Handlung

After a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.

London based hit men Ray and Ken are told by their boss Harry Waters to lie low in Bruges, Belgium for up to two weeks following their latest hit, which resulted in the death of an innocent bystander. Harry will be in touch with further instructions. While they wait for Harry's call, Ken, following Harry's advice, takes in the sights of the medieval city with great appreciation. But the charms of Bruges are lost on the simpler Ray, who is already despondent over the innocent death, especially as it was his first job. Things change for Ray when he meets Chloe, part of a film crew shooting a movie starring an American dwarf named Jimmy. When Harry's instructions arrive, Ken, for whom the job is directed, isn't sure if he can carry out the new job, especially as he has gained a new appreciation of life from his stay in the fairytale Bruges. While Ken waits for the inevitable arrival into Bruges of an angry Harry, who feels he must clean up matters on his own, Ray is dealing with his own problems, not only with Harry, but with a Canadian couple and a half-blind thief named Eirik. Ray hopes he can count on both Chloe and Ken to help him carve out a new life for himself. In the end, Harry, involved in an incident with Jimmy, may have to keep to his own principles.—Huggo

A Christmas story. Should one who killed a child be allowed to live? Harry Waters, a London thug, sends Irish hitmen Ken and Ray to Bruges to lie low after a job goes awry in a London church. Ken's the old hand, fascinated by the Medieval, with a fatherly attitude toward Ray, who's young and bored but chastened after the London job. Ray's disposition changes when he meets Chloë, a hip young woman who sells drugs on the local set of a movie featuring Jimmy, an American dwarf. Harry calls with irrevocable instructions. Ken balks, setting up a showdown in the town square. A pregnant innkeeper, dumdum bullets, and a code of conduct play into the resolution.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

The Irish hit-men Ken and Ray are sent by the Londoner mobster Harry Waters to the medieval Belgium city of Bruges in Christmas after an awry job in a London church. Ray bungles it. While Ken enjoys the historic city, Ray feels completely bored and misses his home. Ray meets the small time drug-dealer and crook Chloë, who sells drug to the cast and crew of a movie that is filmed in Bruges, and has an incident with a Canadian tourist and later with Chloë's boyfriend. Meanwhile Harry, who has an stringent code of principles, gives Ken special orders.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carrying out orders, rookie hit-man Ray (Colin Farrell) shoots a priest (Ciarán Hinds) during confession. The priest stumbles out of the confessional and manages to make his way to the doorway into the church itself where Ray shoots several more bullets into his back. Before falling dead to the floor, the priest faintly says, "a little boy". Ray looks past the dead priest on the floor and to his horror sees and young boy, perhaps 4 or 5 years old still kneeling in prayer with a clean but blood-filled bullet hole through his otherwise pristine forehead. One of the bullets went through the priest and struck the child. Ray goes to the boy, but it is too late and Ken rushes to Ray and dragging him out of the church. He and his mentor Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are sent to Bruges by their employer Harry (Ralph Fiennes), where they are to await further instructions. Ken finds the city charming and quaint as it is the most well-preserved medieval town in Belgium and has lots of historic attractions, while Ray has nothing but contempt for it. To add insult to injury it is Christmas and there is only one available room in the city.

Ken is the cultural type, while Ray only wants to do the fun activities. Ray is very contrite that he was responsible for killing the little innocent boy. Ken tries to console him. Ken wants to climb up the Belfry tower, but Ray refuses. The cost of going up the tower is 5 Euros for which Ken has change but is one coin short. Ken isn't pleased at having to break a large bill or the cashier's refusal to cut him some slack, but he pulls out a 50 Euro note and gives it to the cashier anyway putting the 4.90 in change back in his pocket. Ken walks up the very narrow, winding stairs to the top of the tower and looks out over Bruges enjoying every second.

Down in the square Ray is approached by a family of three very large Americans who virtually stand on top of Ray without a clue as to who Ray is and begin to ask him if he has been to the top of tower. Ray blurts out that they shouldn't go up because they're a bunch of elephants. The father explodes and haplessly tries to chase Ray, with Ray simply running in small circles dodging the American who can barely catch his breath after five seconds. The father gives up, the mother and daughter call Ray nasty names and they head off to go up the tower.

They chance upon a film shoot involving a dwarf actor, which amuses Ray. Ray is attracted to Chloe (Clémence Poesy), a local drug dealer moonlighting as a production assistant. Rays stays to watch the filming, and Ken goes back to the hotel room to see if Harry called. Ray sneaks on to the movie set and gets a cup of coffee from the food area behind Chloe who is helping herself as well. They have a little flirtatious exchange including discussion about midgets whom Chloe explains prefer to be called dwarfs. Chloe and Ray continue to talk resulting in Ray asking Chloe out for dinner the next night. Chloe walks away, dropping a calling card over her head much to Ray's delight.

Ken reaches the hotel and finds that Harry had called while they were out. Harry had left an expletives laden messages with the pregnant owner of the hotel. Ray comes home and makes little effort to be quiet and not awaken Ken. Ken tells Ray that Harry called, and he will call again the next evening. Ray suggests it isn't necessary for both of them to be there and considering he already has a date would Ken wait by the phone and let Ray go out with Chloe.

Ken allows him to take Chloe on a date if Ray agrees to spend the day with him doing things that Ken likes, without sulking. Ken takes him to see a church that is said to possess a vial that contains Jesus's blood drops. Ken is giving Ray the history of the church including the fact that some part of the church behind the alter is so old it may have been touched by God and touching it would be like touching God himself.

Ray takes Chloe to a restaurant. In an unexpected and oddly honest exchange Ray reveals he shoots people for a living and Chloe reveals she deals drugs to movie sets and neither seems the least bit concerned about the other's career choice.

Chloe was smoking and leaves to go to the bathroom. Ray gets into an argument with a fat Canadian man sitting at the next table who was annoyed that Chloe was blowing smoke from her cigarette in his direction. Ray points out that they are sitting in the smoking section to which the guy says he doesn't care. Ray, assuming the guy is an American and therefore arrogant and imperialistic, mentions something about Vietnam which confounds the other guy and the whole thing ends up with Ray just flat-out punching the guy, then the guy's girlfriend entering into the fray and Ray punching her in the face as well.

At this time Chloe comes back to the table, surveys the scene and they both promptly leave. Ray thinks Chloe hates him when in fact she seems intrigued by him and gives him a big kiss. She then goes to make a call.

Chloe takes Ray to her apartment where they begin to have sex, but her ex-boyfriend Eirik (Jérémie Renier) appears and threatens Ray with a handgun. Ray disarms him and fires the gun, loaded with blanks, in Eirik's face, blinding him in one eye. Chloe admits that she and Eirik rob tourists but insists she had told Eirik that Ray was not a target. The phone call she made was telling him not to come as she didn't want to rob Ray. Chloe takes Eirik to the hospital but on her way out tells Ray to call her.

Harry calls Ken and orders him to kill Ray, on the principle that killing a child, even accidentally, is unforgivable. Harry makes it clear that Ken must kill Ray because Ray killed the boy, accidentally or not. Ken does not want to do this, knowing full well how stricken Ray is and feeling like Ray can redeem himself. Harry informs Ken that since they were sent to Bruges without weapons, arrangements have been made for a gun to be picked up at a contact's house in Bruges.

Ray and Ken spend a debauched night with the dwarf actor, Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), who takes cocaine that Jimmy had stolen from Chloe after she took Eirik to the hospital. Jimmy, Ray, Ken and now two prostitutes end up in Jimmy's hotel room doing drugs and making use of the prostitutes when Jimmy begins a political discussion and rants about a coming war between African Americans and whites. The night ends with Ken and Ray leaving abruptly and returning to their hotel.

A handgun is supplied by Harry's local contact Yuri (Eric Godon). He goes back to the apartment where the owner greets him in the lobby remarking on what an odd person Ray is. While Ken was gone Ray had given her what appeared to be his last 200 Euros and left to go to the park. Ken goes upstairs and sees a suicide note from Ray saying he went to the park so the owner wouldn't have to clean up the mess. Ray had Eirik's gun and bullets he stole from Chloe's apartment. Ken rushes to the park and sees Ray sitting on a bench by a playground. Ken reluctantly readies his gun and walks up behind Ray aiming to shoot him when Ray puts his own gun to his own head.

Ray, distraught at his killing of the boy, prepares to kill himself with Eirik's loaded gun. Seeing this, Ken stops Ray. A surprised Ray turns around, sees Ken's gun and realizes Ken was just about to kill him. Each one wonders aloud what the other was about to do and it's obvious to both that Ken doesn't want to kill Ray or see him kill himself. Ken informs him of Harry's order and tells him to leave Bruges to make a new start elsewhere. Ken explains that Harry sent them to Bruges because he wanted Ray to have a vacation in a nice place before he died. This is quite comic considering how passionately Ray hates the place and the look on his face says it all.

Ken hands Ray the 200 Euros he'd given the owner and puts him on a train but not before taking Erik's gun from Ray first, fearing that Ray will just try to kill himself again. Ken reports the truth back to Harry, who immediately sets out for Bruges, enraged at the disobedience. He picks up a gun at Yuri's, and Eirik, Yuri's cousin, learns of his intention.

On the train, Ray is identified by the Canadian couple he assaulted in the restaurant and is escorted by the police back to Bruges. Chloe bails him out and the two share a drink on the market square beneath the Belfry of Bruges. They are met by Jimmy who invites them to visit the sets of his movie shoot, to which he is headed in a schoolboy's costume. Ray and Chloe share a healthy laugh with Jimmy and send him on his way.

Ray is unaware that Harry has now arrived from London and headed for the same square to meet Ken. First Harry goes to the gun contact's house to acquire a firearm. Turns out Yuri is Eirik's uncle. Eirik was permanently blinded by the blank and wants Ray dead. Harry engages in an exchange where he puts the blame for the blindness squarely on Eirik's own shoulders because he got shot by a blank from his own gun that he used in a badly planned robbery in which he held the gun to another man's head.

Harry rushes through the streets towards Ray's hotel, but spots Ken sitting outside a cafe. As the two have a drink, Harry boasts that if he himself had killed a child, he would have immediately taken his own life. Ken argues that Ray has the capacity to change and deserves a chance at redemption. Harry is unconvinced, so Ken suggests they ascend the bell tower. On their way they walk right past a kissing Chloe and Ray and no one sees the other. Harry and Ken approach the guard/cashier (the same guy from before) who says the tower is closed because some American had a heart attack while climbing the steps the day before. Ken asks the guard to let them through, but the guard is again rude to Ken. Harry is enraged and beats the guard into submission.

At the top, to Harry's surprise, Ken gives up his gun, he says he will not fight. He says he has too much respect for Harry and owes him too much to fight anymore. Harry pulls his handgun on Ken, but Ken refuses to resist. Confused, Harry cannot bring himself to kill Ken, so he shoots him in the leg as punishment for not killing Ray.

Seeing Ray at the square, Eirik climbs the tower to inform Harry, who is helping Ken down the tower. Everything changes, both Ken and Harry go for their guns (Ken to shoot Harry to keep him from killing Ray and Harry to shoot Ken) and in the struggle that follows Harry shoots Ken through the neck but it doesn't kill him though there is a lot of blood. Harry runs down the stairs.

Bleeding heavily, Ken drags himself back to the top of the tower to warn Ray, but the fog has moved in and he can't see anything. Ken then reaches into his breast pocket and puts away his gun, reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out the change and begins to drop the coins one by one from the tower which draws the attention of the people in the square below, including Ray and Chloe. As a last resort, Ken jumps into the square. Ray rushes to Ken's mangled body and learns of Harry's arrival. Just before he dies, Ken tells him to take his gun, but it has been broken in the fall.

Just then Harry runs out of the tower stairs and sees a dead Ken on the ground and a distraught Ray standing over him. Rays makes a run for it back to the hotel where he thinks Ken hid the gun. Harry gives chase shooting at him despite the presence of other people.

Ray runs up to the room, finds the gun then hears an altercation downstairs which is the owner blocking Harry's way with her pregnant belly and a stunned Harry looking at this woman in total shock.

Marie (Thekla Reuten), the pregnant owner, refuses Harry entry, even when he draws his gun. He calls down the steps to Harry saying they have to take their gunfight somewhere else where the owner would be unharmed. The plan is since the hotel sits alongside a canal, on the count of three Ray will run back into his room, jump out the window and Harry can run outside to the bridge and try to catch him in the canal. Ray counts, Harry runs out the door in time to see Ray leap from his window into the canal and onto a passing boat. Ray thinking he's far enough away from Harry not to be hit is surprised when Harry shoots him from the bridge square in the stomach.

Ray staggers onto the street where Jimmy's film is shooting. Harry catches up and repeatedly shoots Ray until he collapses. One of the bullets hits Jimmy (costumed as a schoolboy), blowing his head apart. Mistakenly believing that he has killed a child, Harry, despite protest from Ray, kills himself. Ray is carried past Chloe, Marie and Eirik into an ambulance.

In narration, Ray reflects on the nature of hell, speculating that it is an eternity in the city of Bruges, and declares that he really hoped he wouldn't die.