Fossier, Realism in Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises (2007)
is a crime
thriller film directed by David Cronenberg. The film, though praised for its
sense of realism, follows a trademark of Cronenbergs films. For example, the
scene with the 14 year old giving birth is related to Cronenberg’s fascination
with disease. In fact, “While Eastern Promises received some mixed
reviews, most reviewers and critics recognized the hand of David Cronenberg,
the director, in the film.” I haven’t seen enough of Cronenberg’s films to
comment personally, but that statistic coupled with the definition of Auteur
theory – the theory that holds that a film reflects the director’s personal
creative vision- makes me categorize this film in the “Auteur” file.
However, viewing cinema as an “extension of
photography” to chronicle the world around us, I would argue that this film is
based in the Realism theory. While some fans can pinpoint specific
characteristics of Cronenberg’s films in this one, the main attempt is at
realism. “While there are many formalist photographers, cinematographers, and
directors, most films do not try to manipulate reality too much.” The scene in
which the history of Russian tattoos is explained (30:00) is quite accurate,
and going from our notes on the movie I would say that Cronenberg’s influence
isn’t enough to overcome the realism of the movie.
As a final resolution of this film being a Realistic
film in terms of its approach to engage audiences, the scene in which Nikolai
Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), Russian mob boss Semyon’s (Armin Mueller-Stahl)
driver must fornicate with “of these bitches” in order to prove himself. The
scene is not over stylized in anyway to indicate obvious autuership and is
accurate of the Russian attitudes and customs regarding homosexuals.
Though traces of Cronenberg’s presence can be seen in
this film, that can be said of any director’s body of work when scrutinized to
deeply. As our notes say, most films try not to stay from obvious reality too
much, and in the case of Eastern Promises
I do not think Cronenberg’s influences overshadow the realism intent of this
film.