My Quick Take: Ever seen a Cronenberg film? Then you know one thing to expect:
some pretty intense violence, some graphic (and slightly disturbing) coupling,
and a picture where good and evil blur into each other. "Eastern Promises"
continues the director's penchant for looking at the extremes to which humans
are driven, and seems to ask the question, is violence an inescapable part of
all human's natures? It's pretty solemn, almost downbeat, but nonetheless a
fascinating look at some aspects of the Russian mafia, and as always, a
disturbingly fascinating look at how far people will go. If you liked "A
History of Violence", "ExistenZ", or "Dead Ringers", you'll--well, not "enjoy",
but get into--"Eastern Promises". If you find his work off-putting, too
violent, or too gross, then you might find this picture just too much.
My Full Take: David Cronenberg is often criticized for the graphic nature of
his films. That might be his history of looking unflinchingly at violent or
disturbing material. Recalling Jeff Goldblums body parts falling off in The
Fly, or the brutal fight scenes and explicit sex scenes in A History of
Violence, its understandable why some might feel that way. But dig deeper
beneath the surface of his films, and youll see a director who simply explores
the depth of the human condition, and isnt shy from being realistic in doing
so. Hes not a man who uses violence gratuitously, but rather shows the reality
of what humans do to each other in all its disturbing nature. In that way,
Cronenbergs like a war photographer: using graphic and disturbing pictures to
tell a trutha truth that some might not want to face, but truth nonetheless.
Eastern Promises is another of his moving-pictures of the extremes to which
humans can subject themselves and others. The film starts with a teenaged girl
collapsing in a pharmacy in a pool of blood. Shes taken to a hospital where
she later dies in childbirth. Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), the midwife who
works on the case, learns that the girl was a fourteen-year-old named Tatiana,
and is drawn into her story. How did she get pregnant at such a young age?
Where was her family? Tatiana leaves behind a diary written in Russian, that
Anna gives to her uncle to translate. Almost immediately he warns Anna to drop
the whole affair. The small bit hes read reveals Tatiana was brought to London
by the local Russian mafia, who made her promises of a new life, only to force
her into a life of sexual slavery.
Despite her uncles warning, Anna visits the mafia boss, Semyon, and asks him
about Tatiana. Semyon tries to get Anna to give him the diary, to forget about
Tatiana, but despite veiled threats she refuses, looking for justice for
Tatiana and her motherless child, delving deeper into a dangerous world.
Included in that world is Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) a driver for the
mafia. Luzhin is a good soldier; the kind who keeps his mouth shut and does
what hes told. The kind of man who can cut the fingers off a dead body, then
later have a drink with the killer, or have sex with a barely legal prostitute
to prove hes a real man. Hes also the kind of man who doesnt necessarily
take pleasure in some of the things he has to do. Theyre just business,
necessary evils of his world. Luzhin tries to give Anna a friendly warning:
forget the girl and be safe, and leave behind a world where she doesnt belong.
But again, she ignores the warnings.
Annas persistence at first appears to be an outgrowth of her own problems: a
recent breakup and miscarriage that have her sad and lost. Surely only forlorn
despair could make anyone act so recklessly, it seems. But in time we come to
realize that Anna really is a decent person trying to correct a wrong. As she
comes to understand how Tatiana was cruelly used she wants to make sure that
someone paysor at least acknowledges the loss of this young life. She was
used and thrown away like garbage, Anna says. Someone should care about who
she was and what happened to her.
In Anna, Cronenberg shows a person desperately fighting a world that seems
dominated by violence and cruelty. Its as if with this one small victory
shell prove that the worlds not all bad. Shes the lone voice in a world
where crime and cruelty might be the norm, and Anna cant accept that.
Cronenberg underscores this point by focusing on the Russian underworld, making
it seem more substantial than Annas. As the film progresses, we see Anna less
and less, Watts taking on an almost supporting role as Anna darts in and out of
a world that looms large and inevitable. It sucks in and holds those who live
in it as much as it keeps people like Anna out.
Luzhin is a case in point. With his soft spoken, almost disinterested manner,
he seems weary, resigned to the lot dealt him in life. He does what he has to
do to survive, which sometimes means doing brutal things. But at times he seems
almost concerned about the innocents like Anna, who dont belong in his life.
There are hints of, if not goodness in Luzhin, then at least less cruelty
than those around him. Even if most of the world is bad, he doesnt add to that
unnecessarily: hes trapped, but Anna and those like her neednt be.
Perhaps, Cronenberg is saying, this is the real world, or at least, the real
world to which so many of us fall. Indeed, as the films last scenes play out,
intermixing scenes of happiness with those of grimness, it seems that happiness
is a rare thing, more precious for being surrounded by so much brutality.
Eastern Promises, in true Cronenberg fashion, can be sobering, almost
depressing. It has scenes of graphic sexuality and shocking brutality. But for
all that he doesnt use either gratuitously. He picks a target, points his lens
in that direction, and lets the images play out as they must. I dont exactly
feel good watching a Cronenberg film, but like with those war photos, I know
Im seeing pictures of an aspect of truth. A sometimes disturbing, even
unsavory truth, but not a trivial one, and certainly not one quickly forgotten.
My Grade: B
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