A New World Order (2019) Review

Since The Jazz Singer blew audiences ears off in 1927, the majority of cinema has abandoned its silent roots in exchange for dialogue-heavy dramas, comedies full of one liners and superhero and action films filled with more music, explosions and sound effects than ever. In fact, a constant gripe with cinema goers is how loud everything is, and with multiplex movie theatres getting bigger and better speakers and sound systems it’s an annoyance that won’t abate in the near future.

The answer it seems then, is to seek-out cinema with less sound, a strange concept that proved extremely popular when actor-turned-director John Krasinski made A Quiet Place back in 2018, with its noise sensitive monsters, deaf character, conversations in American Sign Language and very little actual speaking throughout.

Truth be told, horror has a great history of quiet places for the audience to hide in. This includes modern masterpieces like Eraserhead, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Under The Skin and The Innkeepers all of which are low on dialogue and high on tension and terror.

Going back further, silent horrors such as Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and more have survived in popular culture due to their transcendent and terrifying imagery, which still not only feels fresh and relatable, but captivates viewers today as strongly as it did when they were first released.

All of this has led to more experimentation in sound usage and an openness to crafting a story through visuals rather than dull, dry exposition and clichéd conversations. Especially useful for non-English speaking film makers, the lack of language can allow their film to be viewed across the world, and Daniel Raboldt is a director who has done just that with A New World Order a dystopian Sci-Fi thriller high on ideas and low on words.

Set in a future where machines have devastated mankind in a global war and continue to hunt and kill any remaining survivors, we follow Thomasz (Stefan Ebel), a soldier who has deserted his post and gone on the run. Having committed some unspeakable acts in order to stay alive, he has become addicted to mind-altering drugs that he has to take to take away his inner turmoil and guilt.

Coming across a seemingly abandoned house in the middle of the forest, Thomasz sets up camp but quickly finds he has entered the base of Lilja (Siri Nase from Perfume) a resistance fighter dedicated to overthrowing the unstoppable machine army.

Taken prisoner by Lilja, who has no trust for the stranger in her home, the pair are unwilling at first to help each other out but soon events push them together and Thomasz is offered a chance at redemption and perhaps a way to stop the mechanical menace once and for all.

Billed as Black Mirror meets A Quiet Place, A New World Order, which also went under the title A Living Dog, opens strongly. In these first few scenes this Sci-Horror is reminiscent of one of the best anti-dialogue horror movies of all time The Head Hunter, in that it attempts to create the world around you by throwing you in head first.

Like The Head Hunter, which deals with a lonesome warrior who hunts medieval monsters, we follow Thomasz alone and desperate in a land besieged by robot behemoths and flying metal fiends. With some great designs and well realised effects, the stunning landscape of the Arctic Circle in Finland is littered with man’s folly, including smashed tanks and burning jets while we also see the robotic overlords hover and stalk through the lush greenery in search of humanity’s last stand.

Unaware of what is going on, the audience attaches itself quickly to the lead character, feeling as isolated and afraid as he is in the frightening new world. Sadly, the introduction of Lilja raises more questions than the film seems to be able to answer, as we watch the couple communicate through grunts and actions deliberately avoiding talking at all costs.

Although I ultimately concluded the reason, which is that the robots sensors are programmed to recognize human voice patterns as the films website confirms, this is woefully unclear and becomes borderline ridiculous when we are forced to believe that the characters running, driving and shooting does not attract the AI’s attention but a doll’s voice box does.

Unlike in A Quiet Place, where the monsters biology can be simply accepted, more questions mount up about the design flaws of these supposed ‘superior’ droids, losing any credibility or threat they possessed. Meanwhile the relationship and motivation of the two leads is confused and unbelievable, confounded by the utter refusal of either of them to utter a word unraveling the story and losing any connection we could have had with them.

All of this is a real shame as had the characters remained, apart and unable to talk perhaps only meeting in the final moments of the movie, it would have been a much more moving and engaging film. Daniel Raboldt deserves some credit for his ambition and the excellent design but A New World Order clearly shows that making a film without words work is far harder than it sounds.

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