In Bruges: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory or Bruges

If made well, a dark comedy can be very enjoyable for an audience watching it in good humour. It isn’t good enough to have an audience that will tolerate the film making fun of usually serious topics, the film has to hold its own when bringing out the humour in grave situations in a respectable manner. Death, rape, war and drugs are usually selected as the subjects of dark comedies which require a certain level of respect when making fun of these topics so it is not misconstrued as being disrespectful.

Ray is a rookie Irish hitman who messes up on his first assignment. During the course of eliminating his target, a priest, Ray accidentally kills a young boy in a church in London. Under strict instructions from his boss Harry, Ray and his handler Ken go to live in a hotel in Bruges to hideout until given further instructions. While Ken is excited to sightsee Bruges’ historical brilliance, Ray couldn’t care less for its heritage. He is also guilt-stricken from having taken the life of a young boy and finds it difficult to sit cooped up in his hotel room while waiting for Harry’s phone call. Finally convincing Ken to visit a pub, Ray manages to meet a beautiful Belgian girl named Chloe and an American dwarf actor named Jimmy on a film set. Ray gets a date with Chloe and goes out while Ken stays back at the hotel to await Harry’s instructions. When Harry finally connects with Ken, there is bad news that may result in a few more lives being taken than Ken originally anticipated.

In Bruges was written and directed by Martin McDonagh and was released in 2008. The film stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Clemence Poesy and Ralph Fiennes. The film is a dark comedy that plays around with the ideas of life and death. The protagonist is a young hitman who has been exiled as a way of keeping him out of trouble for a mistake he has made. There are many jokes involving death, racism, dwarfs, war, nationalities and sexuality.

One of the constant fixes in the film is the protagonist abusing Bruges and cursing the fact that he is forced to be in the city. He goes as far as to compare Bruges with hell or purgatory where people would be sent to live in the city for their sins, which is quite a similar situation to his own since he has been exiled to the city for murdering a boy. The irony is the protagonist constantly complaining about the city but the director showing the audience the beauty of the city with plenty of shots of the city’s architecture, art and culture. Certain scenes in the film are quite hilarious, one in particular when two hitmen are about to have a shootout but cannot go through with it because a pregnant lady in the room refuses to leave the premises.

The dark tone of the film coupled with comedy makes it endearing for the audience. The use of a score that was especially composed for the film is something that isn’t seen too often in recent films and is a refreshing change. The film score has one particular track which is repeated throughout the film and becomes easily identifiable as it conveys the despair, guilt and shame the characters in the film are experiencing. Since the characters are Irish, they have a strong Irish accent which makes it difficult to follow the dialogues but also adds to the comedic effect since it helps with the timing and the delivery of the dialogues. The idea of introducing a film-within-the-film was quite clever on the part of the director especially since the characters speak about paying homage which is what is done in this film as well.

Overall, the film is quite funny once you get accustomed to the accent and dialogue delivery. It has a slow pace so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it is excellently executed for a dark comedy.

The Reader: One summer’s love that wrecks a boy’s life

The most significant events to have taken place over the past century have been the two World Wars; in particular, the Second World War which saw the deaths of millions of people and had the world introduced to a very serious threat of nuclear weaponry. What was most astonishing about the Second World War was the number of casualties, both military and civilian, a key cause of which was The Holocaust. It is because of this reason of being so dramatically impactful to human life all over the world that films made on the topics of the Second World War and The Holocuast can be immense.

Michael Berg is a divorced father and a lawyer. He shares a dicey relationship with his daughter who thinks he has always been aloof emotionally. The reason for this, as Michael recalls, is because of a heartbreaking experience he endured as a teenager. When Michael was 15 years of age, he met a woman called Hannah Schmitz. Michael was suffering from an illness and Hannah helped him home one day which was enough to form a bond for Michael to return to thank her. Awkwardly, Michael and Hannah being to have an affair with him returning to her house every chance he gets. Hannah, who is illiterate, enjoys listening to people reading aloud and has Michael read to her every time they make love. As Michael’s infatuation begins to increase to a point that he falls in love with Hannah, they begin to have fights which causes Hannah to promptly leave without informing Michael which leaves him heartbroken and emotionally scarred for the rest of his life. Years later, Michael is a law student on a field trip to a criminal proceeding in a court where he sees Hannah and discovers a hidden truth about her which he was unaware of in all their time together.

The film demands more from the audience in terms of patience and attention than what it delivers in terms of entertainment. It is a slow moving non-linear film which takes its time between the protagonist in the present and his flashbacks to his younger days. As a young man, Michael is played by David Kross, who performed the role admirably, and the present day character is played by renowned actor Ralph Fiennes who deserved much more screen time in this production than he was granted. Kate Winslet also put in a strong performance as the female lead in the film.

The most astonishing problem with The Reader is the fact that serious problems such as child sexual abuse and murder are brushed aside while the issue of illiteracy takes precedence. Not to say that illiteracy isn’t a problem that has to be dealt with, but the casual manner in which genocide and child sexual abuse are merely swept under the mat seems to be a hindrance with this film. In fact, the irony of the matter is that the film does point out how serious the matter is as one of the characters dramatically exclaims that people should have killed themselves knowing that genocide was being conducted in their country without being able to stop it, but the film does not really take a standpoint over the matter.

With a few good performances and a good story, the film is a good watch. But it should have achieved more with the non-linear style and if it had dealt with the bigger problems more appropriately rather than ignore them as the elephant in the room.