隔膜:评介电影《通天塔》
廖康
刚上映的电影《通天塔》Babel 吸引我的主要原因是其片名。通天塔是《圣经•旧约•创世纪•11》里记载的故事,说那年头人们都讲一种语言,大家齐心合力企图建造这样一座塔,“欲与天公试比高”。凭人那点儿德行就想进入极乐世界?上帝岂能允许!于是,他老人家让人们说起不同的语言,使人们隔膜,无法通力合作,造塔登天的工程遂告失败。牧师告诉听众,这个故事教导凡人不要骄傲。学者说那是犹太人对世界上为什么会有这么多不同语言的解释。现在,人们往往用通天塔来比喻大而无当的计划。创造世界语是企图回归传说中通天塔之前的语言一统,有些语言杂志和组织使用与通天塔相关的名称也出于这种企图。但这部电影和外语几乎无关,而是通过一个偶然事件把四个故事有机地联系起来,表现片名所提示的主题——隔膜。
摩洛哥一位老人把一枝美国步枪卖给了一家牧羊人,这枪号称能打死三公里以外的豺狼。两个牧童试枪,朝着远处的汽车开了两枪。
一对美国夫妇Richard (Brad Pitt饰)和 Susan(Cate Blanchett饰)在摩洛哥旅游,他们的婚姻出现了裂痕。男的尽力挽救,女的心灰意冷。
加州一位墨籍保姆(Adriana Barraza饰)接到两个白人孩子父亲的电话,说周末不能赶回来,请她无论如何要替他看孩子。保姆要回墨西哥参加儿子的婚礼,可是又找不到人来替她看孩子,只得带着孩子一起去墨西哥。
一个日本聋哑女中学生,正值青春逆反时期,体内荷尔蒙催动着春情,却不知如何与男孩交往。她母亲刚刚自杀而亡,父亲虽然会哑语,也很关心她,两人的心灵却相隔万里。
汽车停下来了,牧童撒腿就跑,出了什么事?那对美国夫妇在车上,他们可能和好吗?那保姆在美国非法打工,带着两个孩子出国会节外生枝吗?那春情勃发的聋哑女子能够找到性/幸福吗?这四个故事都让一颗子弹给串联在一起。导演Alejandro González Iñárritu很擅长这种叙述方式。在2000年的电影《狗屁爱情》Amores Perros和2003年的电影《灵魂的份量》21 Grams里,他都运用了这种方式,把几个似乎毫不相关的事件串联起来,构成完整的故事。电影不仅有语言,还有图像、音乐和音响等,都可以灵活地用在蒙太奇中来讲述故事,比小说方便得多。当然,在《通天塔》里,那颗子弹还只是那几个事件形式上的联系,而异国之间的隔膜、常人之间的隔膜、夫妻之间的隔膜、父女之间的隔膜,一句话,人与人之间交流的困难,才是这些事件的共同特点。
美国人受伤了。使馆一听到消息,立刻猜度这是恐怖主义者干的。摩洛哥当局迅速采取的严厉措施以及由此而产生的悲剧显然与美国所施加的压力有关。当然,这只是个杜撰的故事,但观众毫不怀疑,如果真出了类似的事故,其后果之惨烈很可能有过之而无不及。保姆参加的婚礼十分热闹而且极具墨西哥风味,这当然与导演是墨西哥人分不开。但导演对美墨两国之间的隔膜以及前者对后者的不信任显然体验得更深,在入关时充分表现出来了,加上剧中人物一方是十足的官僚,另一方性格急躁,其后果是另一场悲剧。所幸的是,更大的悲剧得以避免。顺便提一句,Adriana Barraza饰墨西哥保姆有极其精彩的表演,把她的关爱、焦急、悲怜等情感表现得淋漓尽致,应该得奖。
夫妻之间的隔膜在这部影片中反映了中国一句老话所道出的真理:“敌存去祸”。观众甚至会说,他们运气好。还会说,如果没碰上这事故,他们很可能就无法破镜重圆。在现实中,很少有外来打击积极影响行将破裂的夫妻关系,“敌去招过”的情况倒是经常发生。吃穿不愁了,感情没有了,人们甚至盼着有点什么意外发生,使夫妻再燃爱火。奇迹却不发生,生活永远平淡,夫妻渐行渐远。父女间的代沟,正常人与聋哑人之间的隔膜,尤其是后者,在《通天塔》里更得到了令人震撼的表现。舞厅里节奏强烈的音乐和震耳欲聋的音响被绝对的寂静一阵阵打断,是“此时无声胜有声”的最佳表现。这鲜明的反差展示出聋哑人内心深不可测的孤寂,让我第一次体会到聋哑人的苦闷。这部影片如果不获得奥斯卡的音响奖,真不知道还有什么影片配。
《圣经•旧约》是用希伯来文写的。通天塔是意译人们在巴比伦古国Babel市企图建造的高塔,而Babel在希伯来文里有“混乱”的意思,在现代英语里也有喧嚣和吵闹的意思。这座城市的遗迹在伊拉克的巴比伦省内,距巴格达六十英里。当今,那里更是一片喧嚣和混乱。电影《通天塔》是在摩洛哥、美国、墨西哥和日本拍摄的。有人批评说这故事与日本的关联比较勉强,我不这样看。电影在最后半小时内把步枪与日本人的关系交待得很清楚。更重要的是,它让观众看到,现代化的通讯工具让远隔万里的人们能够迅速得知突发的事件以及事件与本国的关系,但是相隔咫尺的亲人却难以沟通。电影所反映的人与人之间的隔膜具有普世性,而且片名让人想到伊拉克,牧羊的山岗让人想到阿富汗。影片最后一个镜头从日本父女家的凉台上徐徐拉开,他家的特写渐渐变成万家灯火的一点,迷失在林立的现代通天塔——摩天大楼——之中。世界上有多少这样的家庭?也许我们也在其中。
2006年11月11日
- posted on 11/12/2006
communication is impossible in fact.
so Prof Zhu Guangqian said the poems couldnot be translated in any form.
have not seen Liao long time.:)
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Materials about the director from IMDB.
Mini biography
Born in México City, Mexicoo, in 1963, Alejandro González Iñárritu started his show-business career in 1984 as a DJ at top-rated Mexican radio station WFM. At the same time he studied filmmaking and theater. From 1988 to 1990 he composed music for six Mexican features, including Garra de tigre (1989). In the 1990s he became one of the youngest producers in Mexican TV when he was in charge of the production of Televisa, Mexico's most important TV company. After leaving Televisa he started Zeta Films, his own company. He began writing and shooting TV advertising for Mexican television (some of them can be seen in his first feature, Amores perros (2000)). However, for him those commercials were just rehearsals for a future movie. At the same time he continued his studies of filmmaking in Maine and Los Angeles, under Polish director Ludwik Margules. His first half-length feature, "Detrás del dinero", was produced in 1995 for Televisa and starred Spanish actor Miguel Bosé.
Looking for good stories, he read a lot of scripts and one day was introduced to Guillermo Arriaga, a screenwriter, and they planned to make 11 shorts to show the contradictory nature of Mexico City. After three years and 36 drafts, they ended up settling on only three stories and expanding them. That movie, "Amores Perros", became a major hit at its release at the Festival de Cannes 2000, where it received the award of the best film by the Semaine de la Critique, and went on to huge worldwide success. It also earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign movie.
In 2002 González Iñárritu was one of the directors involved in the making of 11'09"01 - September 11 (2002), a film about the influence of the terrorist attack of 9/11 on the world. Also participating in the film were such major filmmakers as Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Mira Nair, Amos Gitai and Sean Penn.
The success of those films opened the doors of Hollywood to Alejandro. His second feature, 21 Grams (2003), was also written by Arriaga, was shot in English and starred Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts. All received Academy Award nominations for their participation.
At present González Iñárritu is collaborating with Arriaga in the writing of a third movie that will form a trilogy about death with his other two first pictures.
- Re: 隔膜:评介电影《通天塔》posted on 11/13/2006
The third of the trilogy is Babel. - Re: 隔膜:评介电影《通天塔》posted on 01/22/2007
《通天塔》在法国和美国都得了大奖,很高兴!就看奥斯卡了。 - Re: 隔膜:评介电影《通天塔》posted on 01/22/2007
看Maya Cafe 不认真! 谢谢 :))
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