De Oost (2020)
Genre: Drama / War
Duration: 137 minuten
Alternative title: The East
Country:
Netherlands / Belgium / Indonesia / United States / France
Directed by: Jim Taihuttu
Stars: Martijn Lakemeier, Marwan Kenzari and Huub Smit
IMDb score:
6,8 (7.669)
Releasedate: 13 August 2021
De Oost plot
"A war between duty and conscience."
1946. A Dutch soldier named Johan is sent out together with a hundred thousand others to put things in order in the Dutch East Indies. Gradually, Johan falls under the spell of Raymond Westerling, a charismatic army captain. When the war escalates and Westerling crushes the population's resistance more and more mercilessly, the line between good and evil becomes increasingly blurred for Johan.
Actors and actresses
Johan de Vries
Raymond "De Turk" Westerling
Mattias Cohen
Werner de Val
Sjaak "Charlie" Rondhuis
Eddy Coolen
Tinus de Val
Herman Keizer
Major Penders
Camp Commander Mulder
Reviews & comments
jpy
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- 12 messages
- 7 votes
Provided. My parents came from Indonesia in 1948. I've actually heard everything that happened in the movie. I didn't see anything new so that was disappointing. As far as I'm concerned, the misconduct is poorly portrayed by both parties. So I expected a lot more 'fireworks' there. I also found the film to be long winded. As an action movie it fell short and was too long. As a history story, a series might have been better.
In short, a (serious) setback for me.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Macmanus
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- 13726 messages
- 3706 votes
Nice.
Certainly not a bad movie. You notice that Taihuttu likes to avoid the typical Dutch film annoyances. For example, the dialogues are a bit looser, people don't talk as if we were watching the polygon news. This war is certainly a welcome change from the second world war. Unfortunately, you also notice that Taihuttu is stuck in the war genre. As a result, the film never really makes much of an impression that the maker hopes for. It may be about the Netherlands in Indonesia, but what the protagonist goes through can be applied to many war films, so when the makers introduce a General with bombastic classical music, it is sometimes difficult to separate it from the Vietnam counterparts.
The film loses itself a bit too much, especially in the last part of the film. Marwan Kenzari who shoots everyone behind his table and when our protagonist is hunted like a true Rambo. It's just a bit too Tarantino there, so the impression that the last scene should have on the viewer is completely absent.
3 stars.
Translated from Dutch · View original
tbouwh
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- 5824 messages
- 5411 votes
With De Oost, filmmaker and screenwriter Jim Taihuttu (Rabat ; Wolf ) makes an un-Dutch film about a hot topic in Dutch history. Un-Dutch, because De Oost with its derailing jungle patrols and soldiers fighting against themselves is unmistakably modeled on American film images of Vietnam. Roughly forty years after American filmmakers first used fiction to deal with pertinent war traumas, the Netherlands has its own Platoon.
In 1945, nineteen-year-old Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) joins one of the military units that must bring order to the chaos of the then still Dutch East Indies archipelago. The archenemy's name is Soekarno, Johan and his military comrades soon know, and the jungle is an alleged hotbed of guerrillas and rebels. In the chaos of suggestions and accusations you can't control, 'judging' is a relative term. Near Johan's camp lives a mercenary (Marwan Kenzari) who plays the dirty games of the jungle more deviously and viciously than the Dutch superiors. Chaos is a ladder, so this Raymond Westerling gradually works his way up, until he finally takes over as superior himself. Johan follows and learns in his wake, but becomes increasingly alienated from the image of man that his master reveals in their mutual conversations.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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