A Tour You Can Learn From.

Rating: 8/10 (13 May 2009)

What a splendidly executed dramatic comedy about two Irish hit men wandering around the ancient city of Bruges, Belgium. Everything seems to come together, everything synchronized, and the chief credit must go to the writer and director, Martin McDonagh, with myriad plaudits left over for the actors, the photographer, the typically insinuating score by Carter Burwell, and all the other elements of the film.
Colin Farrell is a hit man in London. On his first assignment from boss Ralph Fiennes, he shoots a priest and, accidentally, a little boy waiting to make his confession. The guilt haunts him although, aside from the occasional act of putting a pistol to his head and cocking it, it doesn't otherwise seem to interfere with his enjoyment of life.
Farrell and another murderer, the plump but perceptive Brendan Gleeson, are sent to Bruges to await a phone call from Fiennes identifying their next target. While sitting around, instead of twiddling their thumbs, they visit the medieval Old City at Gleeson's insistence. Farrell is nervous and impatient, while Gleeson is enthralled by the cathedrals, the canal, and "The Last Judgment," a triptych by Heironymous Bosch. It prompts Farrell to observe that Bruges itself might serve as a proper Hell.
In fact, it just about does. Gleeson finally receives the long-awaited call from Fiennes, who inquires about Farrell's appreciation of Bruges. Did he visit the cathedral? Yes. Did he see all the paintings? Yes. The canal? Yes, but Gleeson doesn't think that's Farrell's "thing." Did he see the swans? Are the swans still there? Yes. (Long pause on the phone.) "Well then what does he ****ing mean, it's not his ****ing thing?" Fiennes has sent the two of them there intending this trip to be a last present to Farrell, whom Gleeson must now kill for having murdered that young boy, a violation of principle which must be atoned for. In the end, Gleeson refuses. Fiennes himself comes to Bruges to straighten things out and there is a violent climax.
The brutality is as gory and realistic as the comedy is funny. The dialog sparkles, and there were some lines and some conversational exchanges that made me laugh out loud. The characters are quirky and interesting in themselves. Farrell gets wildly excited when he sees a movie crew filming a scene with a dwarf. "There filming MIDGETS!" he exclaims, running to the shoot.
This is pretty dangerous territory for a movie, when you get right down to it. You know -- whimsy involving idiosyncratic hit men, a pregnant concierge, a dwarf who complains about how much **** he's had to take from black midgets, cocaine, a Russian arms dealer who wonders if he's using the right word when he talks about "alcoves", a beautiful young woman who supplies film crews with dope. It's the kind of story that could easily try to coast along on its phantasmic charm. But the plot is strong enough to hold in one channel the divagations into saintly relics and restaurant fist fights with Americans who complain about Europeans blowing cigarette smoke in their direction. That last incident, the one about smoking in a restaurant, is emblematic of the entire film. It's a misunderstanding, and a bloody one. The impulsive Farrell decks the American, Zeljko Ivanek, saying, "That's for John Lennon, you ****," only to discover later that the American was a Canadian and that he, Farrell, had made another violent error.
Well, I guess I won't go on about it although, to be sure, we're talking about more than just two murderers taking a vacation in Belgium. There are religious undertones -- or, more generally, moral ones -- galore. The logic doesn't always maintain its integrity. (Eg., Farrell is supposed to be eliminated because he accidentally killed a little boy -- but whacking the priest during confession was okay?)
I'm not so sure that kids would either understand it or enjoy it but see it when you get a chance.