Eastern Promises is a 2007 British-American-Canadian thriller-crime film directed by David Cronenberg, from a screenplay by Steven Knight. The film tells of a British midwife's interactions with the Russian Mafia in London and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel. Principal photography began November 2006, in locations in and around London. The film has been noted for its plot twist, the subject of sex trafficking, and for its violence and realistic depiction of Russian career criminals, which includes detailed portrayal of the tattoos commonly worn by them.
Eastern Promises received positive critical reception, appearing on several US critics' "top ten films" lists for 2007. The film has won several awards, including the Audience Prize for best film at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Best Actor award for Mortensen at the British Independent Film Awards. The film received twelve Genie Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations. Mortensen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Read more about Eastern Promises: Plot, Cast, Director's Commentary, Release, Reception, Awards and Nominations, Sequel
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“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)