Guilt and Redemption, the Positive Side to a Negative Story [In Bruges, 2008]

            

[from google img. search]

                 

             The film “In Bruges,” released in 2008, incorporates some of the best parts of classic film noir in order to address the neglected questions that the genre raised. The strong emotions felt by Ray offer a portrait of the mind, as was witnessed with Cody Jarett in “White Heat.” “In Bruges,” also examines the way we see justice, in the style of Fritz Lang’s “M.” Ray, however, isn’t psychotic, or even someone too different from most that see the film. Ray is uncomfortably close to all of mankind, driven by the need for money, the need for happiness, and ultimately, salvation. The movie asks questions that probe deep into the heart, projecting images of our own guilt. Going farther, it offers us a way out of the purgatory that is Bruges – a medieval city that is simultaneously fairy tale and, as Jimmy the midget puts it, “Boschian nightmare.”

            Bruges, in the tradition of “Chinatown,” is a location that serves as a metaphor something else. In this vision, the hopes of our childhood evaporate as we grow older. On one of his first days in Bruges, Ray observes two children jumping around excitedly. He stares with longing at their innocence, having just killed a priest and boy in London. Right after, a dog next to him gives a knowing look. Everywhere that Ray goes, he is followed by his past and the resultant grief. The somber piano plays throughout the film, akin to the zither in “The Third Man,” oppressing the otherwise beautiful Belgian city.  Even when he meets the girl with whom he eventually falls in love, she instantly reminds him of the knot in his spirit, the terrible crime of shooting a little boy.

            The movie as a whole has repeatedly been called funny, or labeled as a comedy by serious movie critics. When the movie ends, however, the oppressive piano keys remain stroked in our mind. The dialogue is cheeky, but only as a matter of being faithful to the characters that make up the film. For example, Ray’s fascination with midgets strikes us as being humorous at first. Yet, we never really find out why he is so in awe of them. In terms of size, he may see them as being like children, and since they never grow in height it offers an interesting parable to Ray’s own disillusionment:

 “Ray: A lot of midgets tend to kill themselves. A disproportionate amount, actually. Hervé Villechaize off of Fantasy Island. I think somebody from the Time Bandits did. I suppose they must get really sad about like... being really little and that... people looking at them, laughing at them, calling them names. You know, "short arse". There's another famous midget. I miss him but I can't remember. It's not the R2D2 man; no, he's still going. I hope your midget doesn't kill himself. Your dream sequence will be fucked.
 Chloë: He doesn't like being called a midget. He prefers dwarf. Ray: This is exactly my point! People going around calling you a midget when you want to be called a dwarf. Of course you're going to blow your head off.”

                                                                 - Quote copied and pasted, IMDB.com

Eventually, Ray and Jimmy (the dwarf in question) become decent acquaintances. At the end of the film, when Ray and Chloe are enjoying a beer and Jimmy offers to have them come to a film shoot, Chloe explains that she wants a quiet night. The allusion here is that Ray and Chloe will have sex - Jimmy, who resorts to prostitutes, remarks, “In another life,” before walking away. He serves as an interestingly neutral counterpoint in Bruges’ strong willed eco-system.

            Given Ray’s strong affinity toward anything that reminds him of being a little boy, the act of shooting a child is possibly the most traumatic thing that could happen to him. After the boy and the priest die together from his hand, he becomes concerned – not from the law, or death, but for his soul. He tells Ken that the only way he can make his guilt go away is if he dies.       We’re all born feeling a great measure of guilt for things that, if left un-addressed, will eventually consume us. Even the child who was shot in this movie had guilt that he carried with him. When he was shot in a church he hoped to repent for, “being moody, being bad at maths, and being sad.”  Ken, in a snippet of dialogue from after they’re in the museum observing paintings of judgment, asserts, “The things we’re taught as a child never really leave you.” Ken then goes on to explain how you can try to be nice and live a good life, but in reality it doesn’t always work out. “If ya tried to help an old lady with her shopping, she would just think you were trying to nick her shopping – that’s the world we live in,” Ray adds. This dialogue between the two characters after the museum scene seems to explain the situation of how difficult it is to try and lead a morally decent life. The way we view guilt and judgment seems to be ill-suited towards life itself, leading Harry at the end to commit suicide over the misjudgment of a situation. Before killing himself he utters, “You have to stick to your principles.”

            What the movie causes the audience to consider is whether those who commit the worst crimes should be given a chance to change their ways. Do we misinterpret the Bible in a medieval, Boschian sense and give it the attributes of punishment or of the deeper value of forgiveness? A telling question is to ask whether Harry Waters is a good man. As a hit man he has struck down many people he deems to be evil, including the killer of Ken’s wife. He is also a family man, with strong values about the proper life. Simultaneously, in a religious context, he takes the role of punishment reserved for God, and he is angered so quickly that he abuses most of the people around him, even calling them inanimate objects. Another way to look at it is whether director Martin McDonagh meant Waters to represent God himself. Having love of a medieval city, and acting the way he does, it would provide commentary on the literary sentiment of God being a tyrant.

            If Harry Waters is God then Ken would be an apt symbol of Satan, who rebelled against God. In the movie, we can see a very strong parallel between Satan’s fall from Heaven and Ken’s fall from a bell tower. Furthermore, it is clear that Ken is Harry’s favorite hit man, as Satan was God’s favorite angel. The act of God essentially killing himself, would then lead to an idea that the medieval sense of punishment and that concept for God isn’t fit to survive in today’s world. Harry’s anger of creating a world for Ray, and him not being happy with it, is un-thinkable:

Harry: [about Ray] So he's having a really nice time?

Ken: Well, I'm having a really nice time. I'm not sure it's really his cup of tea.

Harry: [after a long pause] What?

Ken: You know, I'm not sure it's really his thing.

Harry: What do you mean it's not really his thing? What's that supposed to mean? It's not really his thing. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Ken: Nothing, Harry.

Harry: It's a fairytale town, isn't it? How's a fairytale town not somebody's fucking thing?

[Quote copied and pasted, IMDB.com]

If Harry and Ken truly are meant to represent God and Satan, then what it means is that God created a world full of pain and suffering for humans. When Ken tells Ray that Harry had meant to give him one last good memory in Bruges, Ray laughs and asks him why not the Bahamas? Ken replies that it would’ve been too expensive. This would imply that God didn’t want to take the time to make the world a better place - he is flawed in ways that a human might be.

            Many forces seem to play against Ray’s fate, it doesn’t seem as though life gives him many decision he can make for himself. Perhaps this was the reason why he became a hit man for money in the first place. He can’t even take his own life and when he comes close to it, he is stopped by Ken. When Ken says he can’t kill himself, Ray responds, “You’re allowed to but I’m not, how is that fair?” He is so hopeless in his path of life, but thanks to an angel like Ken, he is able to regain hope. As Ken explains, he may have killed the boy, but perhaps he can save the next one. He can do no good to mankind while he is dead. Ray’s decision to go on living, and the idea that he can even make decisions, is the path towards his redemption. Even when stopped while trying to leave Bruges, he makes a crucial decision to reach out towards the girl he comes to love. He begins to realize that he can make decisions within his sphere of influence, and is ruled by inward principles instead of outside forces.

            The movie is very quiet and sometimes slow, as is par for the course for a plotline that involves people waiting for something to happen. Yet in the scene where Harry chases after Ray, the slow movements throughout the film of the somber piano break forth like a dam. We see that Ray finally has a will to live. He is running from the gun instead of pointing one towards his own head. Of course, God’s judgment finally does come down on him, being shot multiple times. In the scene where Harry shoots the head off of Jimmy, we see that McDonagh borrowed from Hitchcock the idea of, “doubling.” The purpose of doubling scenes was adapted in this film is to show that this God-like force of nature that is Harry Waters is fallible. The forces of guilt, and of judgment, no longer hold sway over Ray. Harry’s murder of Ray is just as evil a deed as any murder.

            The final monologue in the film is perhaps one of the many places where critiques go wrong and call this film something of a black comedy. The irreverent style of what Ray has to say is shrugged off as being a joke, but in reality it is when we finally see light at the tunnel for this bleak film. Even as he finishes his monologue, the last scene we have, where the musical movements of string instruments and piano finally conclude, we see nothing but white light. Whether Ray has passed on, or whether he somehow manages to survive is irrelevant. He has made peace with what he must do, and with who he is as a living human being.

There's a Christmas tree somewhere in London with a bunch of presents underneath it that'll never be opened. And I thought, if I survive all of this, I'd go to that house, apologize to the mother there, and accept whatever punishment she chose for me. Prison... death... didn't matter. Because at least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in fuckin' Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, fuck man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in fuckin' Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn't die. I really really hoped I wouldn't die.

[quote from IMDB.com]

Bruges could stand for any number of things, a mental location of crippling guilt, and a place to hide, purgatory, or Earth itself. Despite whatever location it may come to symbolize, the idea that someone who murders a child and a priest simultaneously could hope to go on living and make a positive difference is as human a concept as one can get.

The beauty of a good film is the variety of ways it could be interpreted. “In Bruges,” could be interpreted in higher religious contexts, as representing the murkiness of human morals, the issue of punishment, or whichever way one feels inclined. Since we all carry guilt for our actions, and much of the world believes in a higher power, or heaven and hell, or sees the world existentially, the effect of this film is therapeutic. It is a neo-noir which somehow creates a positive, real message despite a string of heart crushing events. Redemption is possible anywhere, even in Bruges.

Digital Photography Portfolio, Part III

11. Doug Carney, the Metal Man

For this project, I was supposed to take environmental portraits. I must say, following around Doug Carney can be a dangerous exercise. He told me to follow him into this room without a jacket or face mask. I got sprayed with sparks, but I quickly threw on gear after that and got some neat shots of sparks flying and him.

12. Finally Got This Phone

We had to experiment with the light studio, taking pictures of our phone with the lights on and off. Then we merged the two shots together in photoshop and I made this goofy advertisement. I love this phone.

13. The Jousting Tournament

The Rennaisance Faire was a swell time had by my brother, his friend and I. Needless to say, you will see some very interesting characters here. We had legs of turkey and mead as we watched characters joust. It's one of those situations where you feel weird for not being weird.

14. The Secret World of Rennaisance Faires

Full-time blacksmiths, leather shops (weird), these things made of leather called Gritchels (also weird), magic shows, sword-swallowing and exotic reptiles. I never would've imagined what a Renn-Faire actually is like. All I can say is, avoid anything having to do with leather.

15. Volleyball Excursion

Our class went to Hartwick's final volleyball game of the Fall season. They started off as underdogs but eventually took home the win. Shooting in this space required raising the ISO setting, shooting gray cards and fussing with shutter speeds. All in all, a learning experience.

Digital Photography Portfolio, Part II

6. Eternal

A stone statue of Buddha with flowers the die eventually - yet the people always replace them. Something that lives in the minds of the people speaks more to an eternity than something that never breaks down.

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/traveler-magazine/photo-contest/2013/entries/225575/view/

7. Shaky Foundation

We, as humans, are always doing things we know we shouldn't be doing. Building cities in places that are essentially deserts, constructing a large bridge on top of the worst bedrock imaginable (serpentinite) based on the opinion of a single geologist, or even building the city on top of a fault line in the first place! I suppose, then again, we weren't really supposed to go to the Moon either.

8. San Francisco Adventure

After finding a random staircase, we continued our day of stumbling upon the houses of not only the rich, but the lucky. An adventure would most likely be required to even be aware of some of these locations with beautiful views by Telegraph Hill.

9. Hopeful for the Future

I love this photo taken at my cousin's wedding. She had gotten married to a man from France, so half of those present spoke only French, and the other half mostly just English. During a speech, I captured these three looking towards the speaker with approval, while my aunt looked at the man her daughter had married.

10. Diplomacy

As we pulled away from the DMZ, I tried as hard as I could to take as many photos as I could of the North Korean side. Two buildings stand on either side of the border, one South Korean, one North. In the middle are these United Nations designated blue buildings where they can have meetings. The DMZ is a surreal place where the problems of the world seem so strange and incomprehensible. The buildings on either side competed for height, the North Koreans used to blast propaganda from loud speakers until a few years ago, and the environment is eerily quiet. Millions of land mines make up the border, making it one of the most naturally preserved areas in the world. We were told by the U.S. military tour guide that we were not to point, as it would be used in North Korean propaganda. Also, we were notified that the openings in the shades of the building had binoculars behind them.

Digital Photography Portfolio, Part I

I wasn't sure of a good place to catalogue twenty photos for my Intro to Digital Photography final. I thought more about it and decided that since my decision to purchase a camera began with a decision to go to South Korea, this place would make the most sense.

1. Still-Life of Foreign Currency

Although the task of creating a still-life was never assigned, I felt like something needed to be done with the resource of a lighting studio. The currencies represented here are bills from Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China, Turkey, and North Korea. What countries choose to represent on their currency is always a matter of no small interest. These countries displayed are relatively unfamiliar to the West, and so looking at their currency offers some insights. Mao Zedong is displayed on every Chinese bill, likewise Kim Il-Sung, former leader of North Korea, is displayed on this bill in the top right from 1992. The South Korean bills, in close proximity to both of these countries, instead feature prominent figures from Korean history, as well as beautiful landscape paintings.

On the UAE bills, there is a falcon on one side and a janbiya on the other. Both of these are important symbols to Arab culture. The janbiya is the curved dagger used in many ceremonies worn at the belt. Although the janbiya is a weapon, it is unsheathed only during times of extreme conflict. The falcon is important to Arab culture, 1/3rd of all falconers in the world hail from Arab countries. The bird symbolizes force and courage. The fact that the UAE uses symbols important to all Arab cultures reflects the very new ideology of statehood in the so-called "Middle East." Next time you get a chance, have yourself and someone else look at a map and write down all of the countries you consider to be Middle Eastern. The results will tell you the extent to which the term is politically defined, as opposed to being defined geographically.

The bill from Afghanistan, the blue one underneath North Korea in the top right, has an interesting history as well. The Afghan monies were created by the United States in order to flood the economy and devalue the currency of the Taliban. On one side of the bill there appears to be an airport, the other side is the Blue Mosque. The bill from Turkey, although it is buried under coins on the far right side with the crescent moon peaking out, reflects the secularism of politics and science important to many Turks. Some would say they are both Middle Eastern countries, but clearly see themselves very differently.

Much more could be said about the currency, including the chrysanthemum on Chinese coins and how its meaning differs from our negative symbolism of the flower in the West.

For myself, the image makes me think of what we display on the U.S. currency. Presidents, buildings located in D.C. (an incredibly small, unrepresented part of our much larger country), Roman symbolism of politics, and mysterious pyramids of power with an eye at the top. The meaning portrayed by our own currency seems to communicate fear. This is fear of those in power, perpetuated by an assertion of dominance by the few. When you consider American money it actually communicates the very antithesis of democracy, and is much more disturbing than even Mao Zedong's gaze.

Considering North Korea, despite obviously being one of the most horrifying nations of the planet, the idea of a great leader confers pride to it's people. Even having one "great leader", you at least know who is responsible for what happens. The government of the United States is so densely assembled you are never truly sure who is responsible for what. The power of free speech may allow me to write what I am writing now, but whether any writing actually makes a difference that would change the way we interact with those in power is worth questioning.

Last, a quote from the movie Kiss Me Deadly, "First you find a little thread, the thread leads you to a piece of string, the string leads to a rope, and from the rope you hang by the neck."

Other photos from my studio session:

2. The Phantom Skyline of Shanghai

Shanghai, since its explosive growth in the mid-1800's, has been the site of decadence, usurpation, sex, drugs, and refuge. It seems to be a living set from a film noir movie. When I set up my tripod that rainy night on the side of the Huangpu river, I decided I would want a photo that would reflect the shadiness of the city's history. While most photos of this skyline seek to display how tall the buildings are - a sight which is no doubt impressive - I wanted to reflect the nature of progress.

Shrouded in the fog is a building which will be 122 floors high when it is complete, with each floor being completed in the space of a week. I stood beneath three of Shanghai's tallest buildings. They are the Jinmao tower at 88 floors, Shanghai World Financial Center and the under-construction Shanghai tower. Looking straight up at these buildings in the middle of the day, the smog was so dense that there was no way to see the tops of these buildings. Instead, what I saw was construction hooks come from out of the haze. It looked like some sort of heavenly power was going fishing.

3. Pemmaquid Lighthouse

This is a photo taken when my family finally went on vacation again. It had been years. The lighthouse is the same one featured on the state quarter of Maine. I am lucky to have captured a silhouette of a solitary figure standing in the tower. It serves to perpetuate the dream of this structure's glory days, when it actually was used to save lives. A fellow by the name of Marcus Hanna used to live here in the early 1900's. He is the most famous lighthouse keeper in the history of Maine. During a blizzard, in freezing temperatures, he saved the ship the Australia which had crashed on the rocks in the foreground of this image. Admittedly, with the blue of the sky, it's hard to imagine this scene.

4. Fear of Success

In this New York Times reviewed pizza place run out of a traditional Korean home in Seoul, a former blacksmith uses his knowledge of fire to make his famous pizzas. I ran into so much good food in Seoul, a complaint from owners seemed to be that they had too much business. Pizza, like coffee, is a fairly new avenue for Korea. With white pizza, they will sometimes serve a side of whipped cream or honey. It's actually quite delicious!

The image is able to reflect the pressured environment under which many of these successful innovators suddenly find themselves. It was all I could do not to get in their way.

5. Bohemian China

I did all I could to surreptitiously snap this photo. This woman looked almost as if she was posing. The neighborhood of Tianzifang in Shanghai is filled with all of these neat alley-way shops. This one offered a great view out of the window of the hustle outside. All of the shops here, due to their increasing tourist value, are incredibly expensive. The person I came with had a beer - I just sort of tried to soak in the environment. They had books all over the walls with all different languages which you could just pick up and read. They also had board games. One was a matching game with photos of Shanghai life. I was tempted to make off with it because it looked so neglected anyway. The person I came with was more pious about it so unfortunately I didn't grab the souvenir. I walked up to a few other Europeans inside and had a joke with them about how random the book choices were. I'm not sure if the owners realize how preposterous it seems to read Shakespeare on a casual whim.