The Reel Review
An anti-government far-right extremist and his teenage son use deadly force against Arkansas law enforcement after their house is foreclosed and they are evicted. Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid and Jacob Tremblay star in this crime drama based on actual 2010 events.
Offerman is exceptional as the far right-wing extremist who spreads dangerous conspiracy theories and uses legal doubletalk to convince followers at far-right seminars that they are “sovereign citizens” exempt from U.S. laws. Tremblay deftly captures the sickening feeling of hopelessness as the son who gets a taste of a normal life after his father is arrested during a traffic stop, only to have it snatched away when he returns.
The weakest part of the crime drama is Dennis Quaid’s character, which distracts from the stomach-churning story. Sovereign is not a fun watch but it is an important and sobering look at a growing far-right segment of the American population that hates government so much that they are willing to kill for their beliefs.
REEL FACTS
• In 2011, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated that about 300,000 people were testing out sovereign techniques nationwide, with one-third of those being “hardcore sovereign believers.” Since 2020, the movement has experienced a surge in new members among anti-vaxxers, Qanon conspiracy theorists and MAGA cult members.
• Bob Paudert, the former West Memphis police chief and father of one of the Arkansas state troopers killed by the Kanes travels throughout the U.S. warning law enforcement agencies about the dangers of these far-right wing anti-government groups.
• Sovereign was filmed in and around Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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