The East

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama East
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama East	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Special features: Behind the scenes; trailer.
Alexander Skarsgard, Brit Marling, Elliot Page, Patricia Clarkson.
Sarah Moss is an ambitious new recruit at an elite private intelligence firm. Her first undercover assignment is to infiltrate 'The East,' an elusive activist collective that terrorizes corporate leaders who commit crimes against humanity. The more involved she gets, the more Sarah's life is in danger.
DVD, widescreen (2.35:1) presentation; 5.1 Dolby digital (English), Dolby digital 2.0 (Spanish, French), Region 1, NTSC.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

An interesting "moral compass" adult story, with multiple viewpoints submitted by KeithMc on December 31, 2013, 12:03pm 2 hours. A well done, thought provoking story and multiple character study. Definitely worth seeing as an adult. Definitely NOT suitable for children. This film contains mature adult subjects, physical relationships, and violence with permanent consequences.

A cell of "motivated individuals", tired of seeing corporate greed resulting in public harm without repercussion, decide to attempt to punish corporate execs by creating a series of "jams" - events that could potentially expose the normally shielded execs from each targeted company to the dangers similar to what they've exposed to others, hoping to show both them and the public the true risks and costs of their corporate behaviors. The main viewpoint character is a brand new agent recruit moving from the FBI to a private intelligence company that is charged with protecting their clients' corporate reputations. The agent's very first assignment is to attempt to find and infiltrate the cell.

This film does a good job of exploring the gray areas on a number of moral and ethical issues, on all sides of the argument. It explores: corporate civic responsibility, can one really morally justify their behavior, what should one do when feeling powerless against great odds or when they've exhausted other options, how far would you go (or what would you risk), and what constitutes "an appropriate response"? Every character's back story is well developed, and argues from a different point of view or motivation. Concurrently, the story also throws the agent into the typical moral dilemmas found in many espionage genres (fear of discovery, how far should an infiltrator go to keep their cover intact, should they sympathize with the cause or not, internal conflict between prior training vs public responsibility vs their new job, whose behavior constitutes the "real danger" in each scenario (and how should they respond to them, etc.)

This is one of those films that can create table discussion amongst groups of viewers afterward with moral and ethical issues such as "How would YOU behave, in the place of each of the film's characters?" and "Would your behavior depend on the character, or not?"

- Keith Mc.

Loved it! submitted by bookher on July 23, 2014, 12:37pm I had never heard of this movie until I saw it at the library and took a chance on it. I am so glad I did. Alexander Skarsgard is excellent in this movie. Very fast moving and I was hooked from the first minute. Many ethical issues to ponder after watching this movie but good movies do make you think. The main actress was also great and I'm surprised she hasn't been in more movies. I definitely recommend this movie.

Raises uncomfortable questions submitted by ferielp on August 6, 2017, 12:02pm The movie targets corporations, but as a consumer, you can't help but feel partially responsible for feeding the machine. It's a good reminder for us to evaluate our choices and make them greener.