通天塔

heyuan58

2007年奥斯卡的颁奖已经结束，此前被众多媒体看好的《通天塔》(Babel)败给了《无间道风云》，无缘主要奖项。不过凭借戛纳国际电影节最佳导演奖、金球奖剧情类最佳影片奖以及最佳导演这几个重量级大奖，《通天塔》堪称2006年全球电影界最好的影片之一。
　　影片讲述的是发生在不同大洲的几个不同人物的故事，故事同时在四个国家(摩洛哥、美国、日本和墨西哥)展开，互相穿插。最后观众会发现实际上所有的命运都有联系。这样的设计，让我们领会到了现实中无处不在的联系和无处不在的歧视和误解。这种歧视，这种误解，有时有意，有时无意。我们总是在抱怨不被理解，又在不断误解别人。有的情节和对话会从不同人物的角度出现两次，而观众则作为旁观者有机会从双方不同的角度出发来理解发生的事情。所有这一切又通过一次枪击事件被联系在一起。但他们各自有着自己的烦恼，并没有意识到自己和其他人的联系。
　　
　　误解与隔阂
　　
　　Babel来自于圣经中一个故事。据圣经记载，上帝造人之时，人类的语言都是相同的，他们能够互相理解。后来人类决定造一座直达天堂的高塔，名字就叫The Babel，译作“巴别塔”或“通天塔”。上帝发现人类的企图，十分害怕，于是在人间制造了不同的语言，从此人类之间产生隔膜，不能互相交流，这座直达天堂的通天塔最终没有造成。
　　就像这个故事背后的涵义一样，影片表现也是人类之间的冷漠和隔膜。这种隔膜存在于各个层次：夫妻之间、兄弟之间、父子和父女之间、残疾人和非残疾人之间、国家和个人之间、同一国家的同胞之间、国家和国民之间、国与国之间等等。也就是影片中随处可见的各种冲突赋予了它极强的冲击力，给人以宏大的感觉。这不是一部以语言为核心的电影，即使有语言的交流，也常常是在用语言互相谩骂和指责；即使是平静有理的表述，往往也是残忍疏远的话语。影片开头就是这样一段对话，发生在Brad Pitts扮演的美国游客和妻子Susan之间。
　　Susan: Richard, why did we come here?
　　Richard: What do you mean, why?
　　Susan:Really, why are we here?
　　Richard: To be alone.
　　Susan: “Alone”...(Throw out the ice.)
　　Richard: The Coke’s hot.
　　Susan: Yeah, but you don’t know what kind of water is in there.
　　(Throw out the ice for both of them)
　　Richard: Jesus Christ. Why can’t you just relax? Why are you so stressed?
　　Susan: You are the reason I’m stressed. You’ve the reason why I can’t relax.
　　Richard: You could if you tried.
　　Susan: You don’t think I tried?
　　Richard: You’ve never gonna forgive me, are you?
　　Susan: You know what I’m talking about.
　　Richard: Hey, I’m not gonna argue.
　　Susan: Okay. You just let me know when you’ve ready to argue, if you’ve not gonna run away again.
　　作为影片中最知名的明星，Brad Pitts扮演的美国游客Richard是影片中话语最多的人物，他和妻子的婚姻面临着危机，于是来到摩洛哥。故事开头两人这段看似不知所云的对话却隐含着两个本应该亲密无间的人之间巨大的隔阂。而就在两人不知如何交流的时候，妻子在大巴上被流弹击中，旅游大巴将他们带到附近有诊所的一个小镇。一路上异域文化带来的陌生感使大巴上的游客惊恐不已，他们并不关心Richard妻子的安危，想到的只是自己赶紧离开这里。Richard同样也只关心妻子的状况，无暇顾及他人。
　　Tourist: How’s your wife?
　　Richard: It’s bad. I can’t stop the bleeding.
　　Tourist: Get her out of there and let’s go.
　　Richard: Where? Where do I take her?
　　Tourist: In Egypt in a town like this, they slit 30 German tourists?throats. They might do the same to us.
　　Moroccan guide: No, sir, not here.
　　Tourist: What do you know? We’ve got to get out of here as soon as possible.
　　Female Tourist: It’s unbearably hot. We have to get back for our children.
　　Another Tourist: Look, you can’t leave us here. What is the point in our staying?
　　Richard: In case we need the bus!
　　Tourist: He can drop us off and come back for you.
　　Richard: No.
　　Tourist: I’ll stay with you if you need me.
　　Richard: Please just wait. Let me figure this out.
　　Tourist: We’ve not gonna risk our lives, so hurry.
　　在紧急的医疗处理之后，Richard和摩洛哥导游闲聊起来。从下面这段话我们可以感到那种文化上的差异，或者说是偏见，也只有在这样的危机中，两个来自不同文化的人才能这样近距离地交流。
　　Richard: Is that your daughter?
　　Moroccan guide: Yes, the third of five. Do you have kids?
　　Richard: Yeah.
　　Moroccan guide: Just two?
　　Richard: Yeah.
　　Moroccan guide: You should have more.
　　Richard: What about you? How many wives do you have?
　　Moroccan guide: I can only afford one.
　　当Richard在等待救护车的到来时，摩洛哥官员却告诉他，因为美国使馆的阻止，他们无法派出救护车。这段Richard和使馆官员的对话，充满了官僚的用语，显得冰冷而令人无奈。

heyuan58

Richard: No, we need help now. We need help now. Do you understand?
　　Embassy Clerk: I’m doing everything I can do. I’ve got the State Department on the other line right now. They’ve doing everything they can do. Due to some political problems that are being resolved...
　　Richard: I don’t give it a shit about political problems. I need help now.
　　Embassy Clerk: Everybody is doing everything they can. Okay? I don’t know what else I can do. It’s all over the news. Everybody is paying attention and doing everything that they can.
　　也许你会感叹于Richard夫妇在这次事件中遭遇到的冷漠，但同时他对其他人也是同样冷漠，比如他不允许远在美国的墨西哥保姆Amelia离开去参加儿子的婚礼，话语中透着傲慢和漠不关心。这最终带给了Amelia很大的灾难。
　　Amelia: But today is my son’s wedding.
　　Richard: Cancel your son’s wedding. I’ll pay for another one, I’ll pay for a better one. I need you to do this, Amelia.
　　Amelia: Everything is ready, sir. Can’t anyone come to take care of the kids? It’s just one day, sir.
　　Richard: How do you expect me to find someone from here? Susan’s still recovering, and Rachel can’t make it to take care of the kids. Can’t do it. Hold on.... We’ve really counting on you, I’m sorry, but you have to do this.
　　Amelia: But...
　　Richard: Bye
　　面临两难选择的Amelia不得不带着Richard的两个孩子(Mike 和Debbie)回墨西哥参加儿子的婚礼，返回美国的时候阴差阳错地被侄子抛弃在美墨边境的沙漠中，差点丧生，最后在美国边境被警察逮捕。因为她是非法移民，将会被遣返。下面是她和美国移民官员的对话。就像美国使馆官员一样，移民官员语气生硬，毫无人情味，却也完全合理合法。
　　US officer: It’s a miracle we found those kids, madam. I don’t know how you could have left them alone like that out in the desert.
　　Amelia: How are they, sir?
　　US officer: That’s none of your business. You know how many kids die every year trying to cross this border?
　　Amelia: I raised these kids since they were born. I take care of them day and night. I feed them breakfast and lunch and dinner. I play with them. Mike and Debbie are like my own children.
　　US officer: But they are not your children, madam. Plus, you’ve been working in this country illegally.
　　Amelia: What about my nephew, Santiago?
　　US officer: I don’t have any information on him. We located the father in Morocco. He was very angry, but decided not to press charges.
　　Amelia: Thank you.
　　US officer: Nevertheless the government of the United States has deemed that you are seriously breaking the law, and is determined to immediately and definitively deport you.
　　Amelia: Sir, I’ve been here for 16 years. I have my things here. I rent a house. I made a life here, sir.
　　US officer: You should have thought about that beforehand.
　　Amelia: I want to talk to a lawyer.
　　US officer: If you attempt to take this to trial, I can assure you, you’ll only be prolonging the inevitable. I recommend you accept voluntary deportation.
　　同时在日本和摩洛哥的当地家庭中也发生着与枪击事件有关的故事。由于语言的关系，他们并没有特别多的话语。特别是日本哑女。影片中有声和无声的世界交替，把观众带入一个哑女无声而孤独的心理世界，描绘了一个被整个世界遗忘的女孩的无助和对他人关注的渴望。而在摩洛哥，警察为了找到开枪的凶手对牧民大打出手，开枪哥俩儿的矛盾也在重压下爆发，父亲只能带着他们出走逃亡。
　　也许所有的这些误解和隔阂都可以总结在沙漠中逃亡时Amelia和男孩的一段对话中：
　　Boy: What’s happening? Why are we hiding if we didn’t even do anything wrong?
　　Amelia: Because they think we did something wrong, baby.

leye

谢谢楼主，这部电影我看过。谢谢介绍。