Hillary Clinton just released a video accusing Donald Trump of being the candidate of racists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis. “The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in,” a robed man identified as the Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, says in the video.
While I’m not convinced by the notion that Nazi skinheads—as threatening a presence as they can be—pose a greater danger to global security than Islamic terrorism, the new movie Imperium compellingly makes the case that the white supremacist movement is a good deal more complex than apparently sharing a belief in making America Great again.
In addition to delivering knockout entertainment, Imperium might well be the most relevant movie I’ve seen all year. The thriller, directed by Daniel Ragussis and based on the real-life story of former undercover agent Mike German, uses the issue of white supremacy to explore how extremists’ words and deeds are related and the levels of hate speech that should be permitted in a free society.
Daniel Radcliffe, giving by far the best performance of the former Harry Potter star’s career, plays Nate Foster, a nerdish FBI agent who is taken away from the Islamic terrorism beat to infiltrate a neo-Nazi ring in Virginia suspected of planning a dirty bomb.
He persuasively insinuates his way into skinheaded “Aryan warrior” gangs, the home of cultured family Nazi ringleader Gerry Conway, who serves Swastika cupcakes at his suburban barbecues, and the business dealings of ultra-right wing shock-jock radio host Dallas Wolf.
Radcliffe’s acting style has often revolved around alert curiosity and inner strength and it’s this combination that serves him so well in Imperium where he is required to be in almost every scene. He imbues Foster with such confidence and verve as a white supremacist—contrasting his character’s diffidence prior to going undercover—that the transformation papers over the potentially unrealistic notion that he can make so many Nazi friends so quickly.
Radcliffe is augmented by an ace supporting cast, notably True Blood‘s Sam Trammell as Conway and Tracy Letts as Wolf. (The latter shares a riveting scene with Radcliffe towards the end of the film which, coming hot on the heels of his celebrated bravura cameo as a college dean in Indignation, confirms Letts’ current status as the undisputed champion of the knockout indie film cameo.)
Foster’s uneasy relationship with his FBI boss Angela Zamparo (Toni Collette), who warns him that being undercover is “no way to live,” is a familiar cinematic dynamic, and the film echoes Betrayed and American History X and Donnie Brasco. There are also too many quick-cut montages of Nazi imagery.
Yet Imperium impressively depicts the supremacists Foster encounters as multi-layered misfits. When a Klansman, played by Chris Sullivan, tells him, “You’re a man of your word, which is a rare thing in this movement,” you don’t know whether he’s paying the agent a sincere, astute compliment or trapping him into a false sense of security.
Refreshingly, Imperium supplies no love interest for its young male protagonist, no cameos by beltway media personalities and no obligatory violent scenes to over-emphasize that THESE ARE VERY BAD PEOPLE. This is a movie that is not afraid to think for itself.
Therein lies the problem. Imperium has been given a very limited release in cinemas in favor of the VOD (video on demand) platform. A fine film about undercover existence ironically finds itself too much of a secret right now. Things aren’t helped by the movie’s title, which makes it sound like a two-bob historical epic.
But thanks in large part to an imperious performance from Radcliffe, Imperium deserves to be in demand.