, well-acted, and are certainly the highlights of the movie.
As previously mentioned, there are some notable inaccuracies in the film. Robert Mathews’ speech, which occurred in 1983 at the National Alliance Convention in Arlington, VA, is shown taking place instead at the Aryan Nations compound at Hayden Lake, ID, in 1984. Pastor Richard Butler, the leader of the Aryan Nations, is portrayed quite negatively – he is falsely shown “dry snitching” to the FBI, and, at one point, he is even threatened with death by Robert Mathews.
Robert Mathews’ wife, Debbie, is also shown ratting to the FBI – she gives them RJM’s location on Whidbey Island. In reality, this was done via an anonymous phone call, and RJM’s betrayer has never been publicly revealed. In all likelihood, it was not Debbie Mathews.
In the film, during his escape from the Capri Hotel, RJM shoots and kills a local police officer, one of the film’s main characters. This is also inaccurate – RJM shot and wounded an FBI agent during his escape, and nobody was killed.
The police as a whole are portrayed quite inaccurately. The local police in Coeur d’Alene are shown to be quite unconcerned with the activities of the Aryan Nations, other than one race-mixing Deputy – in reality, they were implacably opposed to their presence, and engaged in a decades-long harassment and lawfare campaign against them. The main FBI agent is also a completely fictitious character, and the presence of a black female as the Special-Agent-in-charge of a region in the mid 1980s is highly dubious at best.
There are a slew of interesting moments and tidbits, and many more inaccuracies and falsehoods, but we don’t intend to give away the entire film. Overall, despite some typical kike tomfoolery, this film is a must-watch for all supporters of the Silent Brotherhood. It is by far the best depiction of these events that we’ve yet seen on screen, and it has a few moments, though not quite as many as we’d like, that will make for fine propaganda.
“The Order” – A Review
