The film opens and closes with a death. And the story is about...you guessed it: death. McDonagh places the majority of the film on a train. Donnelly gets the news at the hospital that his wife has passed, gets on the train to go home only to desire to take his own life. The train represents the fact that we are all going in the same direction, and that is: to the grave. McDonagh isn't one to mix words, he delivers straight forward and his language jabs out of one character's lips to another. Neither side really gets a win with its words and that is a big point - that most of the time winning is not the point at all.
So why is this film so violent? When we think about the reality of the circumstances these characters have come from and where they are we are able to see how this is not a normal day. Tempers are hot and the Kid only adds fuel to the fire which causes it all to go up in flames. But, one important aspect to pay attention to is the relationship between child and parent. The Kid has killed his mother, and the couple has lost their son. Is McDonagh engaging us in trying to determine who causes the fracture? Either way, family is a clear theme in this film and McDonagh leaves it open to interpretation for the audience to take sides differently.
