Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: Based on real events, “Sovereign,” a new psychological true crime drama now playing in theatres, sees a Sovereign Citizen father and his teenage son (Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay) travel the country doing anti-establishment seminars. On their journey to sovereignty, a routine traffic stop brings tragedy. “Power is in the people,” Jerry tells his son Joe. “Always remember that.”

CAST: Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Mann, Nancy Travis, Martha Plimpton, and Dennis Quaid. Written and directed by Christian Swegal.

REVIEW: A tragic portrait of radicalization and manipulation, “Sovereign” features fine performances from Nick Offerman as an anti-establishment father and Jacob Tremblay as his son. “He says he wants me to be an independent thinker,” Joe Kane (Tremblay) says.

Offerman is best known as Ron Swanson in the sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” a character that echoes “Sovereign’s” Jerry Kane’s endless distrust of government. Both are no-nonsense and skeptical of authority but that’s where the comparisons end.

Offerman played Swanson for laughs, but Kane’s behavior is no laughing matter.

In “Sovereign,” Offerman ups the paranoia and pedantic anti-government wordplay to create a character ground down by the system, a man who would rather die as a “sovereign citizen” than surrender any of his tightly held beliefs. “What we’re after here is not fighting” he says, “it is conquering. I don’t want to have to kill anybody. But if they keep messing with me than I’m afraid that’s what it is going to come down to. And if I have to kill one, I’m not going to be able to stop, I just know it.”

He’s a walking, talking conspiracy theory, a frustrated result of the pain of falling between the cracks and, in his search for autonomy, Offerman gives him a quiet intensity. As he slowly becomes unglued, he’s a coiled spring, ready to pounce, and in his conviction Offerman makes him tragically compelling.

In a mature performance, Tremblay breathes life into Joe’s predicament, stuck between his father’s ideology and his want for a normal teenage life. As his situation spirals out of control Tremblay sees to it that Joe coming-of-age has depth.

The provocative performances are “Sovereign’s” strong point. It’s a slow burn, driven by character and ideas, not by action. Along the way the story drifts, splintering off to include plot shards that distract from the film’s main focus but the chilling portrait of extremism ushers the story along to a tragic and inevitable conclusion.