- Harry Waters
With a look simply at this entry, you can kinda tell I was a bit desperate to find a film. This was the last entry picked for my schedule and I debated on whether to include it or not. I had other easier choices to make, including Bad Santa, but I wanted to have a challenge to write about and persuade others to see in the same light. This is the type of essay beloved by cinephiles, film scholars, and desperate college film students: viewing and discussing the hidden or possible unintentional motives and elements implemented in the mise en scene and plot.
In Bruges is not labeled or viewed as a Christmas film. It is a black, very black, comedy and takes place around the Christmas season but the holiday is not important to the plot. There are obvious and more interesting themes the film deals with than simply the celebration of the holiday. In Bruges is segregated off along with other films that have Christmas in the background, such as The Apartment, The Shop Around the Corner, and Meet Me in St. Louis. However, you can make a case that In Bruges and these other films are true Christmas films. For instance, Meet Me in St. Louis has one of the most popular Christmas songs featured in the film and also has a Christmas deus ex machina as with It's a Wonderful Life. But In Bruges has its Christmas intentions well-hidden for inital viewers but easy to spot for repeat viewers.
Two hitmen, Ken and Ray (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell), are sent to Bruges, Belgium to lay low and remain there for two weeks after a hit goes bad. Ken enjoys the scenery and the culture while Ray loathes the environment, constantly calling the city a "shithole" and wishes to leave. It is later revealed why Ray is in such a funk: During his assassination of a priest, he accidently killed a little boy. Despite partaking in vices and falling for a local lady, he still suffers greatly and becomes even more depressed. Ken, on the other hand, hides the fact that he is instructed to kill Ray by their boss Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes).
What Martin McDonagh, the film's writer-director and a popular playwright, wants to get across to the viewer is that Bruges is either purgatory or hell. The two companions often talk about their mortality and morality. They are unable to leave both by order of Harry and powers they can't control. The world of Bruges is very surreal, with many mentions and allusions to the artwork of Bosch. The tense conversations and relationship between Ken and Harry are a model of God and the Devil, the idea of forgiveness versus punishment.
While all of this talk of the afterlife and sins are showcased in the front, the background displays multiple Christmas paraphernalia and lighting schemes. The most clear example is the date of Ray and local girl Chloe; They eat a restaurant with a rich red, green, and white palette. The city is very banal in its outside celebration of the holiday until the finale where the lights are out and bright. This finale seems to be on the day of Christmas due to this switch. There is no definite proof of this since there is no mention of what day it is, further helping the purgatory element. Also, despite a tight script, the time and places of events are bungled up in discussions.
When you further look at the script, you notice that McDonagh did utilize Christmas to be woven into the plot, seemingly well intentional. The trip to Bruges is supposed to hide the hitmen but, in Harry's mind, it is also a present and a gift for Ray before he is killed. Harry goes on several times talking about his love for the city, that it is a fairytale town. He states that his visit as a boy was the most happiest time of his life. Of course, the humor of this is that Ray hates the city, the best example of an unwanted present. Ray does however receive a gift in Chloe, as he does sees life better with her at the end. Though he still does want to get out of Bruges.
A very funny yet dark running joke in the film involves the presence of Americans in Bruges during the Christmas time. An extensive viewer of Christmas films easily knows that there is often a conservative attitude toward American travelers around the holiday: It is acceptable to travel around America but heading out of the country is frowned upon. The Home Alone films and the truly awful Christmas with the Kranks are prime examples. McDonagh may have been aware of this as his American characters are killed off during the film. The first one is a morbidly obese man who is insulted by Ray before walking up a church tower. When Ken and Harry come back to tower for a showdown, they are stopped from entering due to death of the man off-screen. The second death is Jimmy, an American dwarf type-casted in a euro trash art film. He sadly suffers during the finale between Ray and Harry. The only American who seems to get away, a character played by Zeljko Ivanek, is later found out to be Canadian.
Then, there is the pink elephant of film. The hotel where Ken and Ray stay at is owned by a woman named Marie. She owns the place with her husband who we never see. The viewer does see that she is clearly pregnant. It is obvious to point the analogy between Marie and the Virgin Mary. This connection is further helped by the interviews with the actors, who all state that Marie represents "the promise, the hope" of the world.
I'm aware that some will laugh about this extensive study but this new look at the film made me enjoy it further. Not all Christmas films must have their intentions and principles at the front. They can be "silent", celebrating the holiday subtly while also making the world a lot more depressing. You can look at the final lines of the film; Ray doesn't bring up the hell metaphor first, but that he has ruined some one's Christmas as "There's a Christmas tree somewhere in London with a bunch of presents underneath it that'll never be opened."
TOMORROW'S ENTRY: Enough of this academic crap! We head down the long slope of mediocrity with a film that Vern doesn't want to see again.
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