Daniel Raguissis' Imperium is a film that had me really concerned early on, exhibiting an opening sequence that didactically reminds the viewers white supremacist groups are very much terrorists on the same level as the stereotypical muslim ones from the middle east. Focusing on Nate Foster, an idealistic FBI agent who goes undercover in order to take down a suspected white supremacist terrorist group, Imperium offers up a rather amusing little thriller with a surprisingly important distinction in the characteristics of fascism, and what truly defines it. Imperium takes the viewer into this dark, angry, hate-filled world, exhibiting how fascism really is simply a biproduct of extreme feelings of victimhood, something which all of us as human beings are susceptible to when pushed for long enough. That is not to say that all white supremacists suffer from victimhood, but it illustrates how this type of movement garners supporters even when it is extremely hateful.. As Nate goes deeper and deeper into this toxic ideology, Imperium juxtaposes the various types of white supremacists, with the Aryan Alliance and less organized skinheads being far different from the blue collar type who are much more sophisticated, well-manned, but just as bigoted and grotesque in their beliefs. The in-fighting between the various sanctions of the white supremacy movement was one of the more unique elements of Inperiusm, capturing how their only real shared view is the hate they have for everyone who doesn't have the same skin color. Considering the subject matter the story itself is compelling, with one narrative turn, if you will, which left me surprised, reinvigorating me in a sense from a narrative that felt like it was starting to crawl to the finish line. Imperium sporadically touches on the paranoia centered around being undercover with a few visceral sequences, but overall film never quite create the atmospheric tension necessary for these types of films to truly flourish.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|