Last night, my friend Dan and I had a media marathon which started with Bolt,
the recent computer-animated Disney flick starring Miley Cyrus and John
Travolta. Despite a few theatrical explosions, the PG-rated film stayed
firmly in family-friendly territory. Not so our next movie, the
extremely R-rated In Bruges. I'd seen the trailer months ago and
had thought it looked interesting, and a recommendation from my brother
increased my interest, as did a Best Screenplay nomination, so I readily
agreed when Dan suggested we rent it, even though I had a pretty good
idea of its objectionable content.
In Bruges, written
and directed by Martin McDonagh, is the story of two hit-men, Ray (Colin
Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), whose boss sends them to Bruges,
Belgium, after a job goes sour. Unclear on their purpose in being sent
to this ancient city, they take differing approaches to their
predicament. Surly Ray is determined to be miserable, berating the city
from the moment he gets off the train, while Ken looks upon it as a paid
vacation and giddily immerses himself in the town's rich history. Both
men have filthy mouths, but as Ken wanders through the streets in a
state of childlike wonder and Ray retreats into dour introspection, it's
hard to think of these men as killers. It isn't long, however, before
the film provides a stark example of just what it is they do for a
living.
Initially, I found Farrell quite unlikable as the
grouchy Ray, until a flashback showed exactly what had happened to make
him so ill-tempered. We soon learn that he's new to this business - that
he's only had one assignment, in fact, with a disastrous outcome. He
got his target - but a stray bullet hit a boy in the shadows, a child he
didn't even know was there. And killing a kid was not what he signed on
for. As he struggles through his intense feelings of remorse and
despair, his comradeship with the more experienced Ken deepens over the
course of the next couple of days. In the meantime, he manages to make
both friends and enemies in his meanderings. Though Ray wrestles
internally with deep questions, he acts impulsively, and many of the
decisions he makes come back to haunt him later.
As a Harry Potter
fan, it was a kick for me to see three of the series' actors gathered
together in the same film. The most prominent of these is Gleeson, who
was fantastic as gruff, formidable Auror Mad-Eye Moody. Ken is similarly
weathered from many years in the trenches, though in this case he's
working for Big Bad Ralph Fiennes instead of against him. Ironically
enough, the man who breathed such sinister life into Voldemort now plays
a man named Harry. But although Ken claims that Harry has only ever
sent him on the trail of rotten people, his boss, while more human than
Voldemort and with an unwavering (albeit brutal) sense of integrity, is
not exactly a nice guy. By contrast, Gleeson's Ken is almost cuddly. He
seems like a soul too gentle for this grim business, and throughout the
film, he faces several moral crises that make him the most compelling of
the trio of conflicted baddies.
Unwittingly drawn into the
drama of these three men are luminous native Chloe (Clemence Poesy,
better known to Harry Potter fans as Fleur Delacour), who embarks upon a
whirlwind romance with Ray; the dwarf Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), an
American actor who befriends the lovebirds; and Marie (Thekla Reuten),
the pregnant owner of the hotel where Ken and Ray are staying. Much
about Ray is revealed in the way he relates to these three characters.
Though I found myself frustrated with him for his tendency to antagonize
people, he also shows himself perfectly up to the task of treating
others with kindness and respect.
In Bruges is an odd
movie that asks us to sympathize with murderers and cheerfully endure a
barrage of profanity that includes well over a hundred uses of a certain
colorful metaphor beginning with the letter "f". It's excessive to the
point of ridiculousness, with the f-bombs littering sentences with the
absurd frequency of "like" in a stereotypical val-gal's rambling speech.
Harry, who doesn't turn up until fairly late in the film, is the worst
offender of all, with about every other word he says an expletive of
some kind. He is a harsh man, though at the same time, he holds
childhood as sacred, and there's something undeniably tender about his
reasons for sending Ken and Ray to Bruges, despite what he ultimately
wants to have happen there.
Though it's not pervasive, there
are several instances of graphic violence in the film: once in a
flashback, and a number of times throughout the last half hour or so. In
some ways, the movie is a comedy of errors, with several mis-steps and
bits of bad luck contributing to an ending that is less than uplifting.
The film is not entirely realistic. Though Ray talks of Bruges as a
podonk, middle-of-nowhere, exceedingly dull locale, Harry refers to it
as a place out of a fairy tale, and there remains a sense of everything
being a bit off-kilter. Harry and Ken, Ken and Ray and Ray and Harry
each have at least one conversation that is patently ludicrous yet
somehow insightful at the same time. Marie speaks for the audience at
one point when, observing a showdown between characters, she cries, "You
people are crazy!" The combination of almost Monty Python-esque
silliness with high-stakes drama makes for riveting viewing, and like LOST,
the film is loaded with religious imagery and completely preoccupied
with the notion of redemption, inviting several parallels with my
favorite TV show (and prompting me to wonder if the shot of an alarm
clock showing the time 8:15 was an intentional homage).
I
wouldn't recommend this movie for everyone. It goes under the category
of films that I probably shouldn't like, based on all of their unsavory
elements, but do anyway because, much like the characters in this movie,
there's something of great value buried in all that grit and grime.
While I'm not a fan of the language with which McDonagh chooses to tell
his tale, I can understand how the screenplay was deemed worthy of Oscar
consideration. It's a very clever script if you can get past language,
and quite touching if you can get past the violence. If you can handle No Country For Old Men and Hot Fuzz,
both darkly comedic films that impressed me mightily despite being
extremely profane and gory, then chances are you're ready for a holiday In Bruges yourself.
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