Eastern Promises (2007)

It is often said, they just don’t make it like they use to. I can usually agree with that sentiment, but there is one thing that hasn’t changed and that is a good mobster movie. I remember watching ‘The Godfather’ in the 70’s. That was one of the best, but unlike most everything else, they still make this genre of movie exactly like they used to.
Take for instance, ‘Eastern Promises’. Anna, a midwife in London finds a diary, written in Russian, belonging to a young girl who has just given birth, but didn’t survive. Trying to locate the baby’s family, Anna asks her uncle to translate the diary. He refuses at first, so Anna investigates a restaurant card she finds inside it. It belongs to a man named Semyon and his son, Krill. Anna soon learns that they had raped the now dead girl. Digging into the diary unleashes the full fury of the Vory, the Russian mob in London. Nikolai Luzhin, the driver for this notorious organised crime family finds his loyalties divided when he meets Anna. As she determines to uncover the baby’s lineage Nikolai finds that his life and Anna’s hang in the balance, as a chain of murder, deceit and retribution unfold on the streets of London.
Some think the film is all about violence, but I have to disagree. It is more about passion. There is truth in the struggles and desires, which makes these movies powerful. These are stories of real life and it is this strength that makes the movie great.