New cinema: Two-handed combat 肉搏战
New cinema
新片上映
Two-handed combat
肉搏战
Feb 1st 2007
From The Economist print edition
Of Clint Eastwood's two films about Iwo Jima, the Japanese is far better
在克林特伊斯特伍德执导的两部关于硫磺岛战争的影片中，以日本人视角拍摄的那部位更为出色。
IN TRADITIONAL war films, the enemy is faceless. Imbuing opponents with humanity would rob “our boys” and the audience of moral certitude. Reality is different. There is no glory in war and the boys on both sides—and so many are just boys—are human; terrified and unsure about what they are fighting for. Clint Eastwood, a Hollywood actor and director, has provided a powerful reminder of this by making two films of the same battle.
在传统的战争电影中，敌军总是形象模糊不明的。将对手赋予强烈的人性化的表现，会使“我们的士兵”和观众的失去对于道德的确信感。现实却并非如此，战争没有荣耀可言，战争的双方都是人，有些还只是孩子。他们恐惧，并且不清楚他们是为什么而战斗。好莱坞演员兼导演克林特•伊斯特伍德通过关于同一战役而拍摄的两部电影，有力地向人们昭示了这点。
The conquest of Iwo Jima, shown from an American view in “Flags of our Fathers” and from the Japanese side in “Letters from Iwo Jima”, was the most brutal and pointless of the Second World War. By February 1945, it was clear that the Allies' technological and numerical superiority was unbeatable. Yet the Japanese, led by an inspired general, dug themselves in on Iwo Jima, a bleak, volcanic island far from Tokyo. It took American marines five weeks to overrun them. Some 7,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese died. But what turned Iwo Jima into legend was Joe Rosenthal's photograph of six American soldiers raising a flag on Mount Suribachi.
以美国视角展现的《父辈的旗帜》和日本立场拍摄的《硫磺岛的来信》，表现的都是二战中最为惨烈和无意义的琉璜岛战役。1945年2月，盟军在科技上和数量上的优势显然是无可匹敌的。而日本人在军方的领导下，埋伏在远离东京阴冷的硫磺岛上。美国海军陆战队花了五个星期才得取得胜利，大约7000名美军和22000名日军阵亡。但是最终使硫磺岛战役成为传奇的，则是Joe Rosenthal拍摄的一张照片——六名美国士兵在硫磺岛折钵山山顶升起美国国旗。
The first film, which opened last October, follows the fate of those flag raisers. Three are killed in the subsequent combat, since the flag was raised on the fifth day of battle and not at the end, as the American public believed. The others, including James “Doc” Bradley, whose son's book is the basis for the film, are sent home to drum up enthusiasm for war bonds. The tawdriness of their public-relations tour, which has them climbing a cardboard Mount Suribachi to cheering crowds, proves more corrosive than the horrors of battle. One of the three dies an alcoholic.
去年十月公映的第一部影片《父辈的旗帜》追溯了这些护旗手的命运。正如美国公众所认为的，其中三人在随后的战斗中身亡，当时国旗在战役的第五天飘扬在琉璜岛上空，但战斗仍未结束。其他三个被送回国土来鼓动民众积极购买战争国债，其中包括James “Doc” Bradley，影片就是根据他儿子的小说改编的。他们庸俗不堪的政府公关之旅，使得他们在欢呼的人群中登上了微缩的假“拆钵山”。这表明了恶俗的战争宣传造势比战争本身的恐惧更能腐蚀人心。他们三人中有一人死于酗酒。
Mr Eastwood's point that war heroes are cynically manufactured is well made. Seemingly aimed at the current Iraq war, it is ironic then that it turns a film about propaganda into propaganda itself. That war is romanticised is hardly new, as Wilfred Owen's First World War poetry and Robert Capa's 1936 “falling soldier” photograph attest. In the end, polemic dulls this film, leaving it oddly insubstantial—its characters too little developed for us to care.
伊斯特伍德巧妙地阐述了这样一个观点——战争英雄是被编造出来的。表面上来看是针对当前的伊拉克战争，但具有讽刺意义的是，它使得这部关于政府宣教的影片本身也成为了一种宣传品。如同Wilfred Owen'第一次世界大战时期的诗歌和Robert Capa在1936年拍摄的照片“坠落的士兵”所证明的那样，“战争是浪漫的”这种说法并不稀奇。最终，这些争论使得影片失索然无味，剩下的只有怪诞虚幻的人物——片中单调的角色使得我们难以给予过多的关注。
Not so for “Letters from Iwo Jima”, which opens in America next week and in Europe at the end of February. The film is rich with memorable individuals: Saigo, a humble baker who misses his wife and baby daughter; Baron Nishi, an Olympic gold medallist equestrian who brings his horse to the island; and their wise leader General Kuribayashi, a patriot who nevertheless respects his American foes. The discovery of his letters home in a cave on Iwo Jima sparked Mr. Eastwood's interest. The film's more conventional narrative brings the characters to life and embraces nuance: daring to show not just the fanatical Imperial Army soldiers blowing themselves up with grenades rather than surrendering, but also marines shooting Japanese prisoners rather than guarding them.
而《硫磺岛来信》（下周将在美国上映，欧洲则会在2月底上映）却并非如此，这部电影有着很多值得怀念的人物：Saigo，一个想念着他的妻子和女儿的卑微的烤面包师；Baron Nishi，一位奥林匹克赛马金牌得主带着他的马来到了硫磺岛；还有他们精明的领导Kuribayashi将军，一位爱国者却又尊敬他的美国敌人。他的一封在硫磺岛的洞穴里发现的家书激发了伊斯特伍德的拍摄兴趣。这部电影较为传统的叙述使得角色栩栩如生，却也有些不同之处：不仅敢于去展示狂热的日本皇军引爆手榴弹自杀而拒绝投降，也敢于展现美国海军枪杀日本囚犯，而不是好好监护他们。
It is possible to do terrible things only to faceless foes. Ultimately, and laudably, Mr Eastwood's films attack anonymity, whether invisible enemy or fake heroes. In one of the film's most moving scenes, Baron Nishi reads his men a letter sent to a captured American marine from his mother. As the Japanese soldiers realise that he is just like them, the fog of war lifts to reveal a shared humanity.
只有对于不明身份的敌人才有可能作出可怕的事情。值得称道的是，伊斯特伍德的影片对“隐姓埋名”的手法做出了抨击，影片中无论是不可见的敌人或是虚假的英雄都表现得个性鲜活。在这部电影最动人的场景中，Baron Nishi读着一个被俘虏的美军陆战队士兵的母亲写给她儿子的一封信，此时这位日本士兵才意识到这些被俘的美军和他没有差别——战争的迷雾散去之后，属于彼此共有的人性才显露出来。
