Movie Review: Eastern Promises

There will be spoilers! Be forewarned!

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David Croenberg is known for his dark films, and Eastern Promises delivers on Croenberg's style. Set in London, the film begins with a fourteen year old girl named Tatiana collapsing in a pharmacy where she's trying to get help. She is rushed to the hospital where midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) delivers the baby but loses the mother. Wanting to find the next of kin for the baby, Anna turns to the only evidence she has: Tatiana's diary. Anna, whose father was Russian, takes the diary to her uncle to translate, but the uncle at first refuses. After finding a business card listing a top drawer Russian restaurant run by fatherly Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), Anna begins to unravel a mystery involving Semyon, the restaurant, and the dead girl.

I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say that the story is compelling. After all, what kind of Russian Mafia story would it be without violence, undertakings, threats, and prostitution. A note for parents: if the R rating didn't clue you in, this is not a film for children due to gorey death scenes, nudity, and strong language. Also, Viggo Mortensen fights off a few gangsters in his birthday suit--but that shouldn't influence whether you see the film.

As the story progresses, we find out more and more about Nikolai (Mortensen). Not only is he a driver, but he's a professional body-preparer. Don't be fooled--he's not a legitimate undertaker. But he does know how to prepare a body for a mob-style dumping (including, as we see, removal of the fingers with garden shears and other unpleasant practices. He is also a bodyguard and confidant for Semyon's son Kirill (Vincent Cassel).