The East

Going into this movie fully aware of all the drama surrounding it. My tip is don't go into it expecting historical accuracy. We didn't expect accuracy for apocalypse now or 1917. It's a setting for a war movie. And a anti war piece just like the previously named films

That being said, as far as a war movie its okay. Its mostly the usual story of the innocent fng that seems more pure then his compatriots from day one. His degradation as he gets hit with the horrors of war taken to the conclusion of the story.

The sets are beautiful as it is all shot on location and the kit and gear are all amazing. The actors are mostly good, the Turk being a pretty decent Kurtz rip-off. Mostly i am happy, this is a Dutch film made about a subject most people could learn more about, with great production value and some nice use of lights and camera work. The last act is definitely the weakest, but the beginning. Is pretty decent.

I would say: Watch with managed expectations.

Story from the colonial territory of dutch indonesia post-ww2, and the ''ethnical'' cleansing of terror cells threatening queen Wilhelminas land and people.

Its a utterly shaking story about a desperate dutch soldier ,who due to his fathers collaboration with the nazis, makes living in holland inhumanely impossible, and with no possible opportunities to get a job or make a living due to traitor blood running through his veins. So he joins the dutch forces of the far east, an edition of an army like the french legionaires, where you are noody and nobody cares what youve done to flee from home.

Its a jungle war movie, its pretty graphic and shocking, and the final scene i didnt see coming. Acting are among the superior that you may find in the pay bass, reminds me of some of the norwegian resistance war movies made in the 2 millenium. Its is slow in periods and splashes the surface , but takes some abrupt deep dives into the matter now and then. There are lots of blood and temporal fragmental eruptions due to summary executions en masse.

Productionwise, it shows that the helmsmen do have experience in the silverscreen craftmanship, the locations are shot in a more palmatic environment than holland can offer. So its not a low budget flick you are in for. Good camera lead, very realistic special effects, and as mentioned a great cast.

On the nether end is the lack of a good timeline, cause there are flashback that makes a grumpy old man confused about where and when. Its also drawn abit long on playtime, but summasummarum, you will be taught and you will be entertained, and you will feel, especially if pure blood dutch, the urge to make some revisions to your own domestic and extraterritorial history curicullum, and it may give some peace on mind to all colonial immigrants of the dutch empire, and may explain some social issues connected to terrorist attakcs done on dutch homeground especially in the 1970's.

A good movie, and ill beg for more revelating movies in the future. Dutch and belgian war movies do get good marks in my movie inventory. A recommend.

A hard to rate movie.

I have to rely on stories my granddad told me serviing in theDutch Indies during that time. I have digged into the history, but i have to admit: Dutch eduction failed in the time I went to school about this subject.

The movie started with a coming home trip of the soldiers. I doubt that scene was close to history accuracy. Didnt fit the period of time. Looked more like the 80's or the 2020's the way people acted. But ok, I see why the scene was added.

The first part of the storyline was actually pretty good. I did vividly see my granddad up there. The boys getting klapper for the soldiers (klapper = coconut in the Indies). And yes the soldiers were just walking around to "protect Dutch property". Please notice the quote marks. In the second half the story goes beserk. I doubt there was a team doing the things shown in the movie. This said, I have no doubts whatsoever, the Dutch stepped way across the line of what we call , hmmzz good. Lots of innocent civilians were simply murdered.

But it was clearly were the director gots his inspiration of: not history books (well, there arent many history books describing these dark pages of Dutch history), but movies like Platoon, Rambo, Deerhunter, Once upon in America (yes, too clear to not notice) and series like Tour of Duty.

But I still gave this movie a 7. Why? Well it is good someone tried to make a movie of this part of history. Besides that, the acting was overall pretty good and the camera work was above Dutch quality. The storyline, being historical accurate or not, was also good, and by being not chronological (did I already mention you can compare it to Once upon a time in America) it got even better.

Also the thin line between good and bad was a good thing. The director, despite of his background didnt pick really picked sides and gave the viewer enough space to make his or hers own opinion.

So I was surprised of the end result and I have to say, this might be one of the best Dutch movies I have ever seen, with actors not that well known in the Netherlands.

Based on the stories my father told me is this mostly based on reality. It was an awful time he had for four years. As an MP he followed this man closely and saw the story unfold. It took him 40 years to tell this to me what happened. Thanks Jim and all the actors.

Most reviews are exemplary for society today: people choosing position at extreme ends based on the subject with no space for nuance or really talking about the actual matter at hand. Very high marks, or very low. Yes, it's an important subject, but the movie isn't good or bad because the subject is important.

The visuals are good and above par for Dutch movies. The narrative transcends Dutch standards of treating it's educated audience like children with baroque and derivative clichés in storytelling (i.e. Lobotomized Love Actually clones etc.). It's just that the movie is too long, or perhaps should have been longer but not as a movie but as a series, which would have allowed for different dynamics to have been explored more in depth. There are a lot of interesting things there to dig into, but due to the film format and limited time that means it can a little too feel superficial. That sense of superficiality to certain elements (or rather the desire to dig deeper) combined with the long length feel at odds with each other. The movie also seems not to be able to make up it's mind to be either a social commentary or war movie, which gives a sense of falling just shy of the mark in both categories. Still a valiant effort with strong casting, acting, directing and art direction and in any case important to raise a difficult subject of relatively recent history. Other than most reviews, the film can be commended for choosing nuance and showing there can be well intended albeit misguided reasoning (rooting out perceived evil) behind atrocious acts, and by doing so manages to steer clear of cheap morality.