East (2020) – Unique film on a forgotten war

 

Genre – War Movie (based on true events)

Time: 2 Hours 20 minutes

Platform: Amazon Prime

Language: Dutch

 

 

 

 

Historical background: World War 2 showed to the colonial subjects that their Colonial Masters were not a hundred feet tall and could be defeated. This was especially so in the Asian colonies, which were rapidly invaded and  occupied by the supposedly inferior Japanese who were always painted in propaganda as short, of stunted growth, poor eyesight and generally inferior (see poster on left). The British, Dutch and other Empire Armies of Australia, New Zealand and India discovered otherwise.

 

Within two months, the so-called impregnable fortress of Singapore had fallen to the Japanese in February 1942.  Indonesia was occupied by the Dutch and surrendered in March 1942 . The Indonesians (and other nationalities like Burma, Malays, Chinese, Indians) realised that their colonial masters were not the master race they had painted themselves to be.

 

The Japanese occupation of Indonesia lasted from March 1942 to September 1945 when Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The Dutch, like all Colonial powers, had suppressed Indonesian independence movements.  Sukarno, the first president of independent Indonesia was supported by the Japanese for his collaboration during their occupation and even visited Japan. When the Japanese surrendered, Sukarno declared independence which the Dutch refused to grant. Four years of civil war and an insurgency followed, with the Dutch finally leaving Indonesia, after granting independence in December 1949

 

It is essential to understand this background before watching this film as it may seem confusing as the story is told entirely from the perspective of the Dutch soldiers.

 

Film: It is 1946. Conscripted soldier Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) and his comrades land in the “exotic East Indies”, to supposedly liberate the locals from the grip of the nasty guerrillas.  Johan is an idealist and believes in his government and its principles. He soon changes his views when he sees that the locals are totally uncooperative and even hostile. He and his fellow soldiers spend their time drinking and chasing local prostitutes.

 

Months of boring patrol follow with a fleeting enemy hardly giving the chance to the soldiers to show off their fighting skills.  They meet an Army Captain Raymond Westerling (Marwan Kenzari) who is a counter terrorist expert and ruthlessly ‘pacifies’ local areas – in other words, killing local population by the truck loads.

 

Ambushes. Counter executions. Soon Johan is caught in a spiral of death and killings which he cannot escape as a soldier. Dominating all of these is Westerling who keeps producing unique challenges and operational methods . The locals are of course caught between the guerrillas and the Army – informing to either of them will result in their certain death by the other . Johan’s soul is in a downward spiral .

 

We can say that this is film is like  a “Dutch Platoon” – the Dutch equivalent of the 1986 Oscar Winner  where a young soldier on his first tour of duty encounters the camaraderie, horrors of Vietnam. The template is somewhat similar. However, there are some truly harrowing graphically violent scenes – be warned as they suddenly pounce on you from nowhere.

 

The film says “based on true events” and rightly so. This film is like a Dutch ’Platoon’ with all the incumbent loss of innocence and the horrors of any war – in this case the Indonesian war of independence.

 

The Dutch read the writing on the wall and packed their bags in 1949. To some extent the British also did not but finally did with most British colonies getting independence. The French did not and fought a tough insurgency in Vietnam in which they were roundly defeated in 1953 and used that experience in Algeria, in the eight year long armed struggle, which resulted in Algerian independence.

 

The ending is a bit weird but then what else can we expect given the relation between Johan and Raymond.

 

The film was shot in Indonesia and it shows. Authentic locations and local languages, signs, some of the old colonial buildings lend an authenticity to the film.

 

Trivia: The Indian Army – of undivided India – provided “peacekeeping troops” , among whom was a young Lieutenant Zia ul Haq who earned later notoriety as the absolute dictator of Pakistan from 1977 – 1988.

 

Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 5  out of 5

 

Total – 4.2 out of 5