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Well, Eastern Promises certainly forces audiences to feel. A viewer with a conscience is most likely going to feel shocked, sickened, repulsed, exhausted—and even abused. In his severity, Cronenberg disrupts the audience's immersion in a story that might have become a landmark tale of corruption and conscience on par with The Godfather, Chinatown, and Miller's Crossing.

Talk About It

1. Name some other films about violent criminals. When it comes to violence, which films are good models for effective portrayals of violent behavior?
2. Discuss your impressions of Nikolai. What did you think of him at the beginning of the film? How did the revelation about his motives and identity change your impressions of him? What do you think of him at the end of the film?
3. Should Anna have read the diary in the first place?
4. What do you think of Anna's parents' responses to her attempts to help the baby?
5. Is Nikolai a better man at the end of the film? Or is he being seduced by power and violence? Is this the story of a man's redemption, or his corruption? Discuss.

The Family Corner

Eastern Promises is rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity. It is a film about heartless criminals, with plenty of graphic violence, sex, and language. The film goes far beyond the bounds of propriety. We see not one but two men get their throats slit open, and the camera lingers on them as their blood pours from the wounds. One of the gangsters is goaded into a violent, abusive sex act, and Cronenberg sees fit to film the act in graphic detail.

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