“If you are not a WWII follower you probably didn’t know about the rebellion for independence of Dutch East Indies from the Netherlands towards the end of the war. For hundreds of years the Dutch had ruled the area called the Netherland East Indies that included the big islands of Borneo and New Guinea. Now with the East Indies occupied by the Japanese during the world war, the Netherlands sent an army to quell the people who were caught between Japan and the Dutch regime.” The film The East is a work of fiction, but could have easily been a part of the Dutch East Indies war stories.” Editorial Comment
Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) a young Dutch soldier has been deployed to the area. New to duty, he follows his instincts in order to do what’s expected of him. While serving on one of the islands, he meets fellow soldier Mattias Cohen (Jonas Smulders) and they become friends. After a lot of physical training in the difficult climate, the two are dispatched to an elite unit run by Captain Westerling (Marwan Kenzari). Nicknamed “The Turk”, the brutal leader does not hesitate to punish his unit for any dereliction of duty. His defiance of the Japanese, lead to his killing of many Japanese informants in front of the citizens of the island and his troops. He vows to get the country back under the Dutch control with a motto “there are only two kinds of people; the hunters and the prey”.
Under control of the psychotic leader, Johan and Mattias find themselves following orders and hiding their distrust. Director and co-writer Jim Taihuttu puts together a very vicious movie where war is hell. He depicts the vile hatred that the troops must follow while mixing in the challenge of right verses wrong. The jungles and small villages, the deprived people and the Dutch Army are frankly pictured and the fighting all looks real and cringing at times.
The East has been rated by the MPAA for the USA, but contains language, brutality, war violence, brief nudity, and some drug use. Think to the film as an R rating with only mature viewers in mind to watch the film. In Dutch with English Subtitles.
Additional Film Information,
Cast: Martijn Lakemeyer, Marwan Kenzari, Jonas Smulders, Denise Aznam
Directed by: Jim Taihuttu
Genre: War, Drama
MPAA Rating: language, brutality, war violence, sex/nudity, some drug use,
Language: Dutch with English Subtitles
Running Time: 2 hrs. 17 min.
Opening Date: August 13, 2021
Distributed by: Magnet
Released in: Theaters, Streaming
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
