IN BRUGES

IN BRUGES
Movie (2008), 107 minutes
Director & Writer: Martin McDonagh



STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.

Two London-based Irish hit men get sent to Belgium after one of them accidentally kills a boy in a church. One of them, Ken (Brendan Gleason) is happy to be there. The other, Ray (Colin Farrell), thinks the city of Bruges is a s---hole. The two partners in crime spend their time touring the medieval parts of Bruges, at one point visiting a church where a purported vial of the blood of Christ is on display. Ken, who in other parts of the story avows little interest in religion, gets in line to touch the vial. Ray, who's intermittently ruing the accidental killing of the boy, doesn't, despite his questioning elsewhere of the fate of souls.

Bruges, the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travellers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray and Ken, it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists.

Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But the longer they stay waiting for Harry's call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë, who may have some dark secrets of her own.

And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences.