In Bruges (2008) is a masterpiece

I will try to discuss this with minimal spoilers, but I do suggest you watch the film before reading about its various interpretations.

I recently rewatched In Bruges, and it's one of those films that offer so much more when you're older and have gained more perspective. I know the film gets a lot of praise, but I regard it as a masterpiece. The film gives you so much to think about on so many levels.

I think it's pretty much implied (and this has been discussed before) that Bruges represents some sort of purgatory or limbo. But once you have that in your mind then the rest of the film's meanings start to flesh out. I don't think Bruges is a literal purgatory, the characters are very much alive, but a metaphysical one. Ray (Colin Farrell) is a man consumed with guilt. His partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is someone who has spent his life paying off a debt (more on this in a minute). Ray is miserable in Bruges, as the weight of his sins makes him see the place as some sort of hell, as he's in hell. But Ken on the other hand, you need to listen carefully and you'll pick up his backstory.

In the party scene, he mentions that he was married once, to a Black woman who was murdered by a skinhead. That skinhead was then killed by Harry (Ralph Fiennes) as revenge, or retribution. Harry is his boss. And Ken has put himself into his debt. This is mentioned toward the end of the film. "I'm eternally in your debt, Harry". For Ken, Bruges represents a potential heaven as he catches a glimpse of a life away from his self-imposed debt and eventual release.

And Bruges is kind of like that. I've been there, and it's a beautiful city. But it can also feel somewhat haunted.

Harry is a grim reaper. He's not a bad person. He's bound by strict principles and rules that he's not even exempt from. He's a judge of morals, and takes this role very seriously, as we see in the end. The rules are brutal, in a very Catholic tradition. The scene in the beginning shows this with the little boy in church praying for forgiveness. His sins were:

-Being moody -Being bad at maths -Being sad

These are things that many people would think of as not your fault. But not for Harry. This is on you and it's you that has to pay. Ray's sin was very much an accident, but that doesn't mean he's not responsible for it. By extension, Ken is a guardian angel for Ray, acting as a buffer to Harry's grim reaper. This was alluded to in flashback imagery.

The ending of In Bruges is one of the most thought-provoking and profound scenes in modern cinema. On an ambulance stretcher, a slow, first-person view of the various characters Ray has met while in Bruges, interspersed with people in the costumes of carnival, a celebration in many catholic countries where people dress in grotesque masks. It's been thought that the carnival is an expression of a release from social rules and norms, which given the events in the prior scene, is accurate. Ray, in a monologue, says, "I really, really hoped I wouldn't die". Ray was previously suicidal, and this represents a change after confronting his past in Bruges. The film ends as the view of Bruges is cut away (like the drawing of a curtain) to the cold, white and sterile interior of an ambulance, then cut to black. This I find to be a perfectly "open and closed" conclusion. Ambiguous yet meaningful.

There are other clues and allusions everywhere, and I could talk hours about this film. The poster at the train station of praying hands that is placed in just a so "oh-you-bastard" convenient corner of the shot. Ray being arrested and taken back to Bruges to face his sins. The scene in the art gallery. The role of Chloë (and more importantly, what she isn't). The film is perfectly paced and writing is extraordinary. There's meaning almost everywhere if you look.

In Bruges was marketed, unfairly, as a gangster comedy, along the lines of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. The movie poster doesn't give the film any justice whatsoever. It is a comedy, and it is very funny. But it's a profound comedy, which I think is fantastic.

Martin McDonagh has only done three films, but when they do come they're a treat. He's up there with P.T. Anderson for me. If you haven't seen In Bruges, or haven't seen it in awhile, give it a go. It's a perfect film.

Edit: typos

Submitted December 31, 2020 at 02:22AM by avocadosconstant https://ift.tt/3nZYQnW