Eastern Promises

Set in London, "history of violence" director David Cronenberg films about Russian mafia activities. But unlike most gangster and organized crime films, this was focused on one of its poor victims-a 14 year old girl, violently raped and died with a tragic pregnancy.

Though the girl tragedy was not visually narrated, the morbid brutality was portrayed in other mafia activities to asymmetrically show the viewers how the girl could had suffered. More gruesome than the series of headshots in The Departed and the storm of bullets slashing every soldier in the Saving Private Ryan, death became more painful with simple laceration. The killings could have been more cruel if the girl tragedy was exposed in full. Instead, plain vocal narration of the girl was intersected in diary readings and silent instances to moderate the viciousness of violence. Truly, Cronenberg knows violence, even at its mildest state.

There too was a good twist in the story but it was a regular one.

In sum, the movie was good. Though not equally blockbuster, it took off my nocturnal lethargy and plans to watch History of Violence.