SummaryAn elite private intelligence firm contracts ex-FBI agent Sarah Moss to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective, The East, suspected to be responsible for attacking major corporations. Sarah goes undercover, but as she gets closer to the action and the organization's leader, her commitment to her task begins to waver.
SummaryAn elite private intelligence firm contracts ex-FBI agent Sarah Moss to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective, The East, suspected to be responsible for attacking major corporations. Sarah goes undercover, but as she gets closer to the action and the organization's leader, her commitment to her task begins to waver.
What I like best about movies that highlight corporate greed and revenge for the little guy is that the ultimate message is, people matter. The health of their environment matters. Their health matters. Their children matter. And it's not okay for them to be treated as collateral damage by corporate money-mongers.
Such is true in real life.
On a personal level, what I most appreciated about The East was that it accurately depicted the horrors of a real class of prescription antibiotics, fluoroquinolones. (Per Brit Marling in a Huffington Post interview, they modeled the horrors of the pharmaceutical industry in the film after the real horrors of fluoroquinolone toxicity.) The fictionalized Diaoxin (or something like that) that causes central nervous system damage, tendon rupture, seizures, rash, tremors, etc. is based on real reactions to real drugs, antibiotics that go by the names Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and Larium. As The East depicted, the effects of these drugs can be devastating. The East also illustrated that onset of adverse symptoms can be delayed, leading to people not identifying the drugs as the culprit in their ill health, the fact that a lawsuit is impossible, or at least difficult, because the side-effects are listed on the package insert, that these drugs are being given to our armed forces in massive quantities, that these drugs are toted as a miracle cure for anthrax, that these drugs are commonly used in Africa (and other places in the world where malaria is common) to treat traveler’s diarrhea and malaria, etc. Really, they did an awesome job at portraying as complete a picture as possible of fluoroquinolones and their toxicity. I know, it sounds unbelievable, as if I'm basing my assessment of reality on the movie. In reality, the movie was based on true stories of fluoroquinolone toxicity. Please look at The Fluoroquinolone Wall of Pain on Facebook for stories of illness and my blog, ****, for stories of hope and healing.
This is an effective genre piece. And Marling's quiet way of anchoring a scene is subtle enough to escape detection in almost any narrative circumstance.
As slickly paced as a big-studio espionage movie, it nearly succeeds as a pure adrenaline-rush thriller. In the end, the problem isn't that there's too much plot, but rather a certain dramatic illogic.
Let’s say you wanted to have another go at “Red Dawn” but you think more like Redford. Voilà: You’d have The East, a cockamamie valentine to eco-terrorism.
It had a good storyline the plot was also fine but the actresses brit marling and ellen page was terrible through out the movie especially I dint expect such a let down from the inception fame "page".
Over all, its a pretty descent movie with some message to society given in a thrilling story line
Cautionary tale of the consequences of getting too close to a cause you're to undermine or subvert. In this case, the protagonist (Sarah) flips from "establishment" to counter-culture but is intent on pursuing their aims non-violently, contrary to the group's MO. Could also be seen as another tale of how one person can make a difference.
Evil corporations aided by evil security firm that employs star Marling who infiltrates well-intentioned but evil-prone eco-terrorists. Predictably she's attracted to star Alexsander and gets all confused about where her true loyalties lie. Basically she stays confused for The East's running length. The eco-terrorists are semi-sympathetically drawn and Julia Ormond is great in a small role as a corporate baddie who 'turns' (with good reason). The whole endeavor is semi-stimulating and I guarantee you have seen worse. But in its lame attempt to sort out ethics and morality the film feels like an opportunity mostly missed.
For about first 10 minutes seems promising, then becomes a polished amateur film-course project with the backing of, and participation of, some experienced professionals.