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Making a feature film based on a real-life story can be a challenge. For biopics, the story often becomes predictable and melodramatic. For darker, tragic stories, you run the risk of going off the rails and losing the plot by trying to add in too much.Sovereign, written and directed byChristian Swegal, tells the terrifying story of a real incident that happened in West Memphis in 2010.It made national headlines when Jerry Kane and his teenage son, Joe, were pulled over by police for a typical traffic stop. The mundane quickly turned deadly, with two police officers shot dead and a father and son on the run. America was horrified by the news, and the released dashcam footage was chilling.
So, how do you tell that story? By focusing on what caused it all.Sovereignis brilliantly cast, with the always likableNick OffermanandJacob Tremblayboth playing against type as a man who hates the government, and a boy who is learning every wrong way to act from his dad.Sovereignis not exploitative, and it doesn’t preach to its audience. Instead, it’s like a raw documentary, pointing its camera at its characters and letting them tell the story through their actions.The hopelessness of reality and what’s going to happen closing in is scarier than most horror movies.Sovereignis an unforgettable film that you’ll most likely be so disturbed by that you’ll never want to watch it again.
What Is ‘Sovereign’ About?
Even if you’ve never heard of Jerry and Joe Kane and what they did,the beginning ofSovereignimmediately hints at what’s to come byjumping to the end. Audio from a 911 call has a man screaming to the dispatcher that he has just found two dead police officers on the side of the road. Who are the cops, and who ended their lives? We don’t know just yet, but we’re about to find out by going back to the beginning.
Jerry Kane (Offerman) is a single father living in a rundown house with his son, Joe (Tremblay). When we meet Joe, he’s all alone in the dilapidated home, with garbage and furniture strewn all over the lawn, making it stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise nice neighborhood. Joe is a quiet kid in the throes of puberty, with a voice that cracks and the hint of a mustache. He spends his days alone, and the only companionship he has is his dog and his fantasies of the next-door neighbor girl, whom he checks out on Facebook but never speaks to. One afternoon, he receives a knock at the door. It’s the sheriff’s office again, looking for Joe’s father, because the home is being foreclosed on due to missed payments.Father and son have 30 days to get out.
When Jerry enters the picture, he’s probably not what you are expecting. He has been away on a road trip giving seminars, and although he’s rough around the edges, the pair love each other deeply. This is not a story about physical abuse, but something perhaps much more concerning.Jerry has been ignoring orders to move because he is what’s known as a sovereign citizen. This is an extremist anti-government belief that says the federal government is a fraud that doesn’t need to be listened to. Perhaps you’ve heard stories about police pulling over someone who refuses to show an ID and proof of insurance because they believe that they don’t have to. This is who Jerry Kane is, to the point that he teaches his belief system to people all over the country. What’s just as worrisome is that he’s indoctrinating Joe as well. Jerry is breaking, so when he does get pulled over by the police for a minor infraction, instead of being a small inconvenience, it’s a high-stakes encounter of life and death.Sovereigntakes everyday life and turns it into a volcano that can erupt at any moment.
Knowing the Ending of ‘Sovereign’ Only Adds to the Tension
If you don’t know about Jerry and Joe Kane, havingSovereigngive away the ending in the beginning might, at first, seem like an unwise decision. After all, if you’re telling us that Jerry’s beliefs are going to lead to a shootout that leaves two police officers dead, you risk destroying any chance at building tension. In Swegal’s hands, it’s a smart move because we’re not given all the answers.We sort of know where we’re going, but now we’re on edge throughout, anxious about how this bomb, so to speak, is going to go off.
Every single scene is a clue that could be a potential unraveling of the mystery.Minute by minute, we watch Jerry Kane begin to crumble. He rages after one simple encounter with the police. He believes that everyone is after him, and uses the Bible to back up his conspiracy theories. What’s going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back? The tension is palpable, but when we meet police chief John Bouchart (Dennis Quaid), a stoic police chief from a past generation who doesn’t understand why people act the way they do today, we lean in. Is this one of our victims?
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Jacob Tremblay stars in the film.
However, it’s when his son, a new police officer named Adam (Thomas Mann) with a baby at home, enters the scene thatSovereignstarts to grab you by the throat. It leaves you begging for the movie not to go the way it’s headed — which is why it works so well. Instead of giving us hope,Sovereignremoves it from the get-go.The moment of impending doom was always going to happen, it was just a matter of when. That’s nearly unbearable, because we are witnesses who can do nothing to stop it.
Filmed across America, from lonely highways to dingy motels,Sovereignis a movie about the forgotten people of our country. In 2010, with the United States rebounding from an economic crisis, many families found themselves in heartbreaking situations, losing their homes and thus their identities in the process.Sovereignexamines that, showing what it can do to someone whose mind is already frayed and given over to conspiracy theories.
Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay Make the Characters Sympathetic
Sovereignis never self-righteous, and it doesn’t put any blame on what causes the deathly finale we’re driving towards. It’s a movie about people, and Swegal finds a way to make Jerry and Joe Kane very human and empathetic, rather than giving them every single bad guy trope. Jerry’s wife is dead. He once lost an infant daughter, too, and he’s still hurting over the fact that the government forced an autopsy. It’s like his daughter wasn’t even his, he thinks. Every night, he tells Joe to pray to Jesus Christ, his mother, and his sister.Life hasn’t worked out for Jerry, but if he can pin all the blame on the federal government, he has someone to fight and a reason to keep going.Nick Offerman is impressive and completely disappears in the role. At one moment, he’s raging at the bank, in another, he’s crying because he can’t stop what the government is doing to him. He is alone and ignored, an outcast in society.
Just as convincing is Jacob Tremblay as Joe Kane, who has time and time again proven himself to be agreat child actor. We pin our hopes on the quiet boy. He’s our way in. He loves his dad and believes most of what he’s saying, but he’s also just a kid who really wants to enroll in high school and make friends. His dad’s cause isn’t his, no matter how often Jerry drags him along to help with his seminars.
Swegal even shows us how similar Jerry and Joe’s relationship is to Chief Bouchart and Adam. These are the same people, but with life having taken them in different directions. In the end, life and death will bring them together in a blaze of bullets. Some will live, some will die. We hope the good guys and Joe will make it through, but even if you know the whole story already, the last 20 minutes will knock the air out of your lungs.Sovereignis a tragedy, but with two small final scenes, it also shows us that resilience can get those left behind through the absolute worst.
Sovereigncomes to theaters and is available to own or rent on VOD services on July 11.
Empathetic human performances turn ‘Sovereign’ into more than a typical crime thriller.
Sovereign follows the journey of a father and son who are part of the Sovereign Citizens movement. Their cross-country venture culminates in a violent standoff with law enforcement, leading to a nationwide manhunt and dire repercussions.
