Director: Zal Batmanglij, 2013 (PG-13)
The East tells the story of an ambitious private investigator who finds herself questioning her own morals and those of her employer. In contrasting the excesses of corporate America with those who drop out of society to live in anarchist collective, Batmanglij’s film tries to balance techno-thriller with societal commentary and manages to miss slightly miss at both. The movie does have moments of tension, but its slow pacing tends to suffocate the suspense. Yet it’s worth a watch for the ethical themes not often found in American cinema.
Sarah (Brit Marling, who co-wrote the screenplay with
Batmaglij) works for an elite private investigative and intelligence company
that seeks to protect its large corporate clients from terrorists and other
activists. She wants and wins the job of infiltrating an anarchist group known
as “The East” who execute covert attacks on American corporations they believe
have trashed the environment or deceived us over pharmaceuticals. In other
words, they are self-anointed corporate consciences but with a twist. They
repay an eye for an eye, and act as judge, jury and executioner all themselves.
Telling her boyfriend she is leaving the country for a
short-term job, an act of deception in itself, she changes suits and shoes for
hoodies and birkenstocks, and sets off in search of the eco-terrorists. After
striking out with the initial target, she strikes gold with Luca (Shiloh
Fernandez), an androgynous hobo who leads her to an abandoned and distressed
country home that is now occupied by the members of the East: Izzy (Ellen Page,
Juno), an intense zealot; Doc (Toby Kebbell), who has suffered from the
side-effects of a major drug; Tess (Danielle Macdonald), expert hacker; and
Benji (Alexander Skarsgard), the soft spoken but charismatic leader of the
group.
The East has committed to hitting three major corporations
in six months, performing “jams” on them that will put them negatively in the
public eye and will give them an appropriate taste of their own medicine.
Batmanglij wants us to root for these people, who are living separate from the
society that is impacted by their actions. But he overly demonizes corporate
America. There is no doubt a semblance of truth in the corporate excesses, from
the shocking oil spills to the nasty pharmaceutical side-effects. But this is
too simplistic.
When one of the group leaves suddenly, Sarah finds
opportunity to become an active member of the group, which is what her
corporate boss Sharon (Patricia Clarkson, Lars and the Real Girl) wanted her to do.
But as kidnap victims often succumb to the Stockholm Syndrome, so too does
Sarah. And she finds herself questioning Sharon’s commands.
In one key scene, Sarah in the middle of a jam sneaks away
to surreptitiously call Sharon to let her know what is going on so that she can
take action. But the company being targeted is not one of Sharon’s clients and
so she does not care to intervene. She sees more benefits to her and to her
employer to let this take place as a visual warning to potential clients of
what might happen if they don’t sign on with her. This moral relativism offends
Sarah, as it should. Her employer wants profit even if it means some will be
hurt in the process. There is a real message here. Some situations should
preempt the bottom line. But Sharon’s failure to rise to the occasion forces
Sarah to reconsider her priorities. She finds herself caught between the job she
wanted and the life she is living; between her normal but boring boyfriend and
the charismatic but driven collective leader. Ultimately, she has to find
herself and determine who she wants to be.
Both Marling and Batmanglij based the screenplay they wrote
on their own experiences from the summer of 2009, when they practiced
freeganism and lived in an anarchist collective. Freeganism describes the
lifestyle that employs alternative strategies based on limited participation in
the conventional economy. One aspect, shown in the film, is searching for food
that has been discarded: dumpster diving. When Luca looks for and finds some
donuts in a dumpster, Sarah finds this distasteful. But later, once she has
embraced some basic principles of a freegan approach, she picks up a half-eaten
apple from a garbage can and eats it enjoyably.
Freeganism may not be for many of us, but its underlying
philosophy of avoiding waste has merit. Too much edible food is discarded
because it has past its due date. Gleaning is becoming a popular approach to
reusing this food. With people starving, we cannot really afford to simply toss
such food out. Non-profits, such as Birch Community Services, collect food from
companies that cannot sell it and make it available to the needy, often along
with educational services to help them get out of poverty. Gleaning dates back
to the Old Testament times. The Israelites were instructed: “When you reap the
harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the
gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner
residing among you” (Lev. 23:22) This practice allowed the less fortunate to
still survive even without owning land of their own.
Wherever you fall on the anarchist-capitalist spectrum,
there is likely something in this film for you to wrestle with even if you end
up disagreeing with its position. But perhaps you’ll find yourself like Sarah
questioning some of your own moral foundations. If you do, maybe you’ll hear
that still small voice of God who calls you to follow Jesus living a
counter-cultural life. You don’t have to be an anarchist freegan to make a
difference!
Copyright ©2013, Martin Baggs
