Review: Eastern Promises

Set in London, Naomi Watts plays a midwife of Russian descent, who has just delivered a baby, the child of a 14-year old Russian girl named Tatiana, who subsequently dies in childbirth (in more than one sense of that term, if you think about it). Tatiana leaves behind a diary, and Watts is determined to decipher it to find the now orphaned baby’s relatives. Her crotchety, fearful Russian uncle (Polish actor Jerzy Skolimowski) warns her against this, but Watts is defiant, the search leading her to a restaurant owned by Russian Armin Mueller-Stahl. He offers to translate the diary for her, but when she gets back home, her uncle has changed his mind and done it for her. And what he finds is something Watts has already begun to realise, that Mueller-Stahl and his drunken, loose-cannon son Vincent Cassel aren’t just family members, they’re Family members. The Russian vor v zakone (mafia), to be exact. Viggo Mortensen is a long-serving driver to Cassel, and almost like an adopted member of the family. Or is that Family? ‘I’m just a driver’, the surprisingly charming Mortensen assures Watts, and the two strike up a relationship, started over a mutual admiration for Russian-made motorcycles. But is he just a driver? Is Watts in over her head here? And just what is this family’s connection to the dead girl and/or her child?

 

I’m not going to claim that this 2007 David Cronenberg (“The Fly”, “Scanners”, “A History of Violence”) crime-drama is the Master of Venereal Horror’s “Straight Story” moment, but it is certainly one of his most mainstream offerings. But Cronenberg fans fear not, this is still a vivid, in-your-face film that is most definitely not for wusses (a brutal, naked steam room fight and an early throat slashing are proof enough of that). It’s just that narratively, Cronenberg is stepping into the world generally occupied by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, and especially, Francis Ford Coppola. For the most part, Cronenberg scores with this sometimes fascinating, often brilliantly acted film, with Shakespearean (or Greek Tragedy) dramatics. Themes of honour, father/son relations, sin- all that great stuff can be found here.

 

What prevents it from “Goodfellas” greatness is its narrative focus, centred around Watts’ character. Watts is fine in the role, but her character is uninteresting and unnecessary. The film should’ve been Mortensen’s, dealing with his entry into the Russian Mafia, and set before the death of Tatiana, not afterwards. But look, the rest of the film is really fascinating, engrossing stuff, and the three male stars (none of whom are Russian- They are German, French, and Danish-American, respectively) are outstanding. Mortensen, whom I never much rated before the “Lord of the Rings” films, is bona fide movie star here, and a damn fine actor to boot. Admittedly the true motives of his character are flagged somewhat by Mortensen’s very casting (and removing the Watts character would probably help in hiding this), but he’s excellent. He’s brave too, though I find the bathhouse scene a bit overrated, no one would be talking about it if it weren’t heavy on male nudity. Even better, in my view, are superlative turns by Mueller-Stahl, and the scene-stealing, unpredictable, borderline pathetic Cassel. The former is a master in playing paternal figures who are rather untrustworthy, but also capable of masking it with ‘dignified old man’ charm. He gets the film’s best scene where he makes the faintest of threats to a baby’s life, you barely even notice him being threatening until it’s already over (there’s also a nasty throat slashing in another scene that seems over before you have time to react). Cassel, meanwhile, walks off with the film effortlessly as perhaps the film’s Joe Pesci.

 

This is a good film, and different to any other Cronenberg film, but not without flaw. A big improvement over the frustrating previous Cronenberg-Mortensen collaboration, “A History of Violence” though, and a must for mafia movie fans at the very least. The screenplay is by Steve Knight (“Dirty Pretty Things”, “Amazing Grace”).

 

Rating: B-