The East

The EAST is a very unusual film about a rarely discussed topic: how rational people join cults and somehow become part of the movements.

First, check out Patty Hearst on the right.  Remember her story? She was the daughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate attending Berkeley back in 1974.  One day, the SLA, a group of leftist terrorists, kidnapped her for ransom to increase their coffers.  Next thing, the straight-laced, never-in-trouble Patty, was seen robbing a bank with the radicals.  Shocker!

Now check out the picture in the upper left.  That pretty blonde is Brit Marling.  Who?  Go back and check her out playing opposite Richard Gere in Arbitrage.  Yes, that's her.  She was great in that film, and almost stole the spotlight from the very talented Mr. Gere.

No spoiler, but Brit plays an agent who infiltrates a group of radicals called The East, who hide out and live communally in a cult-like manner.  When Brit joins up, she is not too fond of the group.  Soon their strange love for each other, and their mission to take down corporations who abuse the environment, capture her imagination.

Enough said.  What happens then?  Gotta go see the film to find out!

Don't expect Hollywood-style action or even a lively pace.  Sometimes the film drags a bit trying to get its message across.  Not an A+ film by any means. But with Ellen Page, who dazzled in Juno, also in the mix, the film sort of grabs and holds on.

I'm back to thinking about Patty Hearst, so the film must have touched me at some level.

Curious about Patty?  She was captured, found guilty of bank robbery when her "brainwashing" defense did not hold up, and served two years in prison before Jimmy Carter pardoned her.

Strange behavior indeed.