People who decide to take the job of killing people for money generally bury their conscience and one who cannot come up with values and rules in excluding their targets and adhering to a code religiously. This theory makes three hit men in the film “In Bruges”, a poignant and darkly comic film which turns into a bloody mess in the end is one of the best slow starting film with a ramped up nerve biting culmination I have seen in recent times. It has a conviction so rare for a film taking the shooters as its prime object in its plot.Ken (Brendan Gleeson) and Ray (Colin Farrell) come to a place every one will now be aware of called Bruges in Belgium. It is a tourist town with land marks enough to entertain for couple of days or may be just hours. Both are hit men on hide on the advice of their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes), whose voice is all we hear till he appears in person late in the film. He is the boss we do not see and a foul mouthed personality with weird taste for his sense of questioning, expectations and admiration. The expected plot unfolds when Ken learns the real purpose of being in the town with Ray. Harry gives a hit on Ray because of a kid being killed. But Ken likes the kid and owes a lot to Harry. Where does Ken stand? Or where does Ray stand with himself?
Ray is the young and obviously does not get along with the patience and mature Ken. Ken appreciates the beauty the town has to offer while Ray is simply irritated by the place and cannot wait to go back to London. They are in the hide out because of the last job Ray in a way screwed up. In the process of killing a priest, his stray bullet hits an innocent kid. Now a hit man should shred off it as the acceptance of collateral damage but Ray is not able to. The guilt in this film has a feeling of outsider as from an audience, because you think of the Irish accent and sarcastic profane guys has only one thing to offer, dark wit with guiltless blood spill. “In Bruges” takes that dark comic into factor but we get close to these characters. The world and laws they have formed in their constitution is the inner mind. And it kills them and for Ray it is double staying in Bruges.
Director Martin McDonagh in the character of Ken takes us through the touristy side of this town unknown to many with rich buildings, boat ride on canals and street bars. Ray is the irritated kid running with his guilt and trying to survive the day. There are two women which represents some hope among these men of guns. They are Marie (Thekla Reuten) and Chloë (Clémence Poésy), former a pregnant hotel owner with a mutual respect and soft zone for Ken while the latter becomes the reason for his day to blossom for Ray. There is a dwarf Jimmy (Jordan Prentice) which brings about the skewed reality the film and in a way for the town. Every one has a part to be played with a necessity.
Gangster films or any violence film is watched, enjoyed and appreciated for a reason that it is not happening to us and mainly some of its unreal factors. Adding to that is the convenience of the people deserves to die attitude which provides a major comfort for viewers. Here the hit men while seem deserve to die show humanity which makes to look it with a different viewing glass. “In Bruges” concentrates on these three characters that kill people for living but carry a code of conscience which does not really make up a good profile for their job. But they exist in the film very much real and their outlook on their job with actions makes even greater sense of their remorse and regret. Their rational to dissect this feeling of a moral taught in as children only intensifies their pain.
The writing is sharp and the humour is as dry it can get. As the film begins, McDonagh tempts and tests with some of the raw touches of humour and then throws more of those and it keeps getting better and better till the final lines of the Ray’s voice over is said. The bloody comedy Guy Ritchie brought through “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” has given origin to many other similar films but “In Bruges” is a level above that trend. It amongst its character of wit invents feelings and in profanity embeds morals and codes. But mind that it is a sleek line with a slippery slope to experiment which as a confident director with right cast skates through. The character Ray as Farrell is a novice among the men who has done the act with more experience and with stern are Gleeson’s Ken and Harry played by Fiennes.
There are phones broken by villain which we have seen but a follow up word of “inanimate object” has never uttered. There has been strange shootout with funny instances but never in that was comedy an intention with genuine request. “In Bruges” does have bad people but it is a film about them where we watch them behave and find a plot and niceness. In that we want to take sides and forgive some but the consequences are known. Nothing heroic is going to happen and tragic is a question of perspective and observation. But “In Bruges”, it is a matter of a humour bland and caustic, action thrill and tragic and humane in the world of blood and steel.
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