"In Bruges": murder and mayhem at Film Group

A small number of us met in the Burleigh Arms on 18^th March to discuss the black comedy/crime thriller In Bruges, presented by Carmel.  The film, directed by Martin McDonagh, was made in 2008 and filmed entirely on location in Bruges.  It was originally shown at the Sundance Festival, then in Ireland, before being distributed in the UK. It grossed $34.5M at the box office, against a budget of $15M.   It won a number of awards, notably multiple awards to Martin McDonagh for the screenplay.

The film features two Irish hit men, older man Harry (Brendan Gleeson) and the inexperienced Ray (Colin O’Farrell), who are instructed by their gangster boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to carry out a hit on a priest. This is successfully carried out during confession, but tragically the bullet travels on and also kills an altar boy. When Harry hears of this, he instructs them to leave the country, and hide out in Bruges to await further orders.  It’s approaching Christmas, and Ken is enchanted by the lights and beautiful buildings, but Ray finds it boring and hates it – this contrast in their reactions to Bruges is a recurring theme.

While playing tourists, Harry and Ray chance upon a film shoot, which includes an actor of short stature called Jimmy (Jordan Prentice). Ray gets chatting to a production assistant, Chloë, who turns out to be a drug dealer, and also a robber of tourists. Ray and Chloë go to a restaurant, where Ray gets into an argument with a mild-mannered Canadian couple over Ray smoking indoors, and punches them. Chloë takes Ray to her flat, but her ex-boyfriend Erik appears and threatens Ray with a handgun. Ray easily disarms him and fires the gun, which turns out to be loaded with blanks. Erik is blinded in one eye, so Ray helps himself to some live bullets and a stash of drugs. He and Harry then have an all-night drug-fuelled party with Jimmy.

The next day, Ken takes a phone call from Harry, who explains that the trip to Bruges was his way of giving Ray a final good time  –since he has killed a child, the code of conduct dictates that he has to die, and therefore that Ken has to shoot him.  Ken reluctantly acquires a handgun supplied by a local contact, Yuri (who happens to be Erik’s father) and follows Ray to a park. Before he can fire a shot, however, he realises that Ray is preparing to kill himself with Erik’s gun, on account of the guilt he feels at killing the altar boy.   Harry therefore intervenes, tells Ray of Harry’s plan, gives him a stash of money, and puts him on a train out of Bruges, confiscating the gun to prevent other suicide attempts. On the train, however, Ray encounters the Canadians from the restaurant, who have him arrested and returned to Bruges.

Meantime, Ken phones Harry to confess all, resulting in a furious Harry setting out for Bruges himself.   He also picks up a gun from Yuri, this time with dumdum bullets (possibly less likely to pass through the target), and Erik finds this out. Harry and Ken have drinks at a café in the main square, where Harry explains that if he had killed a child, he would have immediately taken his own life. Ken suggests that Ray deserves a chance at redemption, but Harry is not convinced. Ken accepts that he himself also has to be punished, probably by death, for not killing Ray, but suggests that this takes place up the bell tower so as not to disturb everyone’s enjoyment of the beautiful pre-Christmas scene in the square.  

Ray, meantime, has been bailed out by Chloë, and they too are enjoying drinks in the square.  Erik spots them, and rushes up the bell tower to let Harry know of Ray’s presence.  Harry, who feels conflicted, punishes Ken by shooting him, but only in the leg, and starts to help him down the stairs. When Erik arrives with the news that Ray is nearby, however, Ken tries unsuccessfully to disarm Harry to prevent him killing Ray. Harry therefore shoots Ken again, this time in the neck, before rushing off to find Ray. The only way Ken can warn Ray that Harry is after him is to drag himself to the top of the tower and throw himself off – he hits the ground and gives Ray the warning with his dying breath. Ray tries to retrieve Ken’s gun to defend himself against Harry, but it has been broken in the fall, so he heads back to his hotel to collect the gun he stole from Erik, and makes it to his bedroom.

Harry gives chase, but at the entrance to the hotel, the pregnant owner, Marie, refuses to let him in, even when threatened with a gun.  In a hilarious conversation, Ray and Harry discuss the best way to proceed, to avoid any risk to Marie and her unborn child. Ray agrees to jump out of his bedroom window into the canal, and swim to the opposite bank, so that the shootout can start from there. However, he times the jump badly and lands on a passing barge, causing his gun to fall into the canal.  Harry then shoots him, but Ray manages to get off the barge and stagger through the streets, leading him into the film shoot, where Jimmy is now dressed as a schoolboy. Harry follows and repeatedly shoots Ray with the dumdum bullets. Unfortunately, one of the bullets hits Jimmy, rendering his head unrecognisable. Seeing Jimmy’s school uniform, Harry is aghast, thinking he has also killed a child. Despite a bleeding Ray trying to explain the situation, Harry immediately puts the gun in his own mouth and fires.

The film ends with Ray being taken to hospital in an ambulance, really hoping he won’t die, since for him, Bruges is hell, and he does not want to spend eternity In Bruges.

Carmel’s first comment about this darkest of dark comedies was ‘watch with a friend’, for although the hit men are hapless and often comical, the film is also brutal and unforgiving.  The violence is both literal and verbal – though did the constant swearing lose its power?  Despite the brutality, though, all of us present enjoyed the film a lot, as did others who couldn’t attend. Ken and Ray were likened to Laurel and Hardy, ‘likeable hit men’, who make so many mistakes, as does Harry: Ray kills the altar boy, Ray fails to kill Erik, Ken fails to kill Ray in the park, Ray fails to commit suicide, Ray fails to escape Bruges, Harry doesn’t kill Ken, Ken fails to disarm Harry, Ken breaks his gun in the fall, Ray fails to land in the canal, Harry shoots Jimmy, and then himself, thinking he has killed a child. So the plot of the film proceeds like disordered clockwork.  We agreed that Ray and Ken’s prolonged survival after taking so many shots began to feel almost comic, in the Monty Python tradition. 

We thought all three leading actors were brilliant in their characterisation, with Ralph Fiennes a particularly menacing gang boss. We hear him on the phone to Ken before we see him, and already we are afraid. He is shown making the call from his lavish country home, with a lovely family around him – a stark contrast from how he has made his money.   We reflected on the amazing range of roles Ralph Fiennes can carry off – from extreme violence in this, Coriolanus, The Menu, The Return (about Odysseus), Schindler’s List (SS Officer) and Harry Potter (the evil Voldemort), to lighter drama such as The Dig and Choral, to mad comedy in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The relationship between Ken and his apprentice Ray had a lovely father/son feel to it. We were reminded that Brendan Gleeson and Colin O’Farrell more recently acted in another Martin McDonagh film The Banshees of Inisherin, another black tragi-comedy, in which two longstanding friends fall out, resulting in escalating violence between them.

We also discussed themes of ‘honour among thieves’ (what had the priest done wrong?), atonement for wrongs committed, and the sacrosanct nature of children, who must not be killed, born or unborn. We wondered whether this connected with Catholicism, and the decision to set the film at Christmas, and to include a pregnant ‘inn-keeper’.  For Ray, Bruges is hell or perhaps purgatory – at some point in the film, Ken and Ray see Bosch’s Last Judgement in a church.   Apparently, Martin McDonagh had been much affected by an incident during the troubles in Northern Ireland, where a child had been killed by the IRA. 

It was pointed out that In Bruges had some themes in common with Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (a beautiful location, mistaken identity, and the inclusion of a person of short stature), as well as to Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, where one character is supposed to kill the other. The quirky but violent humour also brought to mind Coen brothers’ films such as Fargo and Blood Simple. We also thought that, because so much of the plot hinged on the tight dialogue between the three main characters, In Bruges would also work well as a stage play.

Finally, we agreed that those responsible for the city of Bruges had been brave to allow the film to be shot there – we wondered what the locals’ reactions were, and whether there had been any impact on tourism – positive or negative. 

In all, a great choice of film, with much to discuss.

The next meeting will be on 1^st April, when Bill will present Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.