It can be easily interpreted that every successful actor is blessed by the limelight as soon as they start working. Gleeson is a fantastic example that anyone can pursue their dreams at any age. As soon as the Dublin-born actor received his Bachelor of Arts in English and Irish, he trained professionally as an actor. However, he went into teaching at a secondary school for several years. During Gleeson’s teaching days, he never gave up acting and would take on roles in theatre productions such as “Brownbread” (1987) and “Home” (1988), as well as writing plays himself, including “The Birdtable” (1987).

It was not until the early 1990s that Gleeson took the leap and pursued acting full-time, first starring in The Treaty (1991), then taking on supporting roles in Braveheart (1995), Angela Mooney Dies Again (1996), Michael Collins (1996), and The General (1998). As the years rolled on, Gleeson would not only become a household name in Ireland but also across the globe with his performances in films such as 28 Days Later (2002), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), and Beowulf (2007). Throughout Gleeson’s career, he has solidified a penchant for playing stern, complex, and captivating characters who undoubtedly make a film all the better with his presence.

With careful consideration, we at The Film Magazine present three career-defining performances from Brendan Gleeson.

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1. In Bruges (2008)

10 Best In Bruges Moments

At the crux of Brendan Gleeson’s innate ability to capture a stoic persona whilst maintaining a level of endearment is his performance as Ken, a hitman’s mentor In Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges.

In Bruges is a scathing, sarcasm-filled riot of misadventures and profanities as McDonagh lays out a bleak but hilarious landscape in which Gleeson and co-star Colin Farrell’s comedic timing bounces off one another.

Gleeson’s career is brimming with frosty, aloof characters, but amidst his remarkable ability to depict these cold personalities is Gleeson’s often overlooked ability to portray dark comedy with a rare sense of naturality. The film thrives due to a combination of quick one-liners and long-running gags that run home the overall gritty, realist humour that compliments the contrasting crime noir plot. McDonagh uses Ken’s harsh demeanour and Gleeson’s performative style as a vessel for the offbeat, fierce script.

In Bruges is a pinnacle of how crucial performances can be to the success of a film. McDonagh’s script and directorial flair are admirable, yet Gleeson’s take on a straight-laced, no-nonsense, rather pragmatic hitman is what truly raised the movie to its acclaimed status.

Working in an ensemble cast brimming with incredible talent has the potential to amalgamate all the performances together to create an all-around commendably acted film. However, Gleeson’s brutish talents propel him to the forefront, showcasing his aptness for possessing the screen and creating a performance to be remembered.

Recommended for you: Martin McDonagh Films Ranked

2. Calvary (2014)

Brendan Gleeson plays Father James, a kind-hearted priest in a small Irish town. During his daily duties at the church, he attends a confessional where an anonymous parishioner announces that he intends to kill James after being abused by another priest as a child. As James grapples with the threat, he sees the darkness within the presumed peaceful community he has fostered for all these years.

Calvary comes from the mind of John Michael McDonagh, brother of In Bruges director Martin McDonagh and creator of The Guard (2011), in which Gleeson starred as a bad-mannered sergeant in rural Ireland. Whilst The Guard took a brilliantly satirical route to expose corrupt police departments, Calvary forgoes the jovial comedy to put on a merciless display of institutionalised abuse in places of worship. As the film weaves through the malevolence of the priest’s surroundings, subsequently exposing his own demons, a perceptional change to Father James’ life occurs. Gleeson takes on this valiant role with an integrity and passion that fuels his performance with a level of sincerity that captures James’ mistrust and the sudden change in the world around him.

Throughout the first act, Gleeson dons his character with a cloak of warm friendliness that seems to coat his entire personality; he is one to be trusted and has become a staple figure in the community. However, as Calvary unravels, Gleeson takes James’ wholesomeness and unveils that level of suspicion and sadness everyone hides deep down. By the finale, James is still an honourable man, but now he is a man who has encountered a world of hurt, has questioned his own beliefs, and has struggled with society’s lack of empathy. For Gleeson to portray such a fleshed-out character whose journey ends in a completely alternative position from where they started is genuinely commendable.

3. The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

The Banshees of Inisherin Review

One of the most discussed films from 2022 was The Banshees of Inisherin, a tragicomedy following Pádriac (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), two lifelong friends whose friendship suddenly ends at Colm’s will. The film chronicles Pádriac as he attempts to recollect and reconcile his bond with the tempered Colm.

The film eases in the looming threat of existentialism with every passing scene, amalgamating a strange unexplainable tension amidst the rather hilarious and, at times, whimsical narrative. With such a heavy story that explores these burdensome, dense themes, a strong cast is essential to avoid the weight of the entertainment value being entirely bogged down by the film’s own heaviness. What allows The Banshees of Inisherin to excel amidst all of its depth is the exceptional collection of performances by Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Kerry Condon, and most importantly Brendan Gleeson.

The Banshees of Inisherin tackles various subplots involving domestic troubles and civil war. Nevertheless, the film lives and dies on the mountain of brotherhood and how Colm and Pádriac’s friendship represents the need for solidarity across every walk of life, no matter what hardships or differences humanity collectively experiences. Gleeson, as Colm, is a severely grim, troubled man with an awfully sombre outlook on life as his character nears old age, which is made all the more pronounced by Farrell’s docile gathering of reality. Gleeson is the melancholic glue that keeps the film immensely grounded and metaphorical amidst all the brilliant one-liners and warm jokes.

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Brendan Gleeson may not have become an international star until later in life than those he so often shares the screen with, but his talents are nonetheless exceptional. This Irish actor’s ability to portray a wide range of characteristics in believable ways, and to find empathy in often troubled characters, has made him one of cinema’s most respected contemporary names.

In McDonagh’s relatively short filmmaking career, he has shown a willingness to honourably explore mental health and an aptitude for finding light in the darkest of places. Across In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin, this talented craftsman has presented child murderers, church paedophilia, rapists, racists, and even (“Bloody Yanks”) Americans, on his way to an abundance of critical acclaim, 6 Oscar nominations, 8 BAFTA nominations, an Oscar win (for his short film Six Shooter in 2006) and 4 BAFTA wins. He is a screenwriter of intelligent, layered comedy and tragedy, and a director with a distinct sense of timing and a talent for getting incredible performances from great actors.

In this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine are comparing and contrasting the four feature films of Martin McDonagh’s acclaimed directorial career, and ranking each from worst to best in terms of their artistic credentials, endeavour, creativity, filmmaking standards, critical acclaim and mass appeal. These are: Martin McDonagh Films Ranked.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

4. Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Seven Psychopaths is, appropriately for a piece by Martin McDonagh, an intelligent film seeking to deconstruct the norms of the form it is made within. Here, McDonagh takes aim at the Hollywood machine with a meta take on censorship, the structures of Hollywood movies, and the sordid underground that supports it all. This 2012 entry into McDonagh’s oeuvre sits as it does at the bottom of this list because, despite all of its intelligence and purpose, it falls somewhat short of his other films in terms of emotion, of heart.

Seven Psychopaths is spectacularly playful and some sequences downright hilarious, but there is less depth to its characters, fewer layers to its thematic undertaking. McDonagh was clearly in great form by this stage of his career, and the uniqueness of his quick-hit dialogue and prominent character arcs no doubt drew the attention of his all-star ensemble (which includes Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Woody Harrelson, Michael Pitt, Tom Waits, Michael Stuhlbarg, and regular collaborator Colin Farrell, among others), Seven Psychopaths reading almost as well as a top tier Shane Black film like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. But, this is a movie in which the emotional core seems to be the afterthought as opposed to the purpose, and where cinema is less of a priority than writing; like a funny essay on film.

Seven Psychopaths is by no means a bad movie. In fact, it’s very funny and clever, and would undoubtedly sit atop of many a filmmaker’s filmography. But, in a selection of films as strong as these, “very funny and clever”, even “eye-opening” and “unique” (two terms which could easily be attributed to this release), are only parts of what make the following films so great, Seven Pyschopaths a welcome inclusion in Martin McDonagh’s catalogue but not quite the modern greats to come.

3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review

Arguably the most successful film of Martin McDonagh’s career to date – the film earning 2 Academy Awards and 5 BAFTA Film Awards, plus 9 further nominations across both ceremonies; even crossing over into the mainstream news because of its representation of “middle America” during a particularly divisive period in US history – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is dark and powerful filmmaking that earns laughs when it perhaps shouldn’t, but knows exactly when to put the comedy to bed and hit you with some devastating drama.

The lead performance from Frances McDormand as a mother still suffering the trauma and hurt of her daughter being brutally murdered is frankly astonishing, her Oscar and BAFTA wins well deserved. She is tough, powerful, and acts within the narrative as if a vengeful spirit ready to bring trauma to anyone who stands in the way of her finding justice. She is arguably the most naturally sympathetic of all of McDonagh’s lead characters, her journey being one that anyone can find empathy towards, and yet she is still troublesome in her own ways, she still operates in moral grey areas.

McDonagh is, of course, no stranger to these grey areas, and this film straddles that realm with particular mastery. This isn’t as funny or quotable as one of the films to come on this list, nor as deeply powerful as the other, but it is meticulously imagined, beautifully presented, and performed to such an extraordinary level that it is no doubt just as unmissable. Three Billboards is a Martin McDonagh film through and through, its awards attention being the signal to the world that this is a filmmaker producing English language cinema unlike that of anyone else.

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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Screenwriter: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, Pat Shortt, Gary Lydon, David Pearse, Sheila Flitton, Bríd Ní Neachtain

Writer-director Martin McDonagh is well known for his darkly humorous ruminations on life. His work across the three feature films prior to his latest release has seemed like an exercise in how dark his stories can be, and how flawed and problematic his characters can get, whilst still making each of us laugh and cry. The filmmaker, known primarily as a playwright prior to his directorial debut in 2008, deserves plaudits for consistently opening up topics less discussed in the modern cinematic sphere of bland but widely enjoyed vehicles created more to protect investments and underwrite failed business ventures than to pursue any kind of human truth. The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh’s fourth feature film, is presented with all of what we’ve come to expect from this filmmaker’s unique filmic voice, this time the barrel of his lens pointed directly at the relationship between masculinity and mental health. This isn’t as jaw-droppingly funny as In Bruges, nor as universally accessible as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, yet it may be the best Martin McDonagh film released to date.

Foregoing the confines of a direct-to-awards-season story like that of his 7-time Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards, McDonagh returns to what he knows and presents most effectively: men talking to and about men. Colin Farrell stars as a proud nice guy who lives for the simple pleasures, with his In Bruges cohort Brendan Gleeson starring as his less-than-impressed artist friend looking for more from his life than meaningless interactions with his “boring” friend. Living in a small community on the island of Inisherin just off the coast of civil war-era Ireland in the 1920s, there’s not much to do besides spend time with one another, and so one man’s choice to terminate a friendship comes with a series of consequences that are at once farcical and deeply upsetting.

McDonagh’s writing is, as always, sharp and witty at a surface-level glance, the laughs barrelling from scene to scene once the film establishes its tone in the first act. His work with dialogue is particularly strong, the two-time Best Screenplay BAFTA winner showcasing his ability to express a wide range of character emotions through the withdrawn language of your typical man’s man. As was the case with In Bruges particularly, there is so much to be said between the lines that each actor reads, though the lines sure are poetic in their own idiosyncratic ways. Beneath the surface, at a structural level, The Banshees of Inisherin plays as dark as any McDonagh film, and is perhaps even more haunting. It’s as if the island itself is plagued by understated manisms, the very real consequences of refusing to talk or to seek help hanging over every scene. As one man’s hurt is passed to the next, we witness the men and women fall under a cloak of darkness. Pain, McDonagh suggests, is contagious.

It’s a story as operatic as any put to screen in the past ten years, its almost inevitable escalation of tragic personal events playing like a small town, small issues version of Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, only with more personality. To present such a story with so many moments to laugh at really is a brave filmmaking choice, albeit one McDonagh takes time and time again, and to do so effectively is to cast the correct actors. Perhaps that’s why McDonagh turned to regulars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson to shoulder the vast majority of the responsibility.

Colin Farrell is having a particularly memorable year, his contributions to both The Batman and After Yang have been positively received, but Banshees is no doubt his most layered and outstanding piece of acting in 2022. As simple but nice Pádraic Súilleabháin, he excels in earning puppy dog-eyed sympathy, his comic physicality escalating the laughs but always leaning just the right side of cartoonish. He’s a stellar marksman, perhaps the only one capable of bringing this character to life in such a believable way, and under the guidance of his director he finds someone worth rooting for. His is a character arc wrought with sadness, and the weight of that sadness certainly comes to bear in each element of his performance. His soft voice is replaced with a drone, his worried expressions with blank glass-eyed stares, his nervously lifted shoulders with a wide gate. It is Colin Farrell’s film on the screen, his steady hand guiding us through the depths of McDonagh’s work. 

Brendan Gleeson as Colm is similarly as effective, though less present. His eyes tell the whole story, though at moments he brings you close as he motions to speak but no words come out. He is big, strong, and seemingly at one with himself, but he is played as if unsure, and is no doubt lonely, gifting us our most poignant interaction with the relationship between mental health and masculinity.

Other cast members are effective for lighting up scenes with titbits of comedy to latch onto and identify with, but it’s in the dual performances of Kerry Condon as Pádraic’s sister Siobhan and Barry Keoghan as the town’s police officer’s son Dominic that confirm the outstanding quality of this ensemble. Condon, as Siobhan, seems strong and capable if not uncomfortable, but as the film rolls on we see her struggle with her loneliness, responsibility and all that the town’s men bring into her life. Keoghan has a more dynamic arc, his character rapidly receding from boisterous comic relief to perhaps the darkest of them all, the actor fusing his character with signs of trauma even as he plays up to the laughs, the maturity of his performance certainly worth a mountain of plaudits. 

The Banshees of Inisherin is an ensemble hit for McDonagh, then – another film in his relatively short catalogue that showcases his talent as a director of actors. With dialogue this strong and a story so deeply rooted in its intentions to unpack serious and dark topics, McDonagh’s ability to develop such an exceptional level of performances from his cast expresses his outstanding abilities across the board. Were Banshees to be more outgoing in its cinematographic style as In Bruges was, or as quick to take off narratively as Seven Psychopaths was, perhaps we would be discussing the next audience-pleasing indie box office hit. As it is, The Banshees of Inisherin is stronger for its lack of these things, both the almost photographic style of cinematography and slow-burn narrative providing the most moving result. This isn’t cinema that will wow in every screengrab or provide a dopamine-hitting sensory overload, it’s meaningful, moving cinema that speaks a truth about masculinity and depression that few filmmakers have been able to so succinctly thread into their work.

The Banshees of Inisherin is an operatic screen fable that needs to be experienced. To those willing to surrender to its intentions, to read more deeply into its presentation than to simply enjoy its jokes, this Martin McDonagh film will strike you as meaningful, artistic and powerful. This is the type of film that will bleed into the darker parts of your brain and take up residence there, committing you to deeper questions about yourself and your relationship to your mental health.

Score: 23/24

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are counting down the most impactful, hilarious and memorable moments from Martin McDonagh’s unforgettable debut, for this: the 10 Best In Bruges Moments.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

10. Chloë Drops Her Number On the Street

In Bruges is never going to pass the Bechdel Test, only four women speak during the whole thing (and one only to call Ken a motherfucker).

Chloë’s existence in the film is to act as a catalyst. It’s on their date that Ray assaults a Canadian (Željko Ivanek), and it’s her ex-boyfriend Eirik (Jérémie Renier) who ultimately alerts Harry to Ray’s whereabouts. But what a catalyst she is.

Chloë (Clémence Poésy) is the perfect fit for Ray. Her nonchalant drop of her business card onto the cobbles introduces her as carefree and elusive, and just oozes cool. A great antithesis to Ray’s nervous, excitable energy.

9. The Last Judgement

While in the Groeningemuseum, Ray and Ken discuss the Hieronymus Bosch painting, The Last Judgement.

‘When mankind will be judged for the crimes they’ve committed, you know’, Ken explains, as a slow realisation dawns on Ray’s face; his half whispered, ‘oh’, speaking volumes.

The foreshadowing in this moment is as subtle as a sledgehammer but it’s still great. Turns out two hitmen grappling with the concept of sin, Heaven and Hell is captivating, and full of insight such as ‘Purgatory’s the inbetweeny one.’

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Whether you think so or not, the action classic starring Bruce Willis and the late, great Alan Rickman proves that one can set a movie at the most magical time of year without packing it full of seasonal tropes. After all, Christmas isn’t fun for everyone. It can be a dark, gritty, dangerous time, especially if you’re a downtrodden bureaucrat, an alcoholic cop, or a kid who has just been gifted an apparently harmless and adorable mogwai.

In this Movie List, we here at The Film Magazine have scoured the annals of film history to put together this selection of 10 Excellent Non-Christmas Films Set at Christmas. Ten films we’re sure will add a different flavour to your holiday watch lists.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

1. In Bruges (2008)

10 Best In Bruges Moments

Martin McDonagh’s thrilling feature debut transports us to Bruges, the Belgian town that’s “like a fairy tale”, as Ralph Fiennes’ cockney villain constantly reminds us.

The plot, twisting like the canals of Bruges itself, features comedy, betrayal, love, blood, and guts, whilst Christmas lights just happen to gleam all around.

If you want to feel a little seasonal without being beaten over the head with Christmas spirit, this Irish dark comedy starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson may be exactly what you need.

2. Brazil (1985)

Terry Gilliam’s dystopian epic shows us what those shopping-mall Santas can be like off-duty. Much like the Christmas industry, every kind face has a nasty one beneath.

Very little is nice about Brazil, which tells the story of Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) seeking love and freedom in a Kafkaesque nightmare. Cinematically beautiful and ultimately terrifying, Gilliam’s vision of the future mirrors much of today’s world. We see that, behind the shiny consumerism, there are systems upon systems upon systems of red tape, corrupt officials, and crushed dreams.

Recommended for you: Katie Doyle’s ‘Movies I Had a Religious/Spiritual Experience with’ Part 3 (featuring Brazil & In Bruges)

Please prepare for some heavy theological discussion.

Brazil (1985)

So far, all the movies that I have discussed as part of this series have all led to somewhat joyful experiences. Each of them have, in some way, led me to reflect upon all that is good in this world; the awesomeness of creation, the mystery of what it means to be human and our inherent goodness. However, in almost all religions, there is the recognition of evil in this world that poses a real threat of infecting and consuming the hearts of people, and it is also believed that it is very easy to succumb to this path unless we remain vigilant.

It has often been the films that focus on the darker parts of the human condition that I have found to have an incredible transforming power. One such movie is Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam. In my religious series, this is the film which has provoked the most visceral reaction from me upon viewing it.

On one dreary, overcast, miserable day, a man sits alone on some squalid English beach determined to enjoy himself as the instantly recognisable notes of “Aquarela do Brasil” float from his radio. This was Terry Gilliam’s inspiration for the name of this movie, set “Somewhere in the 20^th century”.

In a 2015 article – Brazil (1985): A Cut Above the Rest – I tagged this film as a dystopian comedy. I realise it may seem a bit much to label a comedy as being a profound spiritual experience, but bear with me as I believe the laughter really does lend itself to the powerful message of the film, and uses such to set itself apart from its contemporaries.

In the movie, the hero is mild-mannered clerk Sam Lowry who lives in some grey concrete cesspit straight out of a George Orwell novel; a world of soulless occupations, small-minded bureaucracy, and never ending “terrorist attacks”. Oh gosh, that sounds rather familiar, doesn’t it? Well that’s why this film is such a killer. Apart from the likes of 1984, Brave New World and The Hunger Games which conjure up improbable worst case scenarios, Brazil is simply a reflection of real life. The farcical routines that Sam Lowry finds himself in enforces its realism, as it can’t help but remind you of all those ridiculous situations that only to happen to us on the worst days of our lives – with which significant distance helps you to eventually learn to laugh at over time. Through our laughter at the slapstick and vitriolic wit, we connect to Sam and see ourselves in this every man, but this empathy ends up being a bitter pill to swallow as it can’t help but to make us have a hard and unflattering look at our own lives.

The story’s crux is based on an injustice served to a character without a single line, Mr Buttle. A squashed bug in a printer leads to an administrative error in which the nobody cobbler is mistaken for heating engineer come suspected terrorist, Tuttle. A simple and pleasant family evening, with all the children excited for Christmas, becomes a Gestapo-like nightmare with poor daddy cuffed, clamped and spirited away to unspeakable torture which eventually kills him. They were using Tuttle’s file so how were they to know that Buttle had a heart defect? And you see, because you have to pay for your own information extraction, the ministry is left with the dreadful pickle of refunding the dead man for his trouble over this little misunderstanding. True to all real bureaucracies, the little embarrassing issue of the receipt of compensation is simply passed from department to department, no one willing to deal with it. This is where Sam, the talented clerk with his savvy touch in committing minor fraud, comes in.

Now, in my previous work I have identified Sam Lowry as the hero of Brazil, with the ruling ministries of his world as the villain of the piece. The Ministry of Information with all its pawns and faces such as Deputy Minister, Mr Helpman, and callous torturer Jack Lint, embody the evil recognisable in the contemporary systems of power in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Recognisable evil that spans from the more menacing aspects of the Nazi regime and Stalinist Russia in which any non-conformists are locked up and destroyed, to the more incompetent like the abundance of obsolete departments overlapping each other, leading to daily drudgery for the poorest in society. Funnily enough the super-rich and powerful do alright, which is again spookily familiar, but something I’ve overlooked up until very recently is that Lowry himself is also a complacent little cog in this horrible government. He has found his own happy little niche of mediocrity which gives him the perfect protection of insignificance. He sits disinterested in the face of devastating terrorist attacks, intent on finishing his lunch instead, and stands in embarrassment as a recently widowed woman falls into a ghastly breakdown over the fate of her husband’s body. He’s a bit of a pathetic prick really.

It is evident that Sam’s aspiration transcends this Orwellian-Gilliamian nightmare through his desires of heroism and companionship. But to be harsh, everyone has dreams like this, and it doesn’t make Sam any more virtuous than his neighbour. Unless you do anything about these internal musings, they don’t define you as a person. In all brutal honesty, it is what you do in life that actually counts. These are thoughts that have come from my own self-reflection. Like Sam, I spend a good portion of my own free time indulging in dreams and fantasies, and I have felt frustrated that I have gotten nowhere in these fanciful aspirations. I know this is because I am wasting my time ruminating rather than doing anything about it, and with this jarring reflection to my own life, I have only recently come to understand part of my visceral reaction to this movie. It seems Sam’s transformation must have always given me a trickle of hope.

During Sam’s trip to get rid of the ministry’s embarrassing accounting anomaly, the impossible happens and he stumbles upon the literal woman on his dreams. This personification of Lowry’s fantasy is the poor, hardy truck driver Jill, who has been trying to help her downstairs neighbour Mrs Buttle get justice for her missing husband. Sam knows immediately he has to get close to Jill. Yes, it is for his own selfish purposes at first, but his mission brings him out of his shell, becoming the brave figure of his own imagination. Jill’s fierce sense of justice pricks Sam’s own conscience as he sees beyond his own life and becomes aware of the suffering around him. Corny as it is, it is love that turns Sam into a hero – desperate to save Jill’s life, he puts himself in unspeakable danger without a thought, taking on the very despicable workings of the ministry itself. Sam truly lives in the way I want to live: fearless in the face of evil for the sake of love.

Admittedly, this would all be meaningless schmaltz if it were not for possibly the most powerful ending I have ever seen in cinema. The first selfless actions of Sam Lowry’s life don’t go unnoticed, and he too is captured like Buttle and bundled away to excruciatingly painful and expensive torture, provided by his old chum Jack. For a moment we think love prevails via a Robert De Niro shaped Deus Ex Machina, but alas, it is but his mind providing one last reverie as it finally snaps under Jack’s deft handiwork. I remember watching the credits roll to Sam’s murmurs of “Aquarela do Brasil” in a state of shock. How could they!? I finally understood. Unlike Universal’s inferior edit, Love Does not Conquer All, but being able to recognise the evil of the movie in my own life, it is much better to live briefly fighting for the sake of love and humanity than to face a lifetime of misery by allowing my soul become consumed by the system which, to quote Charlie Chaplin, “makes men torture and imprison innocent people”.

In Bruges (2008)

Well, look here, Ralph Fiennes has managed to make a third appearance in this religious series; how odd. I don’t even know where to start with this though, and I feel like I’m going to do the movie a massive injustice but here I go anyway. A film of teeth clashing contradictions being the most irreverently offensive examination of morality committed to cinema; the funniest tragedy and the most tragic comedy I have ever seen. The debut feature length flick of writer/director Martin McDonagh heralded the start of an auspicious career in Hollywood, resulting in one of this year’s most highly acclaimed Oscar nominees, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Amazing his turn in America has been with the likes of the brilliant Seven Psychopaths, his more modest and decidedly Irish/British outing holds a very special place in my heart and those of many of my generation.

Perpetually bored yet deeply troubled townie hitman Ray (Farrell) is aghast when he and his partner Ken (Gleeson) are sent by their mob boss Harry (Fiennes) to Bruges – a sleepy but enchanting little town in Belgium – after a job gone wrong. A thoroughly modern gentleman, Ray is not content in seeing the many beautiful sights of Bruges, and instead wreaks havoc upon locals and tourists alike by the means of cocaine, midgets, botched muggings and vengeance in the name of John Lennon. Now I don’t know if any of you saw the trailer when it was first out, but it looked like a riotous action movie with sprinklings of dark humour – a kind of European buddy movie. However, upon watching it I was shocked to instead find a deeply moving and personal piece on man’s pain and guilt, for you see the infamous botched job isn’t just a case of a hitman getting sloppy: Ray has accidentally murdered a little boy.

I am still in such disbelief that this was McDonagh’s first feature length film as it is a work of pure genius on many levels but most evidently in his meticulous orchestration. The first 15 to 20 minutes cover Ken’s and Ray’s impromptu arrival in Bruges, comprising of stunning scenery filled with cutting remarks and insults between the pair (and the occasional unfortunate bystander) which leave you doing ugly snorts of laughter.

“Maybe if I grew up on a farm and was r*traded…”

“You’s a bunch of f*ckin’ elephants!”

“One gay beer for my gay friend…”

Brendan Gleeson’s and Colin Farrell’s remarkably believable performances during these squabbles produces comedy gold. The more mature Ken’s increasingly futile attempts to enjoy culture perfectly matches with Ray’s ignorant resistance to the place, his summing up of history as “…a load of stuff that’s already happened” being the perfect soundbite of his contradicting opinion. The pinnacle of this is Ken’s barely restrained furious exasperation at Ray’s reaction to the chance touching a vial of Christ’s blood as a chore:

“Do you have to?! Of course you don’t have to! It’s Jesus’ f*cking blood, isn’t it! Of course you don’t f*cking have to! OF COURSE YOU DON’T F*CKING HAVE TO!”

It is quite impossible to not love the both of them, as it is hard to see Ken and Ray as made-up people, the genuine laughter summoned by Mcdonagh’s witty script forges a true affection for these characters. So, the reveal of the murder of the little boy awaiting confession in his local Catholic church literally wrenches the air from your body. It was the first time in my life I felt genuine ambivalence – I had spent about 20 minutes laughing my arse off beforehand and now I wanted to cry and throw up.

Along with putting his audience through excruciating emotional athletics, McDonagh seems intent on smashing up cinematic conventions (which he does in a very Meta manner in his next film Seven Psychopaths). Hitmen in Hollywood are cold-blooded, ruthless brutes, detached and lacking any links with humanity. It is also not a Tinsel town norm to show a kid getting blown away by an assassin. However, these deviations from established movie-making norms is not just for the sake of it or to be an “edgy individual”, it is to help McDonagh underline his point; a message so important to him he has been compelled to make a movie about it. With the barest look at the surface, you could say that Ken and Ray are not good people: they kill people for money. However, if you dig even further, you see that they are still both quite terrible. Murdered lollipop men, women punched in the face, drugs stolen, and rude things said to Americans all stand against their character. Taking the comedy aside, the business and world they live in is undeniably a dark path. In a religious sense they have sinned, murdered, broken a commandment – acts which can be held against them on the day of judgement, the idea of which looms over the both of them: heaven, hell or the “inbetweeny one”, purgatory.

Still, within a religious sense – specifically Catholicism with which there are obvious nods to in the film – to label Ken and Ray as irredeemably evil would be completely untrue. Ken’s genuine enjoyment of Bruges shows an appreciation for the beautiful things in life, and it proves that this love of life goes beyond the superficial delights of the senses and into a deep reverence for life itself. His disgust at Jimmy’s racism (the aforementioned dwarf) during his coke-fuelled rants, shows the pain of a man who had tried to be good, as it is revealed Ken’s wife who was black was murdered by a white man. In good conscience, he cannot let casual offences slide – easy to slip-in racism is what killed his wife. Furthermore, the friendship, respect and honour he feels for Harry, whom he has indebted his life to, cannot be argued with when you can plainly see it in Ken’s pain at his admittance of his own betrayal to Harry. Yet even the power of this enormous betrayal does not damn him as it is an act of mercy, one of the rarest yet sweetest virtues, mercy for a man who needs it the most: Ray. Yes, offensively boorish, terrifyingly violent, child-murdering Ray. Yes, Ray who physically cannot stop weeping over what he has done, who can’t stop thinking of what ifs, Ray who is close to taking his own life as he can’t live with what he has done.

In Bruges is essentially a story of mercy and humanity’s desperate need for it, and through the art of humour it succeeds in convincing us to be kinder people, to use the choices we are given to harvest goodness out of a terrible situation. Now I am going to let you into a little secret: throughout my spiritual series, many of the conclusions I have made about the movies featured aren’t usually my immediate thoughts after seeing them, but what they all do have in common is that they are all incredibly beautifully made films that have all succeeded to produce a visceral reaction in myself of awe, shock or elation. As these emotions calm I usually know that I want to be a better person; it’s only when I actually sit down to discuss (or write about) why I like these movies that I actually discern the subtle messages left within. In Bruges in this case is very special to me as it taps into what I have learned about faith through Catholicism, which Martin McDonagh experienced too (although he has departed from the faith over the years).

The movie’s Confessional scene is the most important in the movie in terms of its message. The Sacrament of Reconciliation as it is known, is one of the most feared acts for those brought up Catholic – brought into a small space, thankfully usually hidden from the priest, you proceed to confess all your failings as a person; the ones which you are truly sorry for, so that you can then be absolved from these transgressions, usually by doing a penance. Despite it being the most hated sacrament, it is one of the most beautiful – it makes you a part of God’s inconceivable plan in creation, it reveals the mystery of what is to be human; that you are a precious treasure, irreplaceable in God’s eyes. God made man in the image of himself – humans have knowledge of good and evil Q.E.D. But God loving his creation gave us free will, so that if we loved him in return, it would be through our own choice and would be a pure unadulterated love. However, the choice to sin is often seductive and we choose to hurt other people, for example by hiring people to kill for money. Because of free will, we would have to pay the consequences for these bad choices – in the ancient Jewish faith in which temple in Jerusalem was an extremely important part, atonement was searched for from God via burnt offerings of sacrificed animals. However, according to Christian doctrine, these sacrifices were simply not enough to make up for the terrible things humans have done to each other, and God knew that the price was our own lives. But as he loved us, he couldn’t abandon us to this fate and took it upon himself to become a human. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrificial victim for he was a man completely without sin, so through dying and then rising from the dead, doctrine dictates he released us from the burden of our sins. He forgave us for everything we did, even when it meant his own body would be broken and blood spilt. The act of Confession gives a Catholic the chance to experience this forgiveness as our sins are literally absolved and we are given a fresh slate, the opportunity to start anew. It is the opportunity to go relive the moment marked by our Baptism – release from our chains of sin.

Words can’t describe Ray’s understanding of the evil he has committed through his own free will. He is all too aware that the decisions he has made in life have robbed a little boy of his own. He knows he must pay and at one point he believes the price is his own life. But Ray falls a victim to mercy. Ken knows he can change and can still do good in this world. Chloe, the local he meets, offers mercy in the form of affection that could become love, even though she knows he might not deserve it. It is after these small acts of mercy that Ray transforms and becomes a source of goodness in Bruges, stopping innocents from being caught in a gun fight and even trying to save Harry in the aftermath of Harry attempting to murder him. Ray begins to realise he can be saved and feels the want to live again. But true to Catholic tradition, penance is served. Purgatory is not necessarily the middle place – it is a place of waiting, to carry out penance to finally make you fit for heaven. He mistakes Bruges for hell, but it is purgatory, a place of testing. Ray shows mercy and thus he will be saved.

[Author’s note – In Bruges offers a rich source for theological discussion and there are several things I have had to skip over or else this would be probably be a million words long.]

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