Eastern Promises Movie – Spoiler
Last night I watched Eastern Promises. I am not sure if I saw part of it before and fell asleep (happens a lot when DH has a Netflix) or that the fight scene in the bathhouse has become so famous that it seemed familiar.
Eastern Promises (2007) – Trivia
To prepare for his role, Viggo Mortensen traveled alone to Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Ural Mountain region of Siberia, where he spent five days driving around without a translator. He read books on the gangs of the vory v zakone (thieves in law), Russian prison culture and the importance of prison tattoos as criminal résumés, and perfected his character’s Siberian accent and learned lines in Russian, Ukrainian and English. During filming, he used worry beads made in prison from melted-down plastic cigarette lighters and decorated his trailer with copies of Russian icons.
It’s a great film. And though I think it is unrealistic that a midwife would not immediately give the diary of a murdered girl to the police, it works because Naomi Watts is so believably naive. Also, having a foreign father myself, I can see why she would think it perfectly acceptable to arrive unannounced, reveal that she had a Russian father and seek assistance with translation. I would personally seek help at a church, rather than a restaurant. But that would not be much of a story.
[Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassell]
Viggo Mortensen and Armin Mueller-Stahl are convincing Russian criminals. It makes sense for these European faces, Mortensen being half Dutch, and Mueller-Stahl born in Prussia. Being fascinated by that kind of trivia, I immediately had to see where each person was born, raised, and the ethnicity of their parents. But that does not speak of their acting ability, which is amazing. Mueller-Stahl is chilling, and Mortensen disturbing.
[Viggo Mortensen]
Vincent Cassel also does a fine job of looking like a foolish young thug. Not long into the the file I wanted to smack him around myself.
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I saw it a long time ago, but I did thoroughly enjoy it…even with the male frontal nudity. Some well placed columns could have gone in front of the cameras during that fight scene, but I liked your review. Interesting perspective. I think all the acting was very convincing. I was enthralled and that takes a very good movie because “I don’t like movies.”
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