Eastern Promises

Watched Eastern Promises with Daryl on thursday night at The Cathay.

Eastern Promises is a show about a nurse, Anna (Naomi Watts), who gets embroiled with the Russian mafia over her possession of a diary which she took from a pregnant girl who died after delivering her baby. The diary contains sensitive information about the Vory V Zakone brotherhood and their dabblings with prostitution, murders and rape. Anna gets acquainted with Nikolai, a driver who takes care of the crime lord's son, and he is after the diary as well.

The movie starts off with a graphic murder with the victim spurting blood all over the place. The intensity doesn't let up throughout the show and we get to see the dark side of the law, especially women tricked into prostitution. It paints a bleak picture of the situation of the poor districts in Eastern Europe and the dangers that lurk in every corner.

The movie is very well made and the cast is superb especially Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai and Armin Mueller-Stahl as the intelligent crime lord. Viggo Mortensen puts up an exceptionally powerful and daring performance and i am not surprised of his Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor category. The story is very compelling and it is fraught with the themes of betrayal, deceit, morality, power and violence. David Cronenberg has done a very good job with this crime thriller with his deft direction as well as his talented cast. Highly recommended.