Set in London, Eastern Promises sets the stakes right away. The movie opens with a man named Soyka getting his throat slit in a barbershop. The next scene cuts to a young pregnant girl stumbling into a pharmacy. She is revealed to be severely bleeding and is rushed to the hospital, but dies on the table. The baby she was carrying is saved.
Among the girl’s personal effects, Anna (Naomi Watts), the hospital midwife, finds her diary, which is written in Russian. Anna’s family is from Russia, so she takes the book in an effort to assist Baby Doe. As a matter of principle, her uncle refuses when he learns that Anna stole it from the dead girl. Anna finds a business card of a local Russian restaurant and speaks with the owner Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl). He offers to help if Anna brings him the diary. She offers to bring copies, but he is adamant that he needs the original to do it properly. Anna soon discovers that not only is Semyon actually a member of vory v zakone, the Russian Mafia, but he knew the young girl, intimately.
Meanwhile, Semyon is also dealing with his son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who ordered the hit on Soyka because he had been saying Kirill was a drunk and a homosexual, both of which are most likely true, and he was talking with the police. Semyon is angry because Soyka was a made man and it was done without his permission and Soyka has brothers who will surely seek revenge.
Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) is Kirill’s driver and bodyguard. He says he will stand up when Soyka’s brothers come. He earns the respect of Semyon by handling things much better and cleaner than the reckless and impulsive Kirill. He gets the diary from Anna and makes her uncle disappear because he read it. Nikolai becomes a made man with the vory v zakone, and in turn is marked with the customary tattoos to make it evident.
The plot was moving along well but then it fell apart in the closing scenes due to an unbelievable logic gaffe by certain characters to force the film to its conclusion. The police learn of Semyon’s involvement with the young dead girl and take a blood sample, yet they don’t arrest him. While this seemed very unusual, I have no knowledge of British law, so I accepted the scene. However, even if they didn’t tell Semyon, he’s a very smart man and there could only have been one reason to take his blood: to match with the baby. Inexplicably, the police leave the baby unguarded and Kirill kidnaps her from the hospital.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
I had never heard of this before, but when I saw the Mortensen and Cronenburg team again, I bought it fast. I'm refusing to read your review until I see it, which should be tomorrow.
2 - Neil Morgan
I agree totally that 'Eastern Promises' falls apart towards its ending. It builds up a lot of tension then calmly leaves it unresolves and I've been reluctant to praise anything of it due to the pat ending. It's not bad but not better than 'A History of Violence' surely.
3 - El Bicho
I agree with your last sentence, Neil.