Director/co-writer Zal Batmanglij’s last collaboration with actress/co-writer Brit Marling, the criminally under seen Sound of My Voice came and went in Buffalo last summer (underscoring the need for a good microcinema that could give a movie like that time to find an audience). The East, a much larger budget effort opens up the contained universe of Sound of My Voice, again exploring a sort of cult.
Marling (also seen in apt social/political thrillers like Arbitrage and The Company You Keep) stars as Sarah, a private intelligence analyst who receives a field assignment to penetrate “The East”, a group of eco terrorism. The trailer says it all: “it’s easy when it’s not your home, it’s easy when it’s not your family, but when it’s your fault, it shouldn’t be so easy”.
The function of a film like The East (and films like Zero Dark Thirty) I think is to provide some context for those that aren’t really paying attention. If you watch the News Hour on PBS this all seems like low hanging fruit ripped from the headlines. Batmanglij keeps his camera at eye level, employing mostly handheld work, it’s the kind of thriller folks in Buffalo can (and should) make: it’s got something to say with a powerful moral twist. Where does one go? Who’s right? And do the ends justify the means.
Ultimately, like the Occupy movement differences in ideology ultimately sink The East. What’s fascinating is the film is about this debate and that line. It takes a slightly preachy tone later on, taking freegamism to a whole new level of heretics. Its targets are all deserving up to the last jams. Never boring The East is full of satisfying twists and turns, its riveting powerful filmmaking.
The East features strong supporting performances from Ellen Page and Toby Kebbell as two young folks that had the means and resources to do anything, any they chose an underground freegan life of eco-terrorism. While the film has certain ideology that it in the later half pushes down our throats (restraint, in one scene in particular would have been useful) it remains a strong, thoughtful, provoking and entertaining film.
Screening: Dipson Amherst Theatre.
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