Viking Night: In Bruges
By Bruce Hall
November 13, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Ray (Farrell) is a youthful Irish triggerman who botches his first assignment, taking out his target but accidentally killing an innocent child in the process. Since the murder-for-money trade has rules about these kinds of screw ups, Ray’s boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) sends him and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) to Belgium with instructions to lie low and stay out of trouble. They land in the historic city of Bruges – physically a few hours and visually several centuries from their home base in London. But it’s still too close to home for Ray, who wrestles unsuccessfully with his guilt.
Ken, being older and wiser than his apprentice, is content to kick back with a good book while they await their orders. But Ray’s torment makes him stir crazy. As an act of compromise they go for a stroll and stumble upon a film shoot, and Ray meets a beautiful woman named Chloe (Clémence Poésy). Eager for both release and redemption, he turns on the charm and gets himself some digits. Energized, he temporarily forgets his anguish and tries to enjoy his time in exile while he waits for his rendezvous with Chloe. But the novice killer finds himself stalked by the memory of what he’s done, and faced with the image of it every time he closes his eyes.
But he finds a kindred spirit in Chloe – a nihilistic pleasure junkie who gets a kick out of petty crime and hard drugs. She revels in Ray’s dark side, and it quickly gets him into trouble. Which is about the time Ken gets a call – there was a reason Harry sent them to this “fairy tale town”, as he calls it. Ray killed a child, and even though it was an accident, this is something Harry can’t abide. It’s to be a destination assassination – Ken’s orders are to let Ray have a nice time, one last time, and then put a bullet in his head. It’s a cruel task that puts Ken on the same plane on his partner – grappling with death in a way that offends the already ambiguous moral code one must follow when they kill people for money.
Ken must now make a choice. Does he follow orders, honor the Code and kill his best friend? Or does he sign his own death warrant by ignoring Harry’s command and taking pity on someone who already seems too miserable to go on living anyway? Yeah...did I mention this is a dark comedy? In the hands of Guy Ritchie this might have been a loud, bombastic shoot-em-up. And maybe that would also be a good film. But here, the result is more personal, and therefore meaningful.
Ray’s central conflict, that he accidentally killed a child while shooting the shit out of a priest, isn’t funny in the least - nor is it meant to be. But as the partners tour the city of Bruges, taking in the old cathedrals and reflecting on the meaning of life, their attempts to come to terms with their work, and the potential religious significance of it, IS morbidly hilarious. McDonagh’s script is deeply personal and chock full of sharp, ironic wit, making you wonder precisely what he’s getting out of his system here. Better yet, his actors seem to feel the connection too - considering this was his first feature film, McDonagh coaxes some excellent performances out of his leads. His instinct for brooding intimacy is reminiscent of old school Danny Boyle, and he’s very good at infusing a shot with forewarning when necessary. There’s a clock tower in Bruges that lurks in the background of several key scenes, setting up the film’s high point well in advance without giving anything away.
But it’s the work he pulls from his actors that defines this film.
In Bruges is without a doubt one of Farrell’s finest performances. He may or may not have a future as an action star but he shines best in small, personal films like this one. Ray isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer but Farrell makes him affectingly human. The emotional highs and lows he experiences as he comes to grips with what he’s done feel deeply real, and as he dives into the underbelly of Bruges to regulate them, every garbled word he utters, and every tortured facial tic that crosses his face tugs at you as though he’s family. Indeed; Gleeson’s effortless, rustic charm makes him seem more like a conflicted older sibling than a hardened killer, and when he gets the order to rub out his partner, the agony he feels is palpable.
Harry considers himself a family man, but there’s a tightly coiled psychopath beneath the veneer, and if Ken doesn’t already feel guilty for recruiting Ray, he should. Harry is all brimstone and bluster, and Fiennes is, on occasion chilling - easily rivaling Bob Hoskins or Ben Kingsley at their scene stealing best. And is cinematography even necessary in a place like Bruges? No offense to Eigil Bryld, but the city’s feudal charm would seem to have made his job a lot easier.
It’s not all roses. While the reason for the film’s location is more or less adequately explained during the film, even Ray and Ken remark early on how unnecessary it seems to be in Belgium, as opposed to Liverpool or Cornwall. Perhaps Bruges has some personal significance for McDonagh, but the script’s incessant need to draw attention to where they are smacks of an inside joke that nobody ever bothers to explain. And there’s one character in particular who figures prominently into the film’s climax because of his...stature...but he’s such a despicable person that his presence feels gratuitous until the end. It’s a little distracting at first, but it all works out.
And speaking of the ending, it will leave you considering a quote inaccurately attributed to Ray earlier in the film:
“I know I'm awake but it feels like I'm in a dream.”
The moment is sudden, chaotic and even disorienting. It’s a fuzzy reverie that DOES feel like a dream - and whether Chloe turns out to be a guardian angel or a disruptive shrew, whether Ray finds redemption or destruction, whether Harry makes the right people dead or not - it all ends up feeling okay. Oddly, it’s the same combination of agitation and serenity you might feel after being fired from a job you never really liked in the first place, and it feels fitting.