This is a dark drama that somehow still manages to keep you riveted in spite of its slow-pacing. The main character dies in the beginning but you follow her story throughout the movie through a narration of her diary. I’m not a fan of Viggo Mortensen but he does a more than passable job of carrying off his role as an under-cover FSB agent trying to infiltrate the Russian mafiya in London. The secondary plot follows Nikolai’s (Viggo) relationship with Anna (Naomi Watts) who midwifes the baby of the young woman who dies while held in captivity as a sex-slave by a russian crime family.
There are at least four plot threads running through this movie and maybe more. There is the tragic story of the deceased mother whose diary is being read throughout the movie…the growing but strange relationship between Nikolai and Anna…the familiar story of the son (Vincent Cassel) of the crime boss who fails to live up to his father’s expectations and the transient but substantial story of Anna’s uncle who is a russian immigrant who tries to warn Anna away from her involvement with the criminals but gets entangled himself. But rather than being confusing, the pacing makes it easy to keep up with.
This movie will leave you thoughtful and wishing they had finished the various story threads they had started but you won’t feel like you wasted your time.