Cronenberg, Mortensen at their best in Promises

September 24, 2007 —

Every once in a while a movie comes along that I enjoy on such a level that it's not just good, it reignites my faith in and passion towards film as an artistic medium. Eastern Promises is one of those movies.

Set in London and revolving around the story of a young woman who died in childbirth before she was old enough to even be fit for pregnancy, this second collaboration between director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortenson functions effectively on multiple levels. It is a thriller with unforgiving visuals, a brooding mystery, and a drama that truthfully explores uniquely human themes.

Naomi Watts plays Anna, a midwife who helps deliver the child. She finds a diary written in Russian among the dead girl's belongings, and takes it home for her Russian uncle to translate, hoping to find her relatives. Inside she also finds a business card for a restaurant. When Anna goes to that restaurant to see if she can find someone who knew the girl there, it marks an irreversible step into a different world.

Anna's persistence in finding the truth of the child's origins puts her in contact with the Russian mafia. When it is revealed that she herself previously had a miscarriage, her attachment becomes even more understandable.

Viggo Mortsenson is a driver for the mafia named Nikolai. The role is handled incredibly - look for Mortenson to receive a nomination for it, and to be a part of the first-tier acting community for a long time to come. Like the movie surrounding him, Nikolai has many layers, and the complexity of his character is testament to how well-thought out Eastern Promises is.

The tenseness of many of the scenes, especially early on, is excellent. I was on the edge of my seat as Anna spoke with very dangerous men about very dangerous subjects. Nikolai tends to be at the center, even in dealings between the head of the mafia family, Semyon, and his son, Kirill. It becomes clear that he is more than a driver.

Parallel to the situation with the dead mother, there is a murder at the start of the film which also causes complications for Nikolai and company. He is torn between his friendship with Kirill and his loyalty to the mafia, as well as his sympathy for Anna.

Cronenberg does something with Eastern Promises that should be done much more in movies. He takes an idea and refuses to back down from it for the sake of convention, opting to allow that idea to drive the entire movie, for better or worse.

Many critics seem to be missing the point. Every bit the achievement A History of Violence was, if not more so, Eastern Promises is far from being really about violence, as one critic puts it. What is shown in this movie is the collision between different worlds, one of fantasy, one of reality. And the reality is, especially in a place like London, that people like Nikolai and Kirill can be right down the road.

These things do happen, whether we are aware of it or not. Anna, as well as the audience, necessarily only knows what happens from the time she is in contact with this world to the time when she is finally able to step away from it. But regardless, it is still there.

Cronenberg has a knack for showing ordinary people being exposed to what's really an extraordinary world. This is an idea he explored in A History of Violence, and explores again, albeit in a different way, in Eastern Promises. Partly due to it's setting, Eastern Promises brings us much closer to that world. It's an achievement both technically and thematically, and is well worth seeing.