Movie Reviews

By BETSY PICKLE
Scripps Howard News Service

“Eastern Promises” could make several stops along the compass and tell similar tales: It’s about immigrants in a new world, the hopes that brought them there and the disillusionment that greets them. However, it focuses on the underworld of Russian emigres in London.

Apparently it’s OK to depict Russian-bred gangsters in graphic displays of cinematic violence; they aren’t organized for protest the way those of Italian descent are in this country, and they aren’t shielded by political-correctness watchdogs as Hispanic and Muslim immigrants are. Plus, they have cool accents and killer tattoos.

“Eastern Promises” starts with two young immigrants being shortchanged by a new life. First, a youth — urged by his uncle — slits a man’s throat, an act doomed to inspire repercussions. Then a teenager dies giving birth to a baby girl. Though these two are only supporting characters on the playbill, thematically this is more their story than just about anyone else’s.

Anna (Naomi Watts) is a midwife working at the hospital where the Russian teen, a prostitute, is brought. Anna keeps the girl’s diary in hopes it will help her find relatives to take the baby.

Anna, who is half-Russian courtesy of her late father, asks her uncle, Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), to translate the diary, but he balks after reading a few entries about the girl’s sordid life. So Anna goes to restaurateur Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose business card was in the diary, for help.

Anna has enough sense to give Semyon a photocopy (though not enough to give the diary to the police). But Semyon doesn’t intend to let the diary’s contents be exposed. He tells taciturn Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), the driver and lieutenant to Semyon’s hot-tempered son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), to take care of Anna.

Director David Cronenberg and screenwriter Steven Knight elevate “Eastern Promises” above the standard gangster tale with multiple storylines and motivations. Nothing is simple in this film; deeper layers surface gradually.

Anna has personal reasons for taking an interest in the baby. Nikolai has ambitions beyond doing Kirill’s dirty work. Semyon balances the demands of his crime empire with the needs of his family. Kirill feels pressure to prove himself. Everyone has something to hide.

Mortensen, who starred in Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence,” is perfect as the solemn, unshakable Nikolai. He’s convincing in Nikolai’s brutality, but he’s able to show glimpses of humanity without breaking stride. Watts pulls off Anna’s naivete while displaying an edge of integrity and decency.

Mueller-Stahl uses his grandfatherly image as a chilling contrast to Semyon’s behavior. Cassel does some of the film’s best acting as the son whose life is dictated by his father.

Cronenberg doesn’t shy away from gruesome scenes — fights, mutilations, murders — depicting them with visceral force, but he focuses as much on the mental anguish as the physical. The film’s intensity is almost relentless.

It’s so relentless that the movie has to make an abrupt U-turn at the end. It’s as if Cronenberg got caught up in the epic potential of the story but suddenly recalled his original thesis.

And while it’s a logical and thoughtful move, it’s also disappointing because it exposes the film’s narrative flaws. In fulfilling a promise, “Eastern Promises” ends with a bump, not a bang.