The East

Who would have thought that you can make an espionage thriller from an environmentalism theme? I guess you can and this movie pull it off nicely. It’s like Erin Brockovich fictionalized and on steroids. Brit Marling (Arbitrage) was great as Sarah a conflicted private intelligence operative who is infiltrating a shadowy environmentalist anarchist group called “The East”. Her role is well supported by actor Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) who was equally as good as Benji, the charismatic leader of the group. As Sarah stays longer with the group, she gradually sympathizes and eventually switches sides. But as she doesn’t agree with Benji’s methods she decided to strike out on her own. There’s not much, if any, gunplay or chases but the suspense and the drama is very much there. Well done!