This entry comes with a warning: if you plan to see the 2008 black comedy, In Bruges, don’t read any further because I will be totally ruining some of the plot surprises for you. Go check your Facebook page, feed the pigeons, take a nap, whatever, but if you keep reading and then see the movie and wish you’d skipped this entry, don’t make me say I told you so. Onward.
In Bruges (pronounced ‘broozh’) was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, an English-born, Irish playwright who received an Oscar nomination for this screenplay, his first feature-length film. A critical success, I had nonetheless never heard of it until a friend offered me her DVD to enjoy at my leisure over the summer. I watched it last night and I’m still pondering all its facets, making it worthy of both contemplation and a blog entry.
The brutality of the plot crept up on me because the stars were so appealing and the dialogue hilarious. Colin Farrell plays Ray, a novice hit man teamed up with veteran Ken, Brendan Gleeson (familiar from the Harry Potter movies). Their boss Harry, portrayed by a chilling yet comical Ralph Fiennes, is a devoted family man and killer with an unwavering moral code. Harry sends the hit men to Bruges (it’s in Belgium) to cool their heels and await further instructions after a job goes bad. The city is a serene, storybook setting that inspires the more mature, introspective Ken to explore and sightsee, while rowdy bad boy Ray moans that they’ve been banished to hell. “Why did we get sent to this fairy tale craphole?” Ray whines. But he already feels the answer before Ken’s quiet response, “Because . . . you know.”
Soon we know as well when a flashback reveals that killing a priest was Ray’s first assignment. It plays out cleverly in a scene where Ray sits in a confessional telling a priest he has sinned. “What have you done, my son?” the priest inquires. “I killed someone for money, Father,” he responds. The priest wants to know who. Ray tells him, “You.” Then he opens fire inside the confessional, shooting the priest several times. But the clergyman is tough and staggers out into the empty sanctuary followed by a continuously firing Ray. The priest finally collapses, revealing that the sanctuary was not empty after all. A small boy was kneeling in a pew with his short list of sins for confession. One of Ray’s bullets went through his head and killed him instantly. Devastated, the tough guy with a soft heart is tormented by guilt and self-loathing. If banishment to Bruges is his punishment, it’s one he figures he deserves.
A few days later while Ray is out at a local pub, Harry calls Ken to explain why the pair is in Bruges. To this particular kingpin maniac, the murder of a child is not forgivable, regardless of the circumstances. Ken’s assignment is to kill his partner. Ironically, Bruges was not a punishment. It was Harry’s gift to the soon-to-be-murdered Ray so that he might see a beautiful place before he died. Sneaking up behind Ray in a park with his gun drawn, Ken is horrified to see Ray is about to shoot himself in the head. Knocking the gun out of his partner’s hand, Ken yells angrily, “What the fuck are you doing? Suicide is a sin!” To which Ray yells back, “Oh, is that right? But fucking killing me is okay?”
If I tell any more details and you wind up seeing the movie (which you should) you’ll really hate me. Suffice to say the rest includes darkly hilarious situations, fringe-dwelling misfits, bizarre coincidences that somehow work, an inspired chase scene, an angry dwarf, and the only ending the story could possibly have. The amazing thing is that all of it is underscored by a weighty philosophical question: Are there some acts for which there is no redemption?
For an intelligent and completely engrossing exploration of the same topic, you should see a Norwegian indie called Troubled Water. Released in Norway under the more fitting title, The Invisibles, this haunting 2008 Erik Poppe masterpiece deftly explores the aftermath of a child’s murder from two sides: that of the young killer, and the victim’s mother. Both movies are intense in very different ways and will leave you with much to think about. Just don’t see them back to back.
Daughter’s Featured Fotos proclaim I Am Art
younity eyes
the other half
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