In Bruges

Can a hitman have a heart? If so, can it feel pity or remorse?what about guilt? Hitmen are people in the end anyway.

Can the above questions be core of a very well made , character driven, funny, beautiful looking piece of cinema? Well, yes.

It's called In Bruges. Like the title, it is almost entirely filmed in Bruges, Belgium.

Ray (Colin Farrell) is a fresh recruit and botches up his first job. He is sent away to Bruges with his older partner Ken(Brendan Gleeson) by their employer, Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to await further instructions.

There, the two invariably are affected by the city, the younger chap doesn't like the inaction of the place, and his guilt at killing a little kid in his first job starts overwhelming him. The older guy actually like the city a lot, with its medieval architecture and winding canals and cobbled pathways

The two interact with a host of characters which includes a midget (dwarf :)) actor from America, a beautiful drug supplier for whom Ray falls hard and an eccentric arms supplier who like alcoves; the story takes the turn when Harry orders Ken to kill Ray.

Collin Farrell is the champion here. His portrayal of the guilt ridden hitman is a superb mixture of vulnerability, recklessness, violence, absurdity and the edgy Irish humour. But his guilt is real, and he is honestly suicidal throughout the movie!

The two are trapped in Bruges, and forced to look inwards and contemplate their lives so far, and where they might be headed. Bruges is their Purgatory . It is here that they are stuck, between Heaven and Hell, waiting for their individual judgement days,

This is definitely a "different" movie. I was expecting a Hollywood style all guns blazing show, but it turned out to be something much, much better. A screenplay like this getting a chance into being made into a movie with two A list actors is a huge thing. I mean there is no Jason Bourne here!

And it was released in India! And I missed it there :( So had to watch it on HBO with heavy cutting of even mildly violent scenes, which was quite irritating. Not to add the muting of every Fook -a British movie without any F words! How sad...

A very gratifying watch after all.