Phillpott, Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises is a movie that is best seen through the Auteur theory. This theory states that a film is best understood by focusing on the artistic creator (or director). Therefore, a film is the result of a director's authorship. This movie focuses on very heavy themes of sex-slavery, the Russian mafia, rape, and murder. All of which are very real threats in our society, but there is something much more important about this movie's view. It is what David Cronenberg, the director, wanted it to be. Cronenberg is one of the originators of the "body horror" genre. This genre explores humanity's fears of bodily transformation, and his films typically show how the
psychological intertwines with the physical. "Cronenberg's films have the unnerving ability to delve into society's collective unconscious and dredge up all of the perverse, suppressed desires of modern life" (New York Times).

The first scene that I've chosen is when Nikolai (Viggo Mortenson) is getting tattooed to become a family member of the Russian mafia. In this scene, he must accept this bodily transformation in order to fit the part that he must play. Because now that he is "family," he is at a greater advantage to take over the London section on the mafia. The physical helps the psychological here.

The second scene is when Nikolai must literally disfigure the dead body so that it cannot be identified by the police. He is physically changing the dead man, and he knows that he is getting in deep with the mafia now. Psychologically, he knows that he is now crossing the line of what he should and should not do morally.

The last scene is when Kirill (Vincent Cassel) is about to kill the baby. He is physically hunched over the baby, and he is crying. His tears and body language reflect his psychological state. He doesn't want to kill the baby, but he knows that he must or his father will kill him. This scene helps to remind the audience that Kirill is just a little boy himself trapped in a man's body. He has most likely been abused and his true self repressed. The connection between the physical and the psychological coincide very neatly here.

From looking at these scenes, it is obvious that David Cronenberg was making this movie in the way he envisioned it. The plot and themes fit with his other movies so I think you should see Eastern Promises through the Auteur theory.