I like a good war as much as the next person but I fucking love a good war movie with a twist. The one we’re going to be talking about today comes with not just one but many twists. The themes that The East explores are still controversial, more than 70 years later. In fact, the premiere caused a lot of commotion in the Netherlands, including a couple of lawsuits. This is why movies like this are so important even if they’re not 100% historically accurate. They’re basically conversation starters and eye-openers shining a light on events some countries would rather forget. Or frame in a different light. And let’s face the cold hard truth here, this goes for almost every single country on the globe.
The East AKA De Oost is a visually alluring war drama following a young Dutch soldier on his first deployment in Indonesia, back in 1946. What’s supposed to be an easygoing vacation turns into a not just moral but also literal nightmare. I apologize, since Indonesia was still a Dutch colony back then, the real name of the country is Dutch East Indies. I think you can already tell that we’ll be dealing with the Dutch colonial past in this movie. Reality is a fucked up thing and while we can confidently say that colonialism is bad I’m not so sure that things would’ve been much different without it.
I say that because the rebels were just as, if not more feared than the Dutch. Still, if I were living in Indonesia at that time I would rather be killed by my countryman than some foreigner. After all, they were there to exploit the strategic position of the country, its people, and its natural resources. I should also tell you that The East is not a classic war movie where someone is on a mission or there’s shooting all the time. The conflict is constantly simmering in the background and there will be just a couple of shootouts but nothing on the scale of any other classic war movie. So, if it is the action you want, I highly suggest you check out our selection of war movies worth watching.
All movies here, on Subversive Rabbit, are worth watching, that’s kind of the whole point of the site. It’s funny that I spent twenty minutes trying to start writing about this movie and now I can’t fucking stop. Although, technically, I’m not talking about the film but the subjects it explores. To stay on the topic of authenticity, many Dutch veterans have seen the movie and praised its accuracy. The production values are superb and The East looks like a big-budget Hollywood movie. Especially with a setting as exotic as this one. The filming took place on location in Indonesia.
While the lush landscapes were filmed all over that beautiful country, the city scenes were filmed in its capital, Java. Man, I keep dreaming about my Southeast Asia tour and I promise you I will make it into a reality. And I do understand that for some people this type of setting won’t be exotic at all. To me, however, this adds another dimension to the story. Just like with the war movies set in the Middle East. I spent half of my life watching European war movies so any kind of a change is welcome.
You can think of The East as a somewhat lighter version of All Quiet on the Western Front. Both of these movies feature young men who went to war expecting one thing and then getting their dose of reality. A daily dose of reality, if I might add. Martijn Lakemeier was excellent as Johan de Vries along with Marwan Kenzari who plays the infamous Raymond The Turk Westerling. A movie about him was in developmental hell for more than 10 years until everybody gave up on it.
Jim Taihuttu, director and writer of The East, wanted to explore this dark chapter of Dutch history because of his great-grandfather. He was a sergeant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and died during the Indonesian Independence War. I have to admit that one of the main reasons preventing me from recommending you this movie was, surprisingly, the runtime. Each night I would browse through my watchlist and each night I would avoid the movie with the 2h20mins runtime.
With this being said, I simply know there will come a time when you’ll be in the mood for something like this. Just like I was last night. I promise you that The East is worth every minute you put into it. The cinematography along with the setting is simply stunning. The script and character development could’ve been better but that’s just the way things are. I’m also looking forward to Jim Taihuttu’s next movies. Dutch cinema is slowly starting to turn into a serious contender.
Director: Jim Taihuttu
Writers: Jim Taihuttu, Mustafa Duygulu
Cast: Martijn Lakemeier, Marwan Kenzari, Jonas Smulders, Abel van Gijlswijk, Coen Bril, Denise Aznam
Fun Facts: The hand gun main character in the movie, Johan de Vries played by Martijn Lakemeier, uses is a Harrington & Richardson Top Break revolver. The Turk, on the other hand, uses a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless as his main sidearm. The big top-loading machine gun Mattias uses is a Bren Mk1.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8639136/
