I’ve been told that I need to use more metaphor.
I don’t know why. Should I take this to mean that my discussions have, in the past, been perhaps too literal? I don’t think that’s true but, then again, it’s hard for me to be objective. So, I thought I’d try an experiment. I will offer three separate discussions of this week’s video recommendation, IN BRUGES. The first one will be perfectly literal – or as perfectly literal as I can manage. In the second review, I will give my “normal” observations on the film. You can then judge how similar the first and second are. If they are indistinct, then I am being too literal and need to to use more metaphors. In the third version, I will offer an intentionally metaphorical discussion. It will be symbolic and make you think and it may have separate meanings depending on how you read into it or, if you read aloud, the inflection of your own voice, or the time of day, or what the meaning of “is” is.
So here goes.
The Literal Version.
This week’s movie, IN BRUGES (wherever that is) played in theaters and is now available on DVD, although not yet on Blu-ray (as of this writing – but probably by now since it won a Golden Globe Award). It is 107 minutes long. It stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes – who all give very fine performances …..sorry, I digress. Um ……………….it’s in color. It’s about hit men who are hiding out in Bruges (wherever that is) after a job goes down wrong, and what they do while they’re there, and what the gang boss decides to do about them……… Locations include Bruges (wherever that is) and a little bit of somewhere in England. Props include guns, tour books, um………….clothes, and um ……..a dwarf, and um………. I’m sorry, but everything else seems to be subject to interpretation. Oh wait – as of this writing, IN BRUGES has made the IMDB Top 250 at #203, between The Conversation and Anatomy of a Murder, and won a best actor Golden Globe award for Colin Farrell. That’s it.
IThe FranksFilms version.
This movie shouldn’t be funny, but it is. It’s about hit men who do horrendous things for a living. In fact, they’re hiding out because one of them, Colin Farrell’s character, has mistakingly killed an innocent bystander and the climate is about to get very hot. They’re banished by their boss to hide out in Bruges. “Where the f#@k is Bruges?”, he asks. (Admit it! You were thinking that too.) It shouldn’t be funny – but it is. Very much so.
We shouldn’t like these guys, after all they’re killers – but we do. So, why DO we like them? Why is it easy to disassociate them from what they do? The answer is – because they’re funny, they make us laugh. How is this possible, you ask. We do it all the time. The truth is that we all use humor to relieve stress. In fact, that is its main purpose. You can take the most horrendous situation and inject a little humor, and suddenly it’s funny. We tend not to dwell on the terrible, and instead, focus on the light and humorous.
I think I first encountered this phenomenon in James Bond films. Bond would be dancing will a beautiful woman when he’d see an assassin reflected in her eyes. He’d swing her around so that she’d take the bullet – and we’d all gasp. But when he’d dump her lifeless body on a chair and remark to an onlooker, “She’s dead tired.” we’d all laugh. See, he made a joke.
Consider the following scenario. Two men walk into a theater an make a gruesome discovery – everybody is dead. Not just dead, but hacked up and blown apart and strewn all over the place. Blood and guts and pieces cover every surface. Men, women, and children, and pets – yes pets too – have been killed in terrible ways. The scene is terrible beyond comprehension. The carnage – Oh, the carnage! But, let’s suppose that one of the men accidentally slips on some wayward entrails and falls on his butt. Dang! he says, I just had these pants dry cleaned. I would be willing to bet that 999 out of 1000 people would laugh (you would too – admit it). Don’t think badly of yourself if you laugh – you can’t help it – it’s human nature.
Hence the hit men in this film are funny.
Colin Farrel’s character is especially complex. He has done something terrible and he feels guilty and ashamed. On the other hand, he’e a wisecracking wise guy (that’s doubly wise) that can’t help getting into trouble – which is NOT the kind of thing you want when you’re trying to lay low. He’s impatient and can’t appreciate the abundant beauty the city has to offer. He does, however, appreciate the abundant ‘beauties’ the city has to offer. Again, just the kind of thing you don’t do when you’re trying to lay low.
The film is a well crafted balance between serious drama, wisecracking wisecracks, real friendship between the two men ( the young rookie and the seasoned pro), a burgeoning romance, and just a touch of absurdity. Absurdity, however, cranks into overdrive in the final reel when mob boss, Ralph Fiennes, finally shows up to give his most over-the-top and perhaps his funniest performance. This film is sure to please as it has all of the prerequisite elements: hitmen, tour books, mobsters, pretty girls, guns, bullets, drugs, and dwarves – and, of course, there’s Bruges itself – wherever the f#@k that is.
I realize that all this talk about Bruges will probably make all of you want to vacation there – so, as a public service, I give you these TEN TOP THINGS TO DO IN BRUGES WHILE YOU’RE HIDING FROM THE LAW:
- Study some of the Gothic architecture.
- Study some Gothic Goths hanging out in front of aforesaid architecture.
- Boat tour along the canals.
- Bet on the boat races along the canals. if you’re a true criminal, you’d rig the races …..along the canals …….amid the aforesaid architecture.
- Tour the historic windmills.
- Drink the historic ale in the Gothic beer pubs.
- (From “Great Railtours of Europe”) “….take Hoogstraat to Langestraat and keep going to Kruisport.” I don’t even know HOW to joke about this.
- Visit Flanders Fields.
- Bury a couple bodies in Flanders Fields.
- Get a feel for some local color. The aforesaid Gothic architecture is gray; the previously mentioned canal water is …….er, gray; the railroad trains are ….er, gray; the aforesaid historic beer pubs are gray; the Gothic Goths wear gray; the sky is gray; the dead bodies buried in Flanders Fields are gray (after a while); the lederhosen are gray. Maybe seeing some red bloodshed wouldn’t be so bad after all.
You don’t have to go to Bruges to watch IN BRUGES.
Enjoy.
…..and finally,
The Metaphor version
The crow caws!
