A violent period in Northwest history is the subject of the fact-based drama, “The Order,” which stars Jude Law, and which begins streaming on Tuesday. In the film, Law plays an FBI agent named Terry Husk, a fictional character who was reportedly inspired by a real former FBI agent who, as the Spokesman-Review reported, lives in Idaho, not far from the onetime location of the Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi, white supremacist group.
Based on a nonfiction book called “The Silent Brotherhood,” “The Order” tells the story of a domestic terrorist group known as The Order, which held anti-Semitic, white supremacist beliefs, robbed banks to finance its criminal activities, and sought to overthrow the U.S. government. Some followers of The Order were also responsible for the murder of Denver radio talk-show host Alan Berg, in 1984.
The film, directed by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, also stars Nicholas Hoult as The Order’s leader, Robert Jay Matthews, a white supremacist who settled in Washington, wanted to recruit white families to come to the Northwest, and who was a fan of “The Turner Diaries,” a racist novel written by William Luther Pierce, a white nationalist who taught physics at Oregon State University in the early 1960s.
An FBI manhunt for Matthews and other members of The Order intensified after Matthews wounded an FBI agent during a confrontation at a Portland motel in November, 1984. “in an exchange of gunfire,” as a historylink.org article says, “Mathews shot one agent in the leg and was wounded in the right hand, but managed to escape on foot.”
Not long after that, in early December of 1984, FBI agents cornered Matthews and other fugitives on Whidbey Island, in Puget Sound. “After a 36-hour standoff, Mathews died in a fiery inferno when the agents’ fired illumination flares onto the roof of his hideout,” as UPI reported.
“The Order,” which filmed on location in Canada, is playing theatrically at the Regal Fox Tower; it begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday, Dec. 24.
— Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, [email protected] or @Kristiturnquist
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