Alexander's film The East covers hard topics about ecology, terrorism and activism

First official trailer of The East!


Looks very intense!

I agree

The first one seemed really good but as good as it was, the second one seemed just as lame. Anyone elese have an opinion?

So, I saw The East.

The movie is pretty good, a little underdeveloped for my taste, but overall it was pretty good. It is about a woman who works for a risk assessment company who handles security problems for big corporations. Her first assignment is to infiltrate an eco terrorist group called The East. The East is run by this guy named Benji, who is Alex, and she sort of poses as a Traveler, one of those off the grid kids who live out of the dumpsters and moves in little packs and squats in these old buildings and houses. She gets into the East stronghold and she is tested by the group at supper time...which is interesting. She finds out they are all in the group for different reasons. One dude is a doctor who had been a Drs without borders type and he was given a drug that was supposed to protect him from disease but instead he got a neurological condition that is like Parkinsons.

They do these actions they call jams and they take the agent to a jam which is a fundraiser for the drug company who made the drug that debilitated the doc. They infect the champagne with the drug and the CEOs and the guests get the same condition and they post it on the web, taking responsibility for the situation.

Eventually though, what happens is she goes native, she starts to understand what they are doing and why though she does not agree with the way they orchestrate the jams and the outcomes. She eventually bonds with Benji and he wants her to come with him on the run and do more, but she decides to her own sort "The East" by whistle blowing and converting other agents she is working with.

The problems with the movie seem to one of being able to connect to the characters. All of them are sort of simply drawn and it is hard to really get deeply involved with them. The back story that is supposed to do that is flimsy. But the actors, which included Brit Marling and Ellen Page were really good and they played it all real tight....I give The East 3 out of 5.