Scene of the Week: The Park Scene - In Bruges
It’s Sunday which only means one thing, Scene of the Week. This week I have picked a scene from one of my favourite films, In Bruges. In Bruges is quite different to most of the films in my top 10, as it doesn’t revolve around a superhero, or have Christopher Nolan at the helm. What is does have however, is the most incredible blend of comedy and drama, which makes you feel a wide range of emotions in the deepest sense. In Bruges is without a doubt one the funniest films I have ever scene, but at the same time, one of the saddest, with The Park Scene being one of the greatest examples of this, which is what I am going to review today!
In Bruge focusses on two hitman - Ray, played by Colin Farrell, and Ken, who is played by Brendan Gleeson. When a job goes wrong, both hitmen are sent to Bruges in Belgium to hideout, and let the dust settle. As the film goes on, it slowly reveals what happened within the job, that Ray, when taking out his target accidently kills a little boy in the process. Due to this being Ray’s first hit, it confirms to him that he is not cut out for this line of work, with the death of this boy haunting him throughout his time in Bruges.
With Ray out and not with Ken, Ken gets a call from their employer, the hilarious Harry Waters, played by former Actor of the Week Ralph Fiennes. This call is absolutely brilliant, as Ken lets on that Rey isn’t quite enjoying Bruges as much as Harry would like, causing Harry to hit the roof, but this scene is for another time. The point of this call is to order Ken to kill Ray, as he has now become a liability, that “you cannot just kill a little boy and get away with it” leading us to the scene I am reviewing today.
Ken hunts out Ray finding him on a park bench. As the tension build Ken marches up to Ray, from behind, point a gun at his head. As Ken gets closer he sees Ray pull out a gun himself, and puts it to his head. Ken in utter shock that Ray would want to kill himself, he reacts, calling out his name getting him to stop. Ray jumps up, and notices that Ken is carrying a gun. Putting 2-and-2 together Ray realises that Ken was going to try and kill him. Both of them finding themselves in a very unique and awkward situation; Ken asks Ray if they can go away and talk about this, with the scene then flashing to them only going a couple of meters over and sitting side-by-side in a jungle gym keeping to the random humour the film has throughout.
As both of them sit there, they compare the guns that they both have managed to acquire in this random medieval town. As Ray hands Ken his gun, Ken keeps it in attempts to prevent Ray from trying to kill himself again. This triggers anger within Rat and he scraps to get his gun back, but gives up fairly quickly as his emotion quickly changes to depressed. Ken goes on to tell Ray that he is going to give him some money to get out of here, telling him that he cannot go back to England or he’d be a “dead man”. This brings Ray to tears as he replies “I want to be a dead man, are you missing something, I killed a little boy”. The acting from Colin Farrell as he says this behind a flood of tears is nothing short of world class acting, with this scene having to be a major part on why he won the golden globe for this role. It’s easy for several actors to muster up some tears for a film, but for that actor to make the audience truly believe that character has done what he has done, and to feel for that character is something entirely different. Every time I see Ray breakdown, it gives me a heavy chest, and I have watched this film several times. As Ray cries into Kens arms, Ken tells him that he is no good dead and that he should use his life to do something good, and right the wrong that he has done.
Like many scenes, none would have the impact they have if not accompanied by a brilliant score. In Bruges is scored by composer Carter Burwell, with the track from this scene being “Save the Next Boy”. Burwell has a really sinister feel to his music which fits perfectly for this film, and captures Bruges perfectly. Not only does his music have a sinister feel, it has lot of emotional pull, which works perfectly for this immensely sad scene.
In Bruges is one of those films that not everyone has seen, but the people who have witnessed it, love it. It truly is a work of art, and a film that has an incredible rewatch factor due to the sheer depth of detail the director goes into. The Park scene is only one of many brilliant scene within In Bruges, but this one is without a doubt the moneymaker.
