Eastern promises
(DVD R-rated) 

Title from container.

Special features: Secrets and stories; marked for life.

Director of photography, Peter Suschitzky ; editor, Ronald Sanders ; music, Howard Shore ; costume designer, Denise Cronenberg ; production designer, Carol Spier.

Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Semyon heads the syndicate and is the proprietor of a plush Trans-Siberian restaurant. But his friendliness at the restaurant masks a cold and brutal core. Fortunes are tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill. But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova, a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the death of a teenager while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try and trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl has a personal diary, but it is written in Russian. Anna's Russian-born uncle urges caution. Anna accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. Hanging in the balance is a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.

MPAA rating: R; strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language, and nudity.

DVD, region 1, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) presentation; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, DVD-9, single-sided.

English or dubbed French dialogue, French or Spanish subtitles; English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.