The East movie

[Mike Cecil]

Don't know much about Dutch operations in the NEI in the immediate post-war period, so have no idea of the accuracy of the above mentioned movie released in 2020.

From an equipment perspective, CMP trucks, jeeps (some fitted with 7.50-16 tyres by the looks of their size), an interesting assortment of period British, US and Japanese firearms, uniforms that are a mix of camouflage coveralls (like USMC issue), khakis and greens; and webbing that is a mix of '37 and '44 pattern equipment with some interesting little mods. The web equipment is sloppily worn by actors who appear to be carrying very little weight.

Strange sort of movie but worth watching for all the 'kit' if nothing else.

Mike

[Lang]

Mike

I don't think we can be too critical of costumes and equipment in period movies. Not only are they getting harder to source but all movies have budget constraints.

Julius Caesar would be rolling in his grave if he could see how Hollywood dresses Roman soldiers.

As a flyer I am totally amazed that Spitfires did not glide from UK to Berlin before starting their engines to protect the bombers after seeing the "amazingly accurate" latest Dunkirk movie. The British soldiers crowded on the pier after weeks of battle and retreat would warm a sergeant major's heart with their spotless helmets and immaculate outfits.

The outrageous overacting in the latest SAS series comes to mind. Of course every movie has to have a woman invented for a major role whether they were there or not. I say a damn good thing too, women do not get enough credit for things they have not done.

I think there were less than half a dozen stand in the street face-off "fair fight" gunfights recorded in the whole history of the wild west. John Wayne did that many before breakfast.

It is interesting, and fun, for enthusiasts to pick errors in things, times and places but the story is there for the 999 out of 1,000 who would not know. It is annoying but just entertainment "based on fact" as they say.

Even the news docos made in the field at the time were regularly staged and orchestrated with training exercises largely filling the battle scenes.

It is all smoke and mirrors and let us hope they keep making them so we can grit our teeth when the bloke in the fifth row steps off on his right foot.

Lang

[Mike Cecil]

Lang,


I was in admiration of the assemblage of kit, not critical of it, despite the inability of the actors to wear it convincingly.


Mike

[Lang]

Not critical of you at all Mike. I understand the "go-to" bloke for accuracy in many military areas is you and how you can pick up things others will not see. I have often benefitted from your knowledge.

Just saying, apart from correcting errors for a specialist group like MLU and promoting a discussion, not worth getting disappointed over that detail.

I have not seen the movie and even discounting wardrobe faults it may have been total c..p or a great story but it is all entertainment.

Lang

[Bob Carriere]

Do we have a link of the movie or which pay channel......??

Is it even available across the pond??

I promise not to criticize ........ but what would be the reaction of Joe Pubic (not a typo) if we showed up in real period uniform, gritty, unshaven, miss matched color of kits and wearing a sentry woolen cap or better still a a beret stuck to the back of our heads with flowing curls sticking out on our forehead....

I love seeing un-staged pictures of real front line situation that shows real courage and stamina.

Always gets me to see a modern clean re-enactment campsite with a soldier in clean army woolen uniform, 6 foot two and just a shade below 300 pounds wearing a steel pot in size 6 1/2 with a scraggly hair cut.

I attended a show for Veterans and some one pointed out to me that my loose fitting clean (as in mint) coverall were certainly not what I wear when servicing my truck........ and she was absolutely right!!!!

Guess what I will be wearing next time.....

Back in the my days of dirt bikes and mud in the back trails of the Gatineau Park ( now all out of bounds) we wore jeans and matching jacket...... it took a lot of convincing of my (first) wife BUT they were to she shaken loose of dirt and grease and oil was patina....... NEVER TO BE WASHED..... or risk being called a mommy's boy by the other guys!!!!

Now everything gets washed after one wearing......and they do not last!!!

[Mike Cecil]

Bob,

https://www.hulu.com/movie/the-east-...2-0698acdde9d1

Hopefully this link might work ...

Mike

[Bruce MacMillan]

Having rented stuff to movie productions the set dec isn't too concerned with authenticity. They expect the general audience to focus on the plot, not count buttons.

I do think that reenactors could step it up a notch to accurately portray the theatre of operation. It amuses me to see a jeep loaded down with every imaginable bit of kit making it look like a mobile warehouse.

For myself I have stopped reenacting a Canadian WW2 signaller as I now look more like dad's army.
Maybe I should depict a French civilian wandering around with my B2 spy set.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

“De Oost” (the East) is a Dutch movie about the Dutch trying to take back control over the Netherlands East Indies, which had claimed independence as Indonesia right after WW2.

It follows the undertakings of a young Dutch lad who was conscripted to fight what turned out to be a dirty war. The Dutch soldiers were told they were going to liberate the Indonesian people from oppressors. They all had lived (and fought) through WW2 living under the German oppression themselves, so believe they were doing a noble thing. In reality the Dutch government and business corporations did not want to loose the rich pickings they had enjoyed the centuries before WW2 broke out. The soldiers had to fight a dirty war which to this day, sadly, divides people. It is the same story of many wars: regular soldiers and citizens suffering under the rulings class’ hunger for power and wealth.

See a trailer here: https://youtu.be/PwGiADNEUtk

[Lang]

It is a good movie. Plenty of free download sites.
If you are ever in Jakarta one of the best war museums I have ever seen. Dozens of large dioramas describing the whole independence conflict.

Some interesting points are:

The allies left the Japanese in "policing" control for several months after surrender until they could get troops there.

A large number of regular Japanese soldiers signed up as advisers to both sides.

To Australia's ever lasting shame we sent many troops and air force to fight for the Dutch to regain their colony. The Indonesians won the PR war as well as the military one and international news papers of the time paint the Dutch as rapacious colonists being assisted by other colonial nations (as illustrated in the movie). International support faded away very quickly in the face of the untenable moral position.

Still, the soldiers were there like always to do or die and should be remembered like all soldiers of all nations who just did their duty to their goverment's bidding.