Review: The East

by Trevor Kirkendall
★★★★

With so many politically based films opening up in recent years, its easy to be turned off by them because they tend to take a stance and press some sort of agenda on the audience. But when a political thriller comes along and doesn’t do this, it demands to be seen. Take note, Hollywood. Not ever film based around a political idea needs to be a soapbox. This is what makes Zal Batmanglij’s latest film “The East” enjoyable. And its not only enjoyable, its one of this year’s best films.

Sarah Moss (Brit Marling) works for an intelligence firm called Hiller Brood who has been asked to investigate a new anarchist group known as The East. This group has promised several attacks on members of prominent corporations who they believe have been poisoning the planet with reckless environmental policy. Sarah is recruited by one of the heads of Hiller Brood (Patricia Clarkson) to go undercover, find and infiltrate this new terrorist cell.

Sarah lives off the land with other drifters and anarchists before having a chance encounter with Luca (Shiloh Fernandez), who helps her escape from sticky situation involving the police. He takes her way off the grid to a house where a group of people are living. She believes this to be The East. She meets Doc (Toby Kebbell) who is welcoming of her and Izzy (Ellen Page) who is a little unsure. She also meets the leader of the group Benji (Alexander Skarsgård).

They welcome her in and eventually warm up enough to have her assist with one of their attacks. Sarah is reluctant to help, but wants to keep her cover. She then starts to form a bond with the members of the group. She even feels a little out of place when the group goes on breaks and she heads back home to give her report to Hillar Brood and see her boyfriend Tim (Jason Ritter).

“The East” is not a film about the environmentalist stances and politics of the perpetrators, but rather about the relationships between those involved and their own personal struggles that turned them toward their anarchist ways. Observing all of this is Sarah, who does not possess the same desires as the group she’s infiltrated. She’s just there to observe, report and eventually help bring them down.

What’s refreshing about this film is that, just like Sarah, we’re here to follow along, not to take sides and ultimately we’re asked to draw our own conclusions. There is not stance “The East” takes that’s imposed of the audience. Its refreshing to not have a movie about environmentalists preach to us for two hours about their opinions.

Director Zal Batmanglij co-wrote the screenplay with Marling, and the outcome is one of the best written espionage thrillers I’ve seen in a long time. Usually the thing that plagues these types of thrillers tends to be the amount of red herrings thrown in throughout in an attempt to confuse the audience. There’s no need to be kept in the dark in “The East”. We know as much as Sarah knows and that’s the way it needs to be.

It’s all brilliantly scripted. There are a few lulls here. When they occur, they’re filled with exposition, but they’re not pointless. Long running, maybe, but every scene and every line has meaning behind it. You could probably go back and watch it again and find subtle nuances you didn’t know where there before. There’s nothing in the way of plot points buried so deep that they’re difficult to spot in one viewing. Second viewings probably won’t give you a better understanding of the story, but it could give you some more insight on these near-flawlessly written characters.

The tension is real and not contrived. The relationships don’t feel forced upon the audience like so many other films. There are many textbook elements present, but everything is covered with great precision so that it all seems organic. The natural flow to the story is a refreshing break from other films we see in the recent summer months.

Brit Marling hasn’t appeared in much before this, outside of a couple other Sundance films like “Another Earth” and “Sound of My Voice” (another film she co-wrote with director Batmangilj) but her performance is here is sensational. The internal conflicts her character goes through in this film – and there are many – are delivered to the audience with such ease. You never question her intentions or her motivations. Her presence on screen is commanding and she demands your attention throughout the entire film.

“The East” is one of the best films of the year thus far. There are very few dull moments, but they are very forgivable due to the complex nature of the story. Again, its not complex because its hard to follow, its complex because there’s so much depth to every element of the film. This film is a hidden gem that will no doubt become lost in the mix of the summer blockbusters and the big studio prestige films of the fall, but there is so much to like about this movie. Going out of your way to find is completely acceptable.