In Bruges Reflection
Martin McDonagh’s film, In Bruges, is a dark comedy about two Irish hit men, Ken and Ray, who are ordered by their boss, Harry, to hide out in the medieval town of Bruges in Belgium after Ray’s mistake on his first job. Ray goes sightseeing in Bruges with Ken, but does not admire its beauty like Ken does. While Ray miserably waits for Ken outside of the Basilica of the Holy Blood, he focuses his attention children who are skipping, laughing, and clutching stuffed animals. Suddenly, a flashback occurs where Ray assassinates a priest, Father McHenry, in a church, and one of the bullets unexpectedly pierces through the forehead of a little boy. Ray is stunned, especially as he reads the child’s confessions on a blood-spattered piece of paper near his dead body: “1. Being moody 2. Being bad at maths 3. Being sad.” The boy’s benign sins are contrasted with Ray’s murders for the sole purpose of money and wealth. …show more content…
Ken discusses his belief in living a good life, despite him having killed people including an innocent man out of self-defense. This triggers Ray’s overwhelming guilt and regret; he tells Ken, “I will have always have killed that little boy. That ain’t ever going away… Unless… maybe I go away.” Ken, clearly concerned, says, “Don’t even think like that.” This conversation reveals Ray’s desire to end his own life, and foreshadows Ken’s later attempt to prevent this from happening. In this film, numerous efforts by the characters to prevent harm from taking place against one another can be aligned with philosopher Epicurus’ notion that, “The justice which arises from nature is a pledge of mutual advantage to restrain men from harming one another and save them from being harmed”