Nikolai Luzhin

Nikolai Luzhin is two of the main protagonists of the 2007 British-Canadian-American gangster film Eastern Promises. He is Kirill's brother and a member of the Russian mafia at the Trans-Siberian Restaurant, as well as associate of his father, Seymon.
He was portrayed by , who also played Aragorn in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
==Biography==
Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin officially works as a driver for the alcoholic and mentally unstable Kirill. His father, Semyon, heads a Russian mafia organization in London, which belongs to the brotherhood of Wory w Sakone (Thieves in the Law). Behind the scenes, Nikolai makes sure to eliminate the consequences of Kirill's excesses. When Kirill murders a man who had insulted him, Nikolai makes the body unrecognizable before sinking it into the Thames.
Anna Chitrova, herself of semi-Russian descent, works as a midwife in a London hospital. One day, a young Russian girl dies there during the birth of her child. Anna experiences this intensely due to her own miscarriage and investigates the child's parentage: she asks her uncle Stepan to translate the diary found on the girl. But at first the uncle refuses to interfere in other people's affairs. Shortly thereafter, Anna visits a Russian restaurant, the business card of which she found in her diary. Semyon, the owner of the restaurant, claims not to know the girl. When he learns of the diary, he persuades Anna to have it translated by him. She brings him a copy of the diary. In the meantime, however, her uncle has also started translating. When he finds out that the girl Tatiana had to do with the Wory w Sakone, Stepan begs Anna to stop searching.
At the next meeting with Semyon, he pretends to be worried about his son Kirill, whose illegal deeds are hinted at in the diary. He therefore asks Anna for the original. In reality, however, the diary shows that Semyon himself had raped Tatiana in order to make her submissive as a prostitute. As Anna becomes more and more suspicious, Semyon instructs Nikolai to obtain the diary and eliminate Anna's uncle Stepan.
Seemingly as a reward for his reliability, Nikolai is promoted within the hierarchy of the mafia at the instigation of Semyon and tattooed with the stars provided for this purpose. In reality, this promotion is an intrigue by Semyon, because his son Kirill had a Chechen leader killed. His brothers now want to take revenge on Kirill, but don't know what he looks like. Semyon arranges a meeting in the sauna, but sends Nikolai instead of Kirill. Because of the tattoos, the two killers mistake Nikolai for Kirill and try to murder him. But the unarmed, naked Nikolai manages to kill the two attackers. In the hospital, he receives a visit from Scotland Yard. It turns out that Nikolai is an undercover agent of the FSB who infiltrates the Wory w Sakone from within. In order to achieve this, he wants to continue to stay with them, although the officer offers to get him out. Nikolai is also visited at the bedside by Anna, who demands an explanation for the disappearance of her uncle Stepan. He reveals to Anna that her uncle Stepan was not murdered and is instead hiding in a hotel in Scotland. A romance develops between the two.
Shortly thereafter, Kirill kidnaps the baby, as his DNA would prove that Semyon raped Tatiana. He wants to drown the child in the Thames – probably on the orders of his father. This can be prevented by Nikolai and Anna at the last moment: Nikolai appeals to Kirill's conscience and their friendship. In the final scenes, you can see that Anna has adopted the baby and is safe, while Nikolai sits in Semyon's restaurant with a stony expression. He has succeeded the mafia boss.
==Trivia==
*Viggo Mortensen was nominated for a Academy Award and BAFTA for his performance as Nikolai Luzhin and was won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for his performance.
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