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EASTERN PROMISES

What You Need To Know:

EASTERN PROMISES stars Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts in a story about a polite driver for Russian mobsters in London, who takes pity on a young nurse protecting an orphaned baby. The nurse, Anna, is trying to translate the diary that the baby’s dead teenage Russian mother left behind. Her search takes her to a Russian restaurant run by Samyon, leader of one of the Russian crime families active in England. Anna learns that the mother’s diary contains a terrible secret about Samyon that may send him to jail. Nikolai, Samyon’s driver, has a secret of his own that leads him to take measures to protect Anna and the baby from the ruthless Samyon.

EASTERN PROMISES is a powerful thriller with some uplifting qualities, but it is R-rated. Thus, it contains some brutal scenes of violence, strong foul language and strong sexual content. There is also a brutal knife fight where a completely nude Nikolai must kill two big knife-wielding assailants. The combination of these factors send EASTERN PROMISES over the line of acceptable viewing, but the movie’s worldview favors the heroine’s moral outlook. This movie is for adults only.

Content:

(BB, CC, Ho, LLL, VVV, SS, NNN, AA, DD, M) Strong moral worldview with some overt Christian references, plus people hint that the troubled son of a vicious Russian gangster is homosexual and two female prostitutes are shown kissing one another; 41 mostly strong obscenities, two strong profanities, one light profanity; very strong brutal violence includes two people get their throats slit, brutal knife fight between completely naked man and two big knife-wielding assailants, and images of blood around sick pregnant woman; depicted fornication and two scenes with prostitutes; upper female nudity and partly obscured full male nudity during knife fight; alcohol use and drunkenness; smoking and cocaine use; and, man steals baby out of maternity ward and gangster tattoos.

More Detail:

EASTERN PROMISES is an adult crime thriller about Russian mobsters in London, England. The movie is director David Cronenberg’s follow-up with actor Viggo Mortensen to their movie THE HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.

Naomi Watts stars as Anna, a half-Russian midwife at a London hospital taking care of the orphaned baby of a teenage Russian immigrant. The immigrant left a diary, which Anna tries to get translated in order to send the baby to her family. In trying to find out more about the mother, Anna follows a clue to a local Russian restaurant. She runs into the restaurant owner, Samyon, who also happens to be the head of one of the local Russian crime families. Anna also encounters Samyon’s tough-looking but polite new driver, Nikolai, played by Viggo Mortensen. She also meets Samyon’s rude, drunken, troubled son, Kirill.

Anna discovers that the mother’s diary contains a terrible secret about Samyon and his son that may be the evidence the police need to send them to jail. Nikolai, who seems to actually believe in the Russian Orthodox Christian faith that the gangsters profess, takes pity on Anna’s concern for the baby. In fact, he has his own secret, a secret that may lead him to take action to protect Anna and the baby from the ruthless Samyon. Nikolai has to walk a fine line for them all to survive.

EASTERN PROMISES is a powerful thriller with some uplifting moral qualities, but it is R-rated. Thus, it contains some brutal scenes of violence, strong foul language and strong sexual content. There is also a brutal knife fight where a completely nude Nikolai must fight off two big knife-wielding assailants. The combination of these factors send EASTERN PROMISES over the line of acceptable viewing, but the movie’s worldview favors the heroine’s moral outlook.