'Eastern Promises' a bloody step forward
By Nick Knittel, Contributor
October 16, 2007 | 6 p.m.
It’s hard to describe exactly what’s at the core of “Eastern Promises” after only one viewing, but it’s clearly a sign of excellent craftsmanship on director David Cronenberg’s part, as he continues to flirt with mainstream audiences with great success.
“Eastern Promises” takes place in London, the dark underworld which is crawling with members of the Vory V Zakone, the brutal Russian crime organization that is born out of old Soviet-era prison camps and boasts extreme tattoos as membership signs. When a 14-year-old Russian girl dies during childbirth, the midwife, Anna (Naomi Watts), feels a maternal obligation to learn the background of this mysterious girl and return the baby to her family. The only clues to her identity lie in her diary and a card for a Russian restaurant.
When Anna gets the somewhat misguided idea to visit the restaurant and speak to the owner Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl, of brief “West Wing” fame) to have the diary translated, her world crashes into the hands of the Russian mob. Semyon is the head of a family that is well-connected to the Vory, and he realizes that whatever may be inside the diary is probably best kept secret. Anna doesn’t know what she has uncovered, but she wises up when she crosses paths with Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), Semyon’s mysterious driver with silent ambitions and a penchant for worry beads.
Nikolai is also the right-hand man of Kirill (Vincent Cassel, “Ocean’s Thirteen”), the volatile, boozed-up sexpot who lacks the charm and intelligence of his father, Semyon, to keep his mobster family intact. Nikolai begins to see his loyalties divide as Kirill and Semyon move in on Anna, and the family begins to induct him as a full member of the Vory, but Nikolai has plans of his own.
Cronenberg has pieced together a taut thriller, the rare kind of film where there isn’t an extraneous scene or wasted bit of dialogue. Everything provides character and depth; even the actors who have a transitory moment from scene to scene and disappear soon after stay in mind until the very end. An example of this is Anna’s uncle Stepan (Polish film director Jerzy Skolimowski), a Russian-born expatriate with knowledge of the Old Country and a fear of Vory power.
A fear of Vory power is one that is extremely well-founded, as the graphic violence of the gang is shown with realistic, uninhibited detail. Throats are slit; bodies are dumped, and, in one extremely sensorial moment, a naked Nikolai faces off against Chechen goons in a bathhouse. “Naked” is not an expression or a metaphor. Mortensen’s man-junk flops every which way as he dodges knives (rather unsuccessfully), bleeds and manages to beat the crap out of the two men with gory precision.
It’s this scene that leaves the theater with you. Those unfamiliar with Cronenberg’s previous work (“Scanners,” “Dead Ringers” and the fantastic “A History of Violence”) have missed out on the head explosions and mutilations that have become something of a staple for his work over the past few decades. Although graphic, Cronenberg is not an advocate of violence, but merely uses it to enhance the reality of what’s going on. The stabbings in the bathhouse are extraordinarily painful to watch, and each blow rocks you from the seat. This is by no means a passive experience.
Viggo Mortensen positively blooms as the hard-handed Nikolai, and his character almost seems to be an extension from “A History of Violence,” his previous match up with David Cronenberg. The two have an obvious creative bond, and Mortensen seems pushed to the limit with acting bravado and risk taking, especially within the bathhouse fight where he seems just as determined as Cronenberg to get the job done.
Despite sometimes feeling overdramatic with voiceovers, “Eastern Promises” is a hard-edged tale of violence and vengeance that marks another great step forward in the careers of David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen.
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“Eastern Promises”
Speakeasy Rating: A
Running Time: 100 Minutes
MPAA Rating: Strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity.
Genre: Action/thriller.