With “EDDINGTON” (competition slate), Ari Aster (“Midsommar,” 2019) departs from the realm of psychological horror and ventures and pursues a different but equally unsettling endeavor: X-raying the growing fractures within contemporary America. Presented in competition, this political western set in the heart of New Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic is far more than just a portrait of rural America — it is a dissection of the ideological, identity-based, and social conflicts eating away at the country.

The fictional town of Eddington becomes the stage for a power struggle between a libertarian-minded sheriff, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), and a progressive Latino mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). Cross’s refusal to wear masks is a stand-in for what he perceives as an intrusive authority. The conflict between the two mirrors the divides, between conservative rural areas and progressive urban centers, between a white America and a multicultural society.

Aster weaves his narrative around themes such as the rise of conspiracy-thinking (embodied by Vernon, played by Austin Butler, as a populist preacher), systemic racism, criminality within the police, and the gradual erosion of civic ties. Each character represents a particular ideological facet of America: Joe Cross, resentment toward the elite; Louise (Emma Stone), the disillusioned wife and lost voice of reason; Ted Garcia, a symbol of multiculturalism and upward mobility.

The film challenges the viewer to see the town of Eddington as a microcosm of America: a community undermined by individualism, the rejection of scientific truths, a mistrust of any form of authority and a disavowal of democracy itself.

Aster’s frontal portrait of social disenchantment is a damning one. Local institutions are powerless, the media are manipulated, and citizens are torn between fear, anger, and isolation. “Eddington” suggests that the United States is no longer a democracy in crisis but a society imploding slowly, where public debate has been replaced by resentment and radicalization.

“EDDINGTON” was not an easy watch–unmissable, all the same. Ari Aster masterfully layers the grammar of the western genre with the codes of satire and the echoes of a political thriller to expose what the United States refuses to confront: its own disunion. By placing the story in the ideological epicenter of today’s America, Aster delivers a film as disturbing as it is essential.