The Meaning of the Tattoos - Eastern Promises
~*~*~SPOILERS~*~*~
If you've seen the trailer, you've heard the detective from Scotland Yard say, "In Russian prisons, your life story is written on your body, in tattoos. You don't have tattoos, you don't exist."
© Focus Features
© Focus Features
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Many people on Viggo-Works, including Elennore from Russia, researched the meaning of the tattoos and what they meant for Nikolai. Aurora contributed substantially with refinement of translations and tattoo pics. Specific sources are cited below; other sources include Wikipedia and the EP Production Notes.
I know nothing about this subject and take no credit for any of this; I've just compiled information here (mostly lifted right from the sources), :) and then detailed (with screencaps) where they are on Nikolai and what they mean. Many thanks to everyone who contributed!
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Russian Criminal Tattoos and the Vory v Zakone - EP Production Notes
[Producer] Paul Webster reveals - "Viggo's one-man research engine helped mould David's thinking about the script, and fed into the script in a great way. It informed our whole process."
Particularly helpful to all - for an important story and visual element of Eastern Promises - was Alix Lambert's documentary The Mark of Cain - which she had filmed in Russian prisons; Mortensen studied her book (among others) on the same subject, namely, criminal tattoos.
Cronenberg in turn sent the books and the documentary to Steven Knight, who incorporated the tattoo elements This facet of Mortensen's research became "a key pivot point for our approach to refining the script with Steve," notes Cronenberg. "Viggo sent me books on Russian criminal tattoos which were filled with not just photos and diagrams but also texts about the meanings of tattoos. He also sent me The Mark of Cain. There's this whole hidden world of symbolism that is immediately fascinating."
"Tattoos suddenly became an intense metaphor and symbol in the movie. It's a specialized world that is in fact dying because of the changes that have happened in Russia in the last decade.
"The tattoos are tied to an older Russian criminal caste with a real structure and hierarchy - the Vory V Zakone - which is literally translated as 'Thieves in law.' It's a brotherhood of thieves. The old saying goes - 'There is no honour among thieves' but what we found out was that the Vory has, if not honour, then at least a code that is adhered to - and it's a very brutal one."
The director clarifies that "this really is quite different from the Mafia. Also, in the modern Russian world - or the diaspora in London - it's morphing into something quite different, which is what we wanted to explore in Eastern Promises."
Vory V Zakone members include Russians and Georgians, and a smattering of Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Abkhazians and, in the movie at least, Turks. The Vory were born organically in Russia during the Great Terror of the 1930s - when Josef Stalin and his henchmen purged the Bolshevik Party of "enemies of the people" and sent millions to the Gulag slave labour camps in Siberia. It was in these camps that the first Vory were formed - along with the code that dictates law among Russian gangsters. The code calls for "complete submission to the laws of criminal life, including obligations to support the criminal ideal and rejection of labour and political activities." The Vory also organized their own tribunals to pass judgment on code violations and disputes. The penalty for violation of the code is often mutilation or death.
The Vory strengthened their ranks in the 1970s - during Leonid Brezhnev's rule - as the Soviet economy began to stagnate and the black market for luxury goods thrived. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Vory further consolidated power in Russia - while also fanning out around the globe, particularly into Western Europe and the United States.
Today, many Vory live well far from their home country. Estimates place them as operating in several dozen different countries, with thousands of members. The rigid code and behavioural rules, however, remain in place. The Vory's criminal aristocracy continues to oversee a recruitment system that - like 70 years ago - is concentrated in the prisons.
"The criminals in Russian jails say that your tattoo is your life," says Cronenberg. "Your tattoos on your body are who you are. If you come in with no tattoos, you don't exist. They must be accurate; they tell what crimes you've committed, what jail time you've served, what your sexual orientation is and more. If you were to have a tattoo that says you are higher up in the crime world than you are - you would be seriously punished, if not killed. It is said that tattoos are one's passport, but it's a very obscure country that the passport is from; the Russian criminal life is a rather small world. So the tattoos you've branded yourself with are determining your own fate and are also your private passport to your private world."
Knight adds - "They communicate through the tattoos. Basically, these people have their curriculum vitae on their body - their career history. With Nikolai - the question is - are these only on his skin? It's what he's done but is it who he is?"
Many tattoos are applied in prison. In these circumstances, to make the ink for the tattoos, prisoners break off the heel of a boot or a shoe and burn it. This yields soot that is sifted through a handkerchief and combined with urine to produce a durable ink. The tattoo is applied with a sharpened guitar string threaded through a wind-up shaver, while a grafted pen cap serves as the ink well.
Charged with making it somewhat easier on all concerned for the tattoo sequence and shots in Eastern Promises - Carol Spier created a tattoo tool based on her staff's research at the Oxford Tattoo Museum. However, hers was designed to not pierce the skin.
The stars being tattooed on Nikolai's knees in the key Vory sequence convey that he will never have to kneel down before authority - as he is raised to the highest rank in the brotherhood. It took one member of Stephan Dupuis's staff 4 hours to apply 43 tattoos on Mortensen for the full-body tattoo sequence. The tattoos, which were transfers, ranged from fingernail-sized to one which covered most of the actor's back. Several encircled his wrists, ankles and fingers.
Keeping it all in the film family - as opposed to the crime family - Russian dialect coach Olegar Fedoro did double duty by appearing on-screen as the tattooist who works on Nikolai. "Viggo's body was a canvas for me," he reports. "Instead of a brush, I was using a little electric machine."
>>>
Mortensen notes… "These tattoos tied in with the so-called honourable thief who has a complete lack of respect for authority - no matter where it's coming from. There is, in the Vory, a respect for those who don't respect authority. As crude as they can be, there is real attention to history and imagery.
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The Mark of Cain
Here is a three minute clip from Alix Lambert's documentary, The Mark of Cain.
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Source: passportmagazine.ru
Russian Prison Tattoos - Codes of Authority, Domination and Struggle
by Alix Lambert
Book Review by Cheryl-Ann Tan
In this month’s review, we will take a look at art of a very different kind-an underground art that is slowly dying. The symbolic Russian prison tattoos that represent the pecking order among thieves, are a biography of criminal and prison life etched on skin, or sometimes, labels forcibly tattooed on ‘Downcasts’. In a way, the tattoos are part of a life underground the underground. Ink was forbidden, so were playing cards, knitting needles... However, nothing stopped the prisoners from knitting when guards were not looking, making playing cards out of paper and bread, or tattooing.
In Lambert’s book almost 200 photographs of typical tattoos on Russian men and women in prison are captured in stunning black and white, and color photographs. Each photograph of a tattoo or convict is accompanied with a caption to decipher what they symbolize.
Lambert, for the most part, allows the photographs and the voices of convicts to speak for themselves (which explains the scant text accompaniment). The real story is written on skin using makeshift materials-a wound-up razor blade, or needles dipped in ink composing of a burnt rubber sole mixed with urine. The book focuses mainly on men’s prisons, but doing the one chapter on the women’s prison after weeks of investigating the men’s prisons, Lambert said of their film crew, they “left the women’s penitentiary in Perm feeling rattled.”
The kind of tattoos of ‘The Zone’ (the Russian prison), with modern-day prisoners veering away from the traditional tattoos associated with thieves who follow the unwritten rules Thieves’ Code, they take the liberty to include spiders and syringes that represent drug-use, demons, fantasy-like images or whatever images they found symbolic to themselves.
Many tattoos reflect the spitefulness and hate of the Russian justice system and many take the form (like one interpretation of the Madonna and Child) of telling of their long-suffering life in prison. Some tattoo a woman they love, or the image of the Bitsa, the most respected woman in The Zone. Names, are however, rare, as there is a superstition that bad luck will come to that person whose name is tattooed on. Some tattoos are part of fads. In the 1920s, the eagle symbolizing helping one’s mother or someone else was common. The Soviet era saw many Stalin, Lenin and Engels tattooed on chests, as convicts believed “you couldn’t be put in front of the firing squad.
You have the leaders on you.” The era of the Thieves’ Code saw tattoos of the crucifixion on a chest designating the highest-ranking Thief-in-Law, a dagger for a killerfor- hire, and many more representing one’s place in the power structure.
Some may find Lambert’s pictorial book it a bit too graphic, but it would appeal to tattoo enthusiasts or anyone interested in finding out about the Russian prison life (Gorky Park fans rejoice, there is a bit on the detective who inspired Martin Cruz Smith). In a unique way, this book is a piece of art in itself.
Copyright 2004-2006
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Per the EP Production Notes, there were 43 tattoos on Viggo's body, ranging from fingernail-sized to one which covered most of his back. 12 of the tattoos are Russian sayings. Several encircled his wrists, ankles and fingers.
Per Viggo, "Some of the tattoos were humorous - and some were quite poetic. On the instep of my right foot, one said "’Where are you going?' On the instep of the other foot, another said "What the hell do you care?" One of my favourites said - 'Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream", which is so beautiful and sad. Another said - "I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law', which translates to 'I'll accept my lot in life without complaining, but don't expect me to show you any respect or listen to anything you say; I don't care how hard you hit me.'"
[*]Chest Jesus on Cross "Prince of Thieves"
[*]Chest «Пусть будет сном что пережито мною» “Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream”
[*]Left Abdomen Madonna with Open Heart and Knives Through It unknown meaning (Madonna is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Left Abdomen «Себя не обманешь» ”can not fool yourself”
[*]Right Abdomen Death with a Scythe/Reaper the person is a killer
[*]Right Abdomen «Я здесь и я жду» ”I’m here and I’m waiting”
[*]Upper Back Church Under Three Cupolas served three different prison sentences
[*]Upper Back «Важно оставаться человеком» "It is important to remain a human being"
[*]Lower Back «Раб судьбы но не лакей закона» I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law
[*]Lower Back Cross unknown meaning (the cross is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Right Upper Arm Black Raven
[*]Right Upper Arm «Черный ворон, я не твой» “Black raven, I’m not yours (yet)”
[*]Left Upper Arm Skull With Flowers high-ranking gang member who is a murderer, possibly celebrated a teenage birthday in prison
[*]Left Upper Arm «наперекор судьбе» ”In spite of destiny”
[*]Left Forearm «буду на свободе» "I will be free"
[*]Left Forearm «Не верь, не бойся, не проси» "don't trust, don't be afraid, don't beg"
[*]Right Forearm «Пошли вы све нах**!» “F**k you all!”
[*]Right Forearm Snake Twined Around Dagger “We live by fighting”
[*]Left Forearm Right Thigh Hot Cross Button "Whatever you do with me, I am free"
[*]Left Shoulder Spider Web thief, possibly had a drug addiction
[*]Leg «дальше в лес больше дров» further wood (forest) more wood/trees (firewood) When you go deeper into something the problems are getting bigger/ the more questions there are, the more things get worse
[*]Right Thigh Madonna with [very large] Child thief/criminal from early days (Madonna is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Left Wrist Barbed Wire often the prison term in years is shown by the number of 'barbs' on the wire
[*]Right Wrist Button unknown meaning
[*]Right and Left Ankles Ankle Chains refers back to the time of Peter the Great, when prisoners were commonly shackled by the ankles
[*]Right and Left Insteps Phrases in Russian "Where the hell are you going?" "What the hell do you care?"
[*]Knees and Collarbones Stars commonly represent time served; each point indicates a year served in jail - eight-point stars (usually placed under the collarbones or on the knees) are only allowed for thieves in law, the alfa dogs of underworld -stars tattooed on the knees mean the person bows to no authority
[*]Finger - left hand, below thumb Three Dots signifies a three year prison term
[*]Finger - left forefinger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left ring finger St. Petersburg Cross symbol for having been in a prison there
[*]Finger - left little finger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left little finger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - right forefinger knuckle Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left knuckles/hand «cebep» “north", indicating the northern part of Russia where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
[*]Unknown location Smoking Skull
[*]Unknown location Tiger
[*]Unknown location Scorpion
[*]Unknown location Sailing Ship
[*]Unknown location Naked Angel on a Wheel
[*]Unknown location Epaulettes
[*]Unknown location Cat with Pipe
[*]Unknown location Candelabra
[*]Unknown location Unknown Tattoo
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We can intuit from this that Nikolai:
• Was an expert thief , a "Prince of Thieves"
• Was a killer
• Served three prison terms
• Was a high-ranking gang member who was a murderer
• Possibly celebrated a teenage birthday in prison
• Possibly had a drug addiction
• Was a thief from his early days
• Is now a “thief-in-law”, an alpha dog of the underworld
• Now bows to no one
• Served one prison term of three years
• Was in a prison in St. Petersburg
• Was in a prison in the north, where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
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Chest
1. Jesus On Cross - a cross worn on the chest signifies a "Prince of Thieves", the highest possible rank. Or a scene of the crucified Christ - has no religious meaning but it's the inmate saying he's been oppressed and sentenced by the authorities just like Jesus.
2. «Пусть будет сном что пережито мною» “Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream”
© Focus Features
Abdomen
3. Madonna with Open Heart and Knives Through It (Woman with Knife?) (upper left abdomen) - unknown meaning
4. «Себя не обманешь» (under the tattoo) ”can not fool yourself”
© Focus Features
5. Death with a Scythe/Reaper (upper right abdomen) - the person who wears this tattoo is a killer
6. «Я здесь и я жду» (under the reaper) ”I’m here and I’m waiting”
Crescent Moon - Viggo's tattoo :)
© Focus Features
The cross on his chest and Holy Mother on the right thigh are also apotropaic symbols. Apotrope (adj.: apotropaic) refers to objects such as amulets and talismans or other symbols intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil."
Back
7. Church Under Three Cupolas - the church is a common apotropaic symbol (wards off evil); the number of dome towers (cupolas) indicates either number of prison terms or number of years of the sentence. In this case, Viggo says they represent three different prison sentences.
8. «Важно оставаться человеком» (above church/cupolas) "It is important to remain a human being"
9. «Раб судьбы но не лакей закона» (below church/cupolas) I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law
10. Cross (Below phrase under church/cupolas)
© Focus Features
Per Viggo, "I have - I don't know how many - four dozen tattoos or something on my body in this movie, and a lot of them are pieces of songs or out of Russian literature, poetry or just sayings that people know about but that have more than one meaning. And there's one that was on a Russian prisoner. Actually, I saw it twice; once on someone's torso and once on his leg, I think. But anyway, I have it on my back. It says, 'The important thing is to remain human,' in Russian. And to the people that had those tattoos, mainly I think the important thing is to remain human means be your own man. Take it like a man. Don't respect authority, be a tough bastard and don't forget, keep your dignity. It's all that, but it also has another meaning, in the face of this hideous existence for people and very severe way of life. It was almost like that was something I remembered or I thought of a lot, that phrase."
Upper Arms
11. Black Raven (right upper arm) with:
12. «Черный ворон, я не твой» “Black raven, I’m not yours (yet)”
© Focus Features
From nymag.com's Tattoed Love Thug, (Mortensen's) favorite is a picture of a black crow and “these words from a really old Russian song: ‘Black crow, I’m not ready for you to take me yet.’ This film is about survival. And Nikolai, he’s not ready to die.”
13. Skull With Flowers (upper left arm) - skulls are usually worn by high-ranking gang members, interpreted to mean the wearer is a murderer; flowers (if a rose) - the wearer celebrated a teenage birthday in the zone (prison) [don’t know if these two together mean something else]
14. наперекор судьбе ”In spite of destiny”
© Focus Features
15. «буду на свободе» (left arm) "I will be free"
© Focus Features
16. «Не верь, не бойся, не проси» (left forearm)
"don't trust
don't be afraid
don't beg"
© Focus Features
17. «Пошли вы све нах**!» (right inner forearm) “F**k you all!”
© Focus Features
18. Snake Twined Around the Dagger (right outer forearm) - a very popular symbol among the criminals, meaning, “We live by fighting”.
© Focus Features
19. Hot Cross Button (left inner forearm) - a white power /white pride racist symbol on a body position where you normally give or receive blood could mean: "Whatever you do with me, I am free".
© Focus Features
Left Shoulder/Upper Arm
20. Spider Web (this is shown in the behind the scenes videos; however, it’s not in the movie as we see only the church with cupolas on his back with nothing on the left shoulder)
Can indicate a drug addiction. It can also mean that the wearer is a thief. If the spider is shown moving upwards it means the wearer is still an active criminal; if the spider is moving downwards it means that the wearer is intending to leave the thief's way of life.
Elvish Nine :)
© Focus Features
Legs
21. «дальше в лес больше дров» further wood (forest) more wood/trees (firewood) - don’t know significance of this - possible meanings (there were no immediate proverbs or sayings found; however, this does seem particularly relevant to Nikolai)
When you go deeper into something the problems are getting bigger/ the more questions there are
When you try to understand something better and begin to “dig” deeper, the more and more questions you have;
As it goes on, things get more complicated, worse.
If you want some trouble, dig deeper
© Focus Features
22. Madonna with [very large] Child (right thigh) - the wearer has been a thief/criminal from his early days
© Focus Features
The cross on his chest and Holy Mother on the right thigh are also apotropaic symbols. Apotrope (adj.: apotropaic) refers to objects such as amulets and talismans or other symbols intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil."
(19.) Hot Cross Button (right thigh) - a white power /white pride racist symbol on a body position where you normally give or receive blood could mean: "Whatever you do with me, I am free".
© Focus Features
Hands and Wrists
23. Barbed Wire (left wrist) - often the prison term in years is shown by the number of 'barbs' on the wire
© Focus Features
24. Right Wrist Possibly a button? Covers the Henry "H"
© Focus Features
Ankles and Feet
25. Ankle Chain - refers back to the time of Peter the Great, when prisoners were commonly shackled by the ankles
26. "Where the hell are you going?" (instep of one foot, written in Russian); "What the hell do you care?" (instep of other foot, written in Russian)
© Focus Features
Knees and Collarbones
27. Stars - commonly represent time served; each point indicates a year served in jail
Eight-point stars (usually placed under the collarbones or on the knees) are only allowed for thieves in law, the alfa dogs of underworld. If stars are tattooed on the knees, it means the person bows to no authority. In the movie Nikolai receives these tattoos as he is raised to the highest rank in the brotherhood and he will never have to kneel down before any authority.
© Focus Features
Fingers - 7 Assorted Finger Tattoos
© Focus Features
28. Left Hand (Top of Hand), Below Thumb - signifies a three year prison term
© Focus Features
29. Left Forefinger
© Focus Features
30. Left Ring Finger St. Petersburg Cross - symbol for having been in a prison there
© Focus Features
31. Left Hand, Little Finger
© Focus Features
32. Left Hand, Little Finger
© Focus Features
33. Right Hand, Forefinger Knuckle
© Focus Features
34. Left Hand «cebep» - means “north”, indicating the northern part of Russia where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
© Focus Features
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Some of the other tattoos included:
35. Smoking Skull - skulls are usually worn by high ranking gang members, interpreted to mean a murderer - don’t know significance of smoking skull
36. Tiger - signifies an 'enforcer', or a sign of an avenger, geared at times at guards and prison authority
37. Scorpion
38. Sailing Ship - the wearer is willing to come along with an escape plan; anyone planning an escape will know that the wearer will be keen to be a part of it
39. Naked Angel on a Wheel
40. Epaulettes - sign of rank
41. Cat with Pipe - the cat is associated with the characteristics needed by a thief (slyness) -the most common thief tattoo
42. Candelabra - the wearer is saying he can extinguish your light, beware
43. Unknown tattoo - could not locate
If you've seen the trailer, you've heard the detective from Scotland Yard say, "In Russian prisons, your life story is written on your body, in tattoos. You don't have tattoos, you don't exist."
© Focus Features
© Focus Features
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Many people on Viggo-Works, including Elennore from Russia, researched the meaning of the tattoos and what they meant for Nikolai. Aurora contributed substantially with refinement of translations and tattoo pics. Specific sources are cited below; other sources include Wikipedia and the EP Production Notes.
I know nothing about this subject and take no credit for any of this; I've just compiled information here (mostly lifted right from the sources), :) and then detailed (with screencaps) where they are on Nikolai and what they mean. Many thanks to everyone who contributed!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Russian Criminal Tattoos and the Vory v Zakone - EP Production Notes
[Producer] Paul Webster reveals - "Viggo's one-man research engine helped mould David's thinking about the script, and fed into the script in a great way. It informed our whole process."
Particularly helpful to all - for an important story and visual element of Eastern Promises - was Alix Lambert's documentary The Mark of Cain - which she had filmed in Russian prisons; Mortensen studied her book (among others) on the same subject, namely, criminal tattoos.
Cronenberg in turn sent the books and the documentary to Steven Knight, who incorporated the tattoo elements This facet of Mortensen's research became "a key pivot point for our approach to refining the script with Steve," notes Cronenberg. "Viggo sent me books on Russian criminal tattoos which were filled with not just photos and diagrams but also texts about the meanings of tattoos. He also sent me The Mark of Cain. There's this whole hidden world of symbolism that is immediately fascinating."
"Tattoos suddenly became an intense metaphor and symbol in the movie. It's a specialized world that is in fact dying because of the changes that have happened in Russia in the last decade.
"The tattoos are tied to an older Russian criminal caste with a real structure and hierarchy - the Vory V Zakone - which is literally translated as 'Thieves in law.' It's a brotherhood of thieves. The old saying goes - 'There is no honour among thieves' but what we found out was that the Vory has, if not honour, then at least a code that is adhered to - and it's a very brutal one."
The director clarifies that "this really is quite different from the Mafia. Also, in the modern Russian world - or the diaspora in London - it's morphing into something quite different, which is what we wanted to explore in Eastern Promises."
Vory V Zakone members include Russians and Georgians, and a smattering of Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Abkhazians and, in the movie at least, Turks. The Vory were born organically in Russia during the Great Terror of the 1930s - when Josef Stalin and his henchmen purged the Bolshevik Party of "enemies of the people" and sent millions to the Gulag slave labour camps in Siberia. It was in these camps that the first Vory were formed - along with the code that dictates law among Russian gangsters. The code calls for "complete submission to the laws of criminal life, including obligations to support the criminal ideal and rejection of labour and political activities." The Vory also organized their own tribunals to pass judgment on code violations and disputes. The penalty for violation of the code is often mutilation or death.
The Vory strengthened their ranks in the 1970s - during Leonid Brezhnev's rule - as the Soviet economy began to stagnate and the black market for luxury goods thrived. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Vory further consolidated power in Russia - while also fanning out around the globe, particularly into Western Europe and the United States.
Today, many Vory live well far from their home country. Estimates place them as operating in several dozen different countries, with thousands of members. The rigid code and behavioural rules, however, remain in place. The Vory's criminal aristocracy continues to oversee a recruitment system that - like 70 years ago - is concentrated in the prisons.
"The criminals in Russian jails say that your tattoo is your life," says Cronenberg. "Your tattoos on your body are who you are. If you come in with no tattoos, you don't exist. They must be accurate; they tell what crimes you've committed, what jail time you've served, what your sexual orientation is and more. If you were to have a tattoo that says you are higher up in the crime world than you are - you would be seriously punished, if not killed. It is said that tattoos are one's passport, but it's a very obscure country that the passport is from; the Russian criminal life is a rather small world. So the tattoos you've branded yourself with are determining your own fate and are also your private passport to your private world."
Knight adds - "They communicate through the tattoos. Basically, these people have their curriculum vitae on their body - their career history. With Nikolai - the question is - are these only on his skin? It's what he's done but is it who he is?"
Many tattoos are applied in prison. In these circumstances, to make the ink for the tattoos, prisoners break off the heel of a boot or a shoe and burn it. This yields soot that is sifted through a handkerchief and combined with urine to produce a durable ink. The tattoo is applied with a sharpened guitar string threaded through a wind-up shaver, while a grafted pen cap serves as the ink well.
Charged with making it somewhat easier on all concerned for the tattoo sequence and shots in Eastern Promises - Carol Spier created a tattoo tool based on her staff's research at the Oxford Tattoo Museum. However, hers was designed to not pierce the skin.
The stars being tattooed on Nikolai's knees in the key Vory sequence convey that he will never have to kneel down before authority - as he is raised to the highest rank in the brotherhood. It took one member of Stephan Dupuis's staff 4 hours to apply 43 tattoos on Mortensen for the full-body tattoo sequence. The tattoos, which were transfers, ranged from fingernail-sized to one which covered most of the actor's back. Several encircled his wrists, ankles and fingers.
Keeping it all in the film family - as opposed to the crime family - Russian dialect coach Olegar Fedoro did double duty by appearing on-screen as the tattooist who works on Nikolai. "Viggo's body was a canvas for me," he reports. "Instead of a brush, I was using a little electric machine."
>>>
Mortensen notes… "These tattoos tied in with the so-called honourable thief who has a complete lack of respect for authority - no matter where it's coming from. There is, in the Vory, a respect for those who don't respect authority. As crude as they can be, there is real attention to history and imagery.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Mark of Cain
Here is a three minute clip from Alix Lambert's documentary, The Mark of Cain.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Source: passportmagazine.ru
Russian Prison Tattoos - Codes of Authority, Domination and Struggle
by Alix Lambert
Book Review by Cheryl-Ann Tan
In this month’s review, we will take a look at art of a very different kind-an underground art that is slowly dying. The symbolic Russian prison tattoos that represent the pecking order among thieves, are a biography of criminal and prison life etched on skin, or sometimes, labels forcibly tattooed on ‘Downcasts’. In a way, the tattoos are part of a life underground the underground. Ink was forbidden, so were playing cards, knitting needles... However, nothing stopped the prisoners from knitting when guards were not looking, making playing cards out of paper and bread, or tattooing.
In Lambert’s book almost 200 photographs of typical tattoos on Russian men and women in prison are captured in stunning black and white, and color photographs. Each photograph of a tattoo or convict is accompanied with a caption to decipher what they symbolize.
Lambert, for the most part, allows the photographs and the voices of convicts to speak for themselves (which explains the scant text accompaniment). The real story is written on skin using makeshift materials-a wound-up razor blade, or needles dipped in ink composing of a burnt rubber sole mixed with urine. The book focuses mainly on men’s prisons, but doing the one chapter on the women’s prison after weeks of investigating the men’s prisons, Lambert said of their film crew, they “left the women’s penitentiary in Perm feeling rattled.”
The kind of tattoos of ‘The Zone’ (the Russian prison), with modern-day prisoners veering away from the traditional tattoos associated with thieves who follow the unwritten rules Thieves’ Code, they take the liberty to include spiders and syringes that represent drug-use, demons, fantasy-like images or whatever images they found symbolic to themselves.
Many tattoos reflect the spitefulness and hate of the Russian justice system and many take the form (like one interpretation of the Madonna and Child) of telling of their long-suffering life in prison. Some tattoo a woman they love, or the image of the Bitsa, the most respected woman in The Zone. Names, are however, rare, as there is a superstition that bad luck will come to that person whose name is tattooed on. Some tattoos are part of fads. In the 1920s, the eagle symbolizing helping one’s mother or someone else was common. The Soviet era saw many Stalin, Lenin and Engels tattooed on chests, as convicts believed “you couldn’t be put in front of the firing squad.
You have the leaders on you.” The era of the Thieves’ Code saw tattoos of the crucifixion on a chest designating the highest-ranking Thief-in-Law, a dagger for a killerfor- hire, and many more representing one’s place in the power structure.
Some may find Lambert’s pictorial book it a bit too graphic, but it would appeal to tattoo enthusiasts or anyone interested in finding out about the Russian prison life (Gorky Park fans rejoice, there is a bit on the detective who inspired Martin Cruz Smith). In a unique way, this book is a piece of art in itself.
Copyright 2004-2006
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Per the EP Production Notes, there were 43 tattoos on Viggo's body, ranging from fingernail-sized to one which covered most of his back. 12 of the tattoos are Russian sayings. Several encircled his wrists, ankles and fingers.
Per Viggo, "Some of the tattoos were humorous - and some were quite poetic. On the instep of my right foot, one said "’Where are you going?' On the instep of the other foot, another said "What the hell do you care?" One of my favourites said - 'Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream", which is so beautiful and sad. Another said - "I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law', which translates to 'I'll accept my lot in life without complaining, but don't expect me to show you any respect or listen to anything you say; I don't care how hard you hit me.'"
[*]Chest Jesus on Cross "Prince of Thieves"
[*]Chest «Пусть будет сном что пережито мною» “Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream”
[*]Left Abdomen Madonna with Open Heart and Knives Through It unknown meaning (Madonna is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Left Abdomen «Себя не обманешь» ”can not fool yourself”
[*]Right Abdomen Death with a Scythe/Reaper the person is a killer
[*]Right Abdomen «Я здесь и я жду» ”I’m here and I’m waiting”
[*]Upper Back Church Under Three Cupolas served three different prison sentences
[*]Upper Back «Важно оставаться человеком» "It is important to remain a human being"
[*]Lower Back «Раб судьбы но не лакей закона» I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law
[*]Lower Back Cross unknown meaning (the cross is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Right Upper Arm Black Raven
[*]Right Upper Arm «Черный ворон, я не твой» “Black raven, I’m not yours (yet)”
[*]Left Upper Arm Skull With Flowers high-ranking gang member who is a murderer, possibly celebrated a teenage birthday in prison
[*]Left Upper Arm «наперекор судьбе» ”In spite of destiny”
[*]Left Forearm «буду на свободе» "I will be free"
[*]Left Forearm «Не верь, не бойся, не проси» "don't trust, don't be afraid, don't beg"
[*]Right Forearm «Пошли вы све нах**!» “F**k you all!”
[*]Right Forearm Snake Twined Around Dagger “We live by fighting”
[*]Left Forearm Right Thigh Hot Cross Button "Whatever you do with me, I am free"
[*]Left Shoulder Spider Web thief, possibly had a drug addiction
[*]Leg «дальше в лес больше дров» further wood (forest) more wood/trees (firewood) When you go deeper into something the problems are getting bigger/ the more questions there are, the more things get worse
[*]Right Thigh Madonna with [very large] Child thief/criminal from early days (Madonna is an apotropaic symbol intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil")
[*]Left Wrist Barbed Wire often the prison term in years is shown by the number of 'barbs' on the wire
[*]Right Wrist Button unknown meaning
[*]Right and Left Ankles Ankle Chains refers back to the time of Peter the Great, when prisoners were commonly shackled by the ankles
[*]Right and Left Insteps Phrases in Russian "Where the hell are you going?" "What the hell do you care?"
[*]Knees and Collarbones Stars commonly represent time served; each point indicates a year served in jail - eight-point stars (usually placed under the collarbones or on the knees) are only allowed for thieves in law, the alfa dogs of underworld -stars tattooed on the knees mean the person bows to no authority
[*]Finger - left hand, below thumb Three Dots signifies a three year prison term
[*]Finger - left forefinger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left ring finger St. Petersburg Cross symbol for having been in a prison there
[*]Finger - left little finger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left little finger Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - right forefinger knuckle Unknown symbol, unknown meaning
[*]Finger - left knuckles/hand «cebep» “north", indicating the northern part of Russia where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
[*]Unknown location Smoking Skull
[*]Unknown location Tiger
[*]Unknown location Scorpion
[*]Unknown location Sailing Ship
[*]Unknown location Naked Angel on a Wheel
[*]Unknown location Epaulettes
[*]Unknown location Cat with Pipe
[*]Unknown location Candelabra
[*]Unknown location Unknown Tattoo
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We can intuit from this that Nikolai:
• Was an expert thief , a "Prince of Thieves"
• Was a killer
• Served three prison terms
• Was a high-ranking gang member who was a murderer
• Possibly celebrated a teenage birthday in prison
• Possibly had a drug addiction
• Was a thief from his early days
• Is now a “thief-in-law”, an alpha dog of the underworld
• Now bows to no one
• Served one prison term of three years
• Was in a prison in St. Petersburg
• Was in a prison in the north, where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
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Chest
1. Jesus On Cross - a cross worn on the chest signifies a "Prince of Thieves", the highest possible rank. Or a scene of the crucified Christ - has no religious meaning but it's the inmate saying he's been oppressed and sentenced by the authorities just like Jesus.
2. «Пусть будет сном что пережито мною» “Let all I have lived be as if it were a dream”
© Focus Features
Abdomen
3. Madonna with Open Heart and Knives Through It (Woman with Knife?) (upper left abdomen) - unknown meaning
4. «Себя не обманешь» (under the tattoo) ”can not fool yourself”
© Focus Features
5. Death with a Scythe/Reaper (upper right abdomen) - the person who wears this tattoo is a killer
6. «Я здесь и я жду» (under the reaper) ”I’m here and I’m waiting”
Crescent Moon - Viggo's tattoo :)
© Focus Features
The cross on his chest and Holy Mother on the right thigh are also apotropaic symbols. Apotrope (adj.: apotropaic) refers to objects such as amulets and talismans or other symbols intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil."
Back
7. Church Under Three Cupolas - the church is a common apotropaic symbol (wards off evil); the number of dome towers (cupolas) indicates either number of prison terms or number of years of the sentence. In this case, Viggo says they represent three different prison sentences.
8. «Важно оставаться человеком» (above church/cupolas) "It is important to remain a human being"
9. «Раб судьбы но не лакей закона» (below church/cupolas) I'm a slave to fate but no lackey to the law
10. Cross (Below phrase under church/cupolas)
© Focus Features
Per Viggo, "I have - I don't know how many - four dozen tattoos or something on my body in this movie, and a lot of them are pieces of songs or out of Russian literature, poetry or just sayings that people know about but that have more than one meaning. And there's one that was on a Russian prisoner. Actually, I saw it twice; once on someone's torso and once on his leg, I think. But anyway, I have it on my back. It says, 'The important thing is to remain human,' in Russian. And to the people that had those tattoos, mainly I think the important thing is to remain human means be your own man. Take it like a man. Don't respect authority, be a tough bastard and don't forget, keep your dignity. It's all that, but it also has another meaning, in the face of this hideous existence for people and very severe way of life. It was almost like that was something I remembered or I thought of a lot, that phrase."
Upper Arms
11. Black Raven (right upper arm) with:
12. «Черный ворон, я не твой» “Black raven, I’m not yours (yet)”
© Focus Features
From nymag.com's Tattoed Love Thug, (Mortensen's) favorite is a picture of a black crow and “these words from a really old Russian song: ‘Black crow, I’m not ready for you to take me yet.’ This film is about survival. And Nikolai, he’s not ready to die.”
13. Skull With Flowers (upper left arm) - skulls are usually worn by high-ranking gang members, interpreted to mean the wearer is a murderer; flowers (if a rose) - the wearer celebrated a teenage birthday in the zone (prison) [don’t know if these two together mean something else]
14. наперекор судьбе ”In spite of destiny”
© Focus Features
15. «буду на свободе» (left arm) "I will be free"
© Focus Features
16. «Не верь, не бойся, не проси» (left forearm)
"don't trust
don't be afraid
don't beg"
© Focus Features
17. «Пошли вы све нах**!» (right inner forearm) “F**k you all!”
© Focus Features
18. Snake Twined Around the Dagger (right outer forearm) - a very popular symbol among the criminals, meaning, “We live by fighting”.
© Focus Features
19. Hot Cross Button (left inner forearm) - a white power /white pride racist symbol on a body position where you normally give or receive blood could mean: "Whatever you do with me, I am free".
© Focus Features
Left Shoulder/Upper Arm
20. Spider Web (this is shown in the behind the scenes videos; however, it’s not in the movie as we see only the church with cupolas on his back with nothing on the left shoulder)
Can indicate a drug addiction. It can also mean that the wearer is a thief. If the spider is shown moving upwards it means the wearer is still an active criminal; if the spider is moving downwards it means that the wearer is intending to leave the thief's way of life.
Elvish Nine :)
© Focus Features
Legs
21. «дальше в лес больше дров» further wood (forest) more wood/trees (firewood) - don’t know significance of this - possible meanings (there were no immediate proverbs or sayings found; however, this does seem particularly relevant to Nikolai)
When you go deeper into something the problems are getting bigger/ the more questions there are
When you try to understand something better and begin to “dig” deeper, the more and more questions you have;
As it goes on, things get more complicated, worse.
If you want some trouble, dig deeper
© Focus Features
22. Madonna with [very large] Child (right thigh) - the wearer has been a thief/criminal from his early days
© Focus Features
The cross on his chest and Holy Mother on the right thigh are also apotropaic symbols. Apotrope (adj.: apotropaic) refers to objects such as amulets and talismans or other symbols intended to "ward off evil" or "avert or combat evil."
(19.) Hot Cross Button (right thigh) - a white power /white pride racist symbol on a body position where you normally give or receive blood could mean: "Whatever you do with me, I am free".
© Focus Features
Hands and Wrists
23. Barbed Wire (left wrist) - often the prison term in years is shown by the number of 'barbs' on the wire
© Focus Features
24. Right Wrist Possibly a button? Covers the Henry "H"
© Focus Features
Ankles and Feet
25. Ankle Chain - refers back to the time of Peter the Great, when prisoners were commonly shackled by the ankles
26. "Where the hell are you going?" (instep of one foot, written in Russian); "What the hell do you care?" (instep of other foot, written in Russian)
© Focus Features
Knees and Collarbones
27. Stars - commonly represent time served; each point indicates a year served in jail
Eight-point stars (usually placed under the collarbones or on the knees) are only allowed for thieves in law, the alfa dogs of underworld. If stars are tattooed on the knees, it means the person bows to no authority. In the movie Nikolai receives these tattoos as he is raised to the highest rank in the brotherhood and he will never have to kneel down before any authority.
© Focus Features
Fingers - 7 Assorted Finger Tattoos
© Focus Features
28. Left Hand (Top of Hand), Below Thumb - signifies a three year prison term
© Focus Features
29. Left Forefinger
© Focus Features
30. Left Ring Finger St. Petersburg Cross - symbol for having been in a prison there
© Focus Features
31. Left Hand, Little Finger
© Focus Features
32. Left Hand, Little Finger
© Focus Features
33. Right Hand, Forefinger Knuckle
© Focus Features
34. Left Hand «cebep» - means “north”, indicating the northern part of Russia where the strictest prisons are located for the most notorious murderers and thieves
© Focus Features
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Some of the other tattoos included:
35. Smoking Skull - skulls are usually worn by high ranking gang members, interpreted to mean a murderer - don’t know significance of smoking skull
36. Tiger - signifies an 'enforcer', or a sign of an avenger, geared at times at guards and prison authority
37. Scorpion
38. Sailing Ship - the wearer is willing to come along with an escape plan; anyone planning an escape will know that the wearer will be keen to be a part of it
39. Naked Angel on a Wheel
40. Epaulettes - sign of rank
41. Cat with Pipe - the cat is associated with the characteristics needed by a thief (slyness) -the most common thief tattoo
42. Candelabra - the wearer is saying he can extinguish your light, beware
43. Unknown tattoo - could not locate