Does Ray die at the end of ‘In Bruges’?
Arguably Martin McDonagh’s best film, In Bruges, tells the story of two hitmen, Ray and Ken (played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, respectively), who are sent to the small, quiet and quaint Belgian town of Bruges to lay low after a job turns sour. McDonagh dives into the themes of guilt and redemption throughout a brilliant film equal in drama and humour.
Spoilers ahead. Towards the end of the film, Ray finds himself being chased down by his former employer, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who intends to kill him. Much of Ray’s arc surrounds his previous actions through which he accidentally killed a child during a hit, and he faces a series of battles of guilt and self-worth.
It’s not long before Ray begins considering suicide, and the film’s ending toys with the idea of whether such an act will serve as penance for his previous misdeeds. Warned by the dying Ken of Harry’s arrival in Bruges and his intentions to deliver his own version of justice, Ray makes his way onto one of the town’s streets, where a film production is taking place.
Harry fires several bullets at Ray, but a stray one flies off and hits an actor in the head, killing him instantly. Harry, who has previously stated that he’d kill himself if he was ever responsible for a child’s death, says one must stick to their principles and shoots himself in the head, despite the protestations of Ray.
Ray’s shot-to-bits body is then put on a stretcher and taken to a nearby ambulance, leading to an ambiguous ending. A voiceover suggests that Ray will find the child he killed’s mother and apologise for his deeds should he ever make it out of Bruges alive, stating that any punishment, either death or prison, wouldn’t be half as bad as being stuck in Bruges.
It’s never explained clearly whether Ray lives or dies at the end of the film, but if he were to have died, then his arc of redemption is denied in the sense of his own life being taken in return for the young child’s, suggesting that Ray had been deserving of such an end all along. On the other hand, if Ray had survived, then he would have been given a new chance in life, a chance for real redemption, which emphasised the importance of growth and self-reflection, the likes of which Ray was privy to during his time in Bruges.
However, McDonagh eschews such clear-cut possibilities, preferring to allow audiences to themselves reflect on the nature of guilt, the past and the possibility of redemption. The ambiguity surrounding Ray’s end promotes discussion and is the perfect ending to a truly excellent film.
Does Jimmy try to save Ray?
Jordan Prentice played Jimmy, a cocaine-addicted dwarf, in In Bruges. However, nothing suggests that he tries to save Ray in the film’s final moments. One of the bullets Harry fires at Ray actually hits Jimmy in the head, killing him instantly, so Jimmy would have had no way to save Ray from his potential death.
Jimmy contributes to some of the funnier moments in In Bruges, but besides that, he doesn’t have any involvement with the life-or-death scenario at its conclusion, rather leaving that to be dealt with by Ray himself and his employer, Harry.
