24th July, 2008 Login • Register
Search This Site
Eastern Promises (2007) DVD Review
Eastern Promises (2007) DVD Credits:
Eastern Promises (2007) Directed by:
David Cronenberg
Eastern Promises (2007) Written by:
Steve Knight
Eastern Promises (2007) Cast:
Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel
Eastern Promises (2007) Released by:
BBC Films
Region:
1
Eastern Promises (2007) DVD Release Date:
26th December 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD
Eastern Promises (2007) Synopsis:

Eastern Promises follows a young midwife drawn into investigating the identity of a mysterious Russian girl who dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve. The nurse stumbles into danger when she discovers that the dead woman was a prostitute ensnared by a sex-trafficking gang.

Eastern Promises (2007) DVD Review:

David Cronenberg’s films often share an obsession with the human body and however subtly the collective work of the director is almost always comparing the body to being a machine, whether literally or metaphorically with the efficiency in which it kills. Eastern Promises may not have an arm with a mutated gun attached or a fleshy typewriter, but instead the human body is used as a canvas for tattoos in the Russian crime syndicate in the film. We are told that a man without tattoos does not exist, because these markings are proof of his life and what he has done, and the mysterious and violent Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) has plenty of tattoos to prove his past.

Nikolai is working for one of London’s most notorious Russian crime family, stuck between a ruthless boss and his alcoholic son. He is even on his way to receive his stars, making him officially part of the family. The only thing that seems to be holding Nikolai back is an innocent young midwife named Anna (Naomi Watts) who finds herself in possession of evidence against the family. After a poor young Russian girl dies giving birth to a bastard child, Anna is determined to find out who would impregnate this underage girl. After discovering her diary and the fact that she worked for the Russian crime family Nikolai belongs to, Anna is able to discover the truth rather easily.

As with all of Cronenberg’s films there is an unsettling quality throughout the entire movie, making for an extremely stressful and often difficult viewing experience. While Eastern Promises really only pulls the graphic violence out for one scene, this only allows the suspense and tension to build quietly throughout the rest of the film. Where A History of Violence had a sympathetic protagonist that was capable of unspeakable acts of violence, Eastern Promises gives us a protagonist who seems far more willing to carry out these acts although he always manages to find another way to resolve the problem. Only when he is attacked does the potential of his violent nature come out, and this is the scene which makes this film uniquely Cronenberg.

As critically acclaimed as the film has been, including several award nominations, there is very little to say about the DVD. There are only two special features, both featurettes. Deleted scenes are largely unnecessary for a film like this, but a commentary would have been a nice addition. The two featurettes include a behind the scenes look at the filming in London and a featurette in which Cronenberg explains the different areas where it is common for men to tell the story of their lives through tattoos all across their bodies.

Our Rating: Extras Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD

Eastern Promises (2007) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

Content Management System provided by P J Thomson - Freelance Web Design - PHP/MySQL Development