In this episode of Fascism on Film, we talk about Ari Aster’s Eddington—a film set in the earliest days of COVID, right before the murder of George Floyd, when the country was confused, scared, isolated, and primed for political rupture. The movie takes place in a quiet New Mexico town that thinks it’s safe from the virus until a symbolic outsider brings the threat with him. Aster drops us right back into that moment when everything felt fragile, and for many viewers, maybe too soon.

The story centers on Sheriff Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who starts as a familiar type—a conservative, mask-resistant MAGA guy—but Aster makes him far more complicated. As Joe tries to keep his town together, he’s surrounded by a family slipping deeper into conspiracy theories, Q-coded spirituality, and the nonstop churn of misinformation on their phones. What the film captures so well is how people on all sides retreated into beliefs that made them feel safer, even when those beliefs pushed them farther from reality.

As things escalate, the movie starts shifting genres—drama, thriller, even a kind of surreal Western. Rivalries boil over, old traumas resurface, and Joe begins to fall apart in ways that are both disturbing and strangely believable. When protests erupt after George Floyd’s murder, the film throws us into a chaotic final act where who’s responsible for the violence is ambiguous. Depending on your politics, it might look like an Antifa uprising or a right-wing false flag operation. Aster keeps it unclear, letting us feel the same confusion and panic as the characters themselves. It’s one of Aster’s most unsettling films, and one that feels uncannily close to the world we’re living in now.

We wrap up by talking about why Eddington feels so relevant now. It’s a film about how people break under pressure, how conspiracy theories take root, and how a moment of national crisis can push a community toward extremism. It isn’t an easy watch—Aster films rarely are—but it’s smart, bold, and uncannily in tune with where the country has ended up. If you’ve ever wondered how the pandemic helped create the political world we’re living in today, this is an episode worth hearing.