Des soldats et des ombres

DOZENS OF DUTCH MOVIES have been made about World War 2 against Nazi Germany. Dozens! And rightfully so, it is an important chapter in Dutch history and should never be forgotten! (plus the Nazi Germans were the bad guys). NOT ONE DUTCH MOVIE had been made IN 70+ YEARS TIME about another WAR that was happening far away in the former Dutch colony Indonesia, yet it is an equally important chapter in Dutch history! So what's going on here? How come this war has never before gotten the attention it deserves in the Dutch education system, schools and history books? Almost nobody knows what really happened there! This movie, THE EAST (DE OOST) finally changes that and shows in a partial historically accurate way what happened over there during the BERSIAP PERIOD after the capitulation of Japan. We see this through the eyes of a rookie Dutch soldier, really bad things happen (on both sides!) and we gradually get to see his struggle with it all. The fact that this movie is the first cinematic Dutch movie that sheds some light on this controversial and difficult period in Dutch history deserves praise + it gets extra points for showing courage for making this movie! It's a fantastic movie, great acting, beautiful scenery, raw sense of reality - but please also understand that it's a MOVIE, not a documentary! Rating: 10/10.

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.

This film start with a man smoking, and another man watching with a binocular scene! As turnout, this film is about a Dutch soldier "Johan" trusting a commander "Raymond", and eventually he end up disobey Raymond, and need to make a run for his life! Entire film full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Such as, overuse of the walking scene, overuse of the patrolling scene, overuse of the staring scene, overuse of the hallucinate scene, overuse of the arguing scene, overuse of the calling names scene, overuse of the driving scene, overuse of the eating scene, overuse of the smoking scene, overuse of the drinking scene, and overuse of the copulate scene! Make the film unwatchable! At the end, Johan been shot by Raymond, and waiting for the ship to save him! Johan hallucinate he killed himself at the very end! That's it! Another disappointed film!

For a movie based on true events, it was most boring to watch. Too much talking and nothing like what was expected. The end was very much like an opera, and the only bits that impressed was the opera music.