Eastern Promises (2007)

Directed by David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises stars Naomi Watts as Anna, a midwife working at Trafalger Hospital in London and daughter of Russian and English parentage. While on duty Christmas night, Anna is called to assist in the delivery of a premature birth. The mother has no identification, but she looks young, and Anna roots through her purse only to find a diary written in Russian with a business card to the Russian restaurant Trans-Siberian, in London. The mother dies in childbirth, and the baby barely lives. Anna is determined to find out who this girl was, and who the relatives of the baby are.

Anna begins her hunt by having her drunken, and prone to putting his foot in his mouth, Russian uncle, Stepan, translate the diary for her. She then heads over to the Trans-Siberian to ask about the girl. There, Anna runs into the owner, Semyon (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl), his son Kirill (played by Vincent Cassel), and "driver" Nikolai (played by Viggo Mortnesen). This is when things start to get hairy for Anna.

What is uncovered by Anna (and Nikolai, who is more than he seems) through the rest of the film is a tale of cover-ups, murder, and personal atonement that leads all involved into a contrived, yet well displayed climax. Yes, I glossed over details, but there are far too many twists and surprises that I do not want to ruin for people who haven't seen this film. I hate having movies ruined for me.

Despite portraying just about every Russian character in the film as either a mobster, a prostitute, or their family, I think all involved actually handled the material with a decent amount of respect. It didn't seem exploitative, and genuinely cared for the culture. Kudos to Cronenberg for his handling of the material, and all the actors for immersing themselves in it so completely.

Speaking of writing, kudos to the actors for handling the script so well. I really think each performer turned what are pretty cliched phrases and scenarios into some electric pieces of dialogue. The scene where Nikolai drives Anna home takes on a life of its own with the way they spoke their lines. It makes the viewer forget about the fact that a high schooler could have written a better script.

You know, there wasn't one bad piece of acting that really stood out to me in this film. Overall, the performances were very good. Expecially Viggo Mortensen. He was just so immersed in his character! It was great to watch, because you really get past it being Viggo Mortensen, and after a little bit, all you see is Nikolai. It's tough to do, especially for the guy who played Aragon, and with such a distinct look to him. His distinct look actually worked to his advantage in this role. Naomi Watts was a bit saccharine at moments, and more eye-candy than actress, but overall (and again, especially in the car scene with Nikolai) very enjoyable. When she lets her guard down, she's great to watch. I wished it happened more in this film. And Armin Mueller-Stahl is great to see as a baddie. Who knew the old man had it in him?!

I really grew to care for the characters in this film, so I was totally sucked in and hung up on their livelihood. Kudos to Cronenberg for capturing that, and the actors for giving life to that. Despite its numerous cliches, the ride this film takes you on is great, and well portrayed. Give it a whirl. I even found myself wanting to pick up some modern Russian History books for further background.