Last year during the state visit, the Dutch king finally apologized to Indonesia for their former violence to Indonesian during the early years. Formerly, de Zwaan, the Dutch ambassador for Indonesia, also apologized for killings in 1947 on the island of Sulawesi. This killing in 1947 by Dutch Special Troops lead by Raymon Westerling is made to a screen by Jim Taihuttu, under the title of "De Oost". Though allegedly there are many historical inaccuracies and backlash, the film is a great way to open up to dutch audiences about their nation's iniquitous past.
De Oost follows the story of Johan, a young dutch soldier who is stationed in Java and sent to Sulawesi, where he trained to be a special op to crack down the so-called "terorist". Instead, however, they killed innocent civilians under the command of Raymond Westerling, portrayed as a cold-blooded and strict commander. As time progresses, Johan questioned the motives of the war. Once Indonesia regains its independence, Johan moves back to his mother's house and works as a blue-collar worker. The war changed him as he becomes a soulless depressed man. Westerling, on the other hand, works in theater. In the end, Westerling was shot by Johan; then, he proceeds to shoot himself.
When watching a historical film, you can not expect the story to be 100% accurate. This movie, for instance, portrays Westerling as a heartless commander who kills innocent civilians. However, in reality, the Dutch and Indonesia have different opinions about him. The historical Wikipedia page contains different information, with the Indonesian side mentioning the number of victims is 40,000; meanwhile, the English version notes that according to the Dutch historian, Westerling only killed 400 people and the special ops took 1500 lives. That's only a minuscule example of the inaccuracies.
Setting the historical inaccuracy aside, the scenery of the movie was terrific. It was filmed in Indonesia, and these soldiers (casts )explore the beauty of rice fields and even the deep jungle of Indonesia. I bet those casts wondered, " why would we invade this beautiful land?". Especially in the movie, the soldiers were pictured to be given friendly treatment by the locals.
As an Indonesian watching the movie, it was pretty overwhelming. However, there are also many new trivia I found via IMDB about this movie. For example, Even though the Indonesian government had no demands concerning the screenplay, they requested that Westerling's not be mentioned during the shoot in Indonesia, as he is still regarded as the personification of evil there. And another relating to the production where one of the staffs was bitten by a scorpion. I can image that to be the case since it was shot in the forests.
I don't think I watch many movies from the "colonizer" perspective like this especially relating to the Dutch-Indonesia relationship. Watching this movie offers some more views, mainly since I watch war movies from the Indonesian perspective. I can say this movie was bold. It attempts to bring out the hidden crime that Netherland hid for decades. If you want to read more about it, you can find it here How the Netherlands Hid Its War Crimes for Decades.
This movie got into my recommendation through youtube. I watched its trailer in dutch and found the Indonesian subtitle. I got so immersed in the film and it was like refreshing my historical knowledge especially relating to what they taught at school. I think if you like historical war thriller drama, this movie is worth watching. I leave you the link to the trailer below.
