Nick Offerman dazzles in the thrilling ‘Sovereign’
Regardless of whether you are on the political left or right, we all can agree that our nation is in crisis. But how did we get here? Some say the fracture occurred in the 1990s when NAFTA opened the floodgates on shipping jobs overseas. But in my mind, the genesis was the 2008 financial crisis, when a Democrat-ruled Congress opted to bail out the banking industry but did nothing to make whole the cash-strapped marks those banks deliberately targeted. Worse, not even one of the CEOs complicit in the scam saw the inside of a jail cell. Most never even faced charges.
It’s in the wake of this vast injustice that the gripping “Sovereign” lays its story of families on the opposite side of the law, destined for a date with death. It’s unsettling, especially given that what you’re witnessing is as shockingly senseless as it is true. And newbie writer-director Christian Swegal presents it with the urgency necessary to call attention to the failures of a system that has lost touch with the plight of the “little guy.”
Folks like Jerry Kane, a man driven by hardship into the arms of the sovereign citizen movement, a burgeoning segment of society that takes Libertarianism to the extreme by claiming not to be subject to any government statutes other than those they agree with. For example, they have no use for driver’s licenses, vehicle registration, or paying taxes. They also dispute the legitimacy of foreclosures, as is the case with Jerry, played by Nick Offerman in what can only be described as a career-defining turn.
As sympathetic as he is frightening, Jerry is a disarmingly gentle dude who dearly loves his teenage son, Joe (a grown-up Jacob Tremblay), but questions the government’s authority over his sovereignty as an individual. This is why he’s been ignoring a court order to vacate the premises before his home is auctioned off in one week’s time. They have no justifiable right, he assures Joe, who wants to believe in his Pops but knows the guy is delusional when it comes to how the process works. He is also beginning to resent the sheltered life his father has chosen for him: no school, no friends and no dating, despite his mad crush on the girl next door.
Limited largely to posture and facial expressions to communicate the toll the constraints are taking on Joe, Tremblay is excellent at conveying the angst born of Joe’s worry over his father’s well-being. A valid concern, as Dad’s obsession with fighting “the man” seemingly intensifies each day.
The setup is strong, and one Swegal capitalizes on. Yet, he stops short of probing beneath the surface of a family that society has allowed to slip through the cracks and a movement that exploits that sense of abandonment. It’s a subject that deserves much more than the cursory examination Swegal affords it. Perhaps a miniseries would have been a better option, considering Swegal broadens the scope by introducing the Bouchard family as a direct contrast to the Kanes.
Patriarch Jim Bouchard (Dennis Quaid), the police chief for the Arkansas backwater both families call home, is an upright citizen, but like Jerry, practices some questionable methods when it comes to raising a son. Although his Adam (Thomas Mann) is far more well-adjusted than Joe, he’s also leery of a dad who urges him not to pick up and comfort his newborn son when he cries. It’s part of hardening, you see, and a technique Jim hopes Adam will adopt in his new job as a rookie state trooper.
Swegal does little to disguise where his film is headed, perhaps believing many folks already know what happened that fateful afternoon in May 2010 when a Walmart parking lot became the scene of horrific carnage. But I’m wagering most people don’t. That element of predictability diminishes the effect of that climactic event, but it does nothing to mitigate the sorrow it elicits.
The source of that emotional impact can be traced directly to Offerman. In lesser hands, Jerry could easily have come off as an anti-government crackpot who gets all he deserves. But Offerman is so convincing in displaying Jerry’s adherence to his beliefs, in both his son and sovereignty, that you fully empathize with his frustration over being vilified simply for wanting his piece of the pie.
There’s authenticity in his sermons on sovereignty, always eager to calmly and rationally explain its edicts to anyone who will listen, whether it’s an exasperated judge or those attending his symposiums inside some of America’s most sacred venues, from VFW halls to church basements. Heck, even the poor cop who dares pull him over is subjected to his measured spiel about how a license and registration aren’t needed because his vehicle is a “conveyance,” not commercial transportation.
Offerman’s take on Jerry is one for the ages and one not to be missed. The same holds for Swegal’s flawed but consequential film, which plunges us into the festering wound that has too long infected a large segment of rural America. It isn’t pretty, but it certainly is illuminating, as it takes what is becoming an international movement and condenses it into the prototype that is Jerry Kane.
At times, you’re tempted to scoff at Jerry’s bizarre behavior, but do so at your peril. There are presumably thousands of Jerrys out there, storming the Capitol, or worse, living next door, waiting for the clarion call to strike, damn the consequences. As Jerry and Jim put it, “conquering” the enemy, whomever they perceive that to be.
Movie review
Sovereign
Rated: R for violence and language
Cast: Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Mann, Martha Plimpton and Nancy Travis
Director: Christian Swegal
Writer: Christian Swegal
Runtime: 100 minutes
Where: In theaters July 11 (limited)
Grade: B
