當(dāng)我們還年幼,爸爸總是無所不能,他的胳膊強(qiáng)壯有力,他的身影高大威猛;外面的世界通過爸爸的講述總是展現(xiàn)出它引人入勝的一面。當(dāng)我們一天天長(zhǎng)大,卻發(fā)現(xiàn)爸爸并非萬能之神,他也和我們一樣有著困惑與迷茫。爸爸的故事開始讓我們懷疑,揭開那層朦朧的面紗,現(xiàn)實(shí)世界是否同樣令人神往?時(shí)間和經(jīng)歷慢慢帶走了我們的天真,涉世不久卻已覺飽經(jīng)滄桑,我們開始不屑于父親的生活方式,他描繪的世界已在我們的記憶中隱沒,甚至連父親的面容也在腦海中模糊起來。
下面就讓我們回顧兩部經(jīng)典影片,再次傾聽爸爸講述的故事吧。
該片獲得了28項(xiàng)國(guó)際大獎(jiǎng),其中包括奧斯卡最佳外語(yǔ)片獎(jiǎng)、戛納影展評(píng)審團(tuán)大獎(jiǎng)等等。在戛納電影節(jié)試映時(shí),全體觀眾起立鼓掌長(zhǎng)達(dá)12分鐘之久;每個(gè)人都是含淚步出影院,因?yàn)橛捌邪职譃閮鹤訝I(yíng)造的那個(gè)無比動(dòng)人的故事天地。這部影片足以證明我們兒時(shí)對(duì)爸爸所描繪的世界篤信不疑。
二戰(zhàn)之前,父親Guido、母親Dora和"我"Joshua過著幸??鞓返纳睢5镁安婚L(zhǎng),納粹的陰影漸漸籠罩了"我們"生活的意大利小鎮(zhèn)。當(dāng)識(shí)字不久的"我"看見"No Jews or dogs allowed"的牌子時(shí),爸爸的解釋讓戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)遠(yuǎn)離了"我"幼小的心靈。
Guido: Because they just don't want Jews or dogs to go in. Everybody does the same thing. There's a hardware store. They've done the same thing. They don't let Spanish people or horses in their stores. Further up ahead, you'll find a drugstore. I was with a Chinese friend of mine, who had a kangaroo (袋鼠). I said, "May we?" "No, no. No Chinese or kangaroos here." What can I tell you? Somebody we just don't like.
Joshua: But we let everybody in our bookshop.
Guido: No. We're gonna put up a sign, too. Is there anybody you don't like?
Joshua: Spiders, and you?
Guido: I don't like Visigoths〔6〕. So starting tomorrow we're gonna write: "No spiders and Visigoths allowed." Ok, I'm sick and tired of these Visigoths!
于是,通過父親的解釋,種族歧視在"我"眼中就僅僅是沒什么大不了的個(gè)人喜好,父親的解釋讓"我"的幼小心靈仍然那么純凈無瑕。
在"我"五歲生日那天,父親和"我"都被抓進(jìn)了集中營(yíng),母親為了和"我們"在一起,主動(dòng)上了運(yùn)送猶太人的火車。在時(shí)時(shí)刻刻都面臨死亡威脅的集中營(yíng)里,父親卻將種種險(xiǎn)境變成了有趣的游戲場(chǎng)景。
Joshua: Will you tell me which game, papa?
Guido: Of course. I should have told you this before. The whole thing is a game. It's that game where ... er ... er ... we're all players, right? You know what I mean. It's all organized. The rules are ... the men are over here, and the women are over there. Then there are the guards. They give us our schedules. It's pretty hard. And they make it complicated. If someone makes a mistake, well, they'll get sent home right away. Right away! That means you have to be very careful. But if you're real clever, you win first prize!
Joshua: What's first prize, papa?
Guido: Er ... well, you know, first prize ...
Uncle: A brand new tank, Joshua.
Joshua: But I already have a tank.
Guido: No, but this one's much better. It's a real one! It's new and it works.
Joshua: A real one? No!
Guido: Yeah! See, that's why I didn't want to tell you.
在爸爸的描述中,冷酷而血腥的集中營(yíng)只是一個(gè)獎(jiǎng)品為真坦克的游戲場(chǎng)所而已。"我"是多么希望贏得那輛真坦克啊!所有的一切都由于這個(gè)誘人的獎(jiǎng)品變得美好起來。
為了讓"我"深信不疑,父親還冒著生命危險(xiǎn),將納粹分子粗暴殘酷的集中營(yíng)管制條款"翻譯"成了有趣的游戲規(guī)則。
Guido: The game starts now. If you're here, you're in. If not, you're out. You have to score a thousand points to win. If you do that, you take home a tank. Lucky dog! Each day we'll be announcing who's in the lead from a loudspeaker (擴(kuò)音器) there. The one with the least points has to wear a big sign each day with the word"jackass (傻子)"... right on his back. Anybody who's afraid loses points. There are three ways that person can lose his points. They would be as follows: One, turning into a big cry baby; Two, telling everyone you want to see your mama; Three, if you're hungry, and want us serving you something to eat, forget about it! It's very easy to lose points here for being hungry. Just yesterday I lost 40 points because I was so hungry that I had to have a jam sandwich. Apricot jam! He wanted strawberry. And ... don't ever ask for any lollipops (棒棒糖), because you won't get any. We eat them all! I ate twenty of them yesterday! What a stomachache! But they were good. You bet! I'm sorry I have to leave. But I'm playing hide-and-seek. I have to go before I get caught.
"我"努力跟著爸爸一起玩這個(gè)"游戲",不違反任何一條"游戲規(guī)則",相信在爸爸的幫助下,我們一定能贏得那輛真坦克。
是的,最后,"游戲"結(jié)束了,"我"贏了,"我們"贏了!爸爸的故事不但讓"我"活了下來,還讓"我"覺得生活依舊那么美好!雖然,"我"再也見不到他。因?yàn)?,在這場(chǎng)"游戲"中,他為了保全我而"違反"了"游戲規(guī)則"。
本片曾獲2004年奧斯卡最佳配樂提名、4項(xiàng)金球獎(jiǎng)提名,以其魔幻現(xiàn)實(shí)主義的拍攝手法,細(xì)膩地刻畫了父子之間感情的微妙變化。
片中父親Edward Bloom一直在講述自己過去經(jīng)歷的種種趣事。在他的故事中,他勇敢地去見女巫,從她的玻璃球眼睛里看到自己的死亡;他是最聰明的橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)員;他在最后一秒為籃球隊(duì)贏得了比賽;他從火中救出了可憐的小狗;他把饑餓的巨人帶出城鎮(zhèn)并和他相伴長(zhǎng)途跋涉;他誤入世外桃源般的美麗村莊,那里的人們將鞋掛在村口,不再啟程;他為了追求自己一生所愛,免費(fèi)為一個(gè)老板是狼人的馬戲團(tuán)工作數(shù)月;他在兒子出生的時(shí)候與一條大魚搏斗......
兒子Will Bloom聽著這樣的童話故事長(zhǎng)大。當(dāng)然,他最終不可避免地到了再也不相信美麗童話的年齡。這些所謂的"人生經(jīng)歷"在童話中泛著迷離而不真實(shí)的光。那到底是真實(shí)的存在,還是臆想的夢(mèng)幻??jī)鹤訉?duì)父親的故事膩煩了,再也不能忍受。
Edward: What! A father's not allowed to talk about his son?
Will: I'm a footnote (腳注) in that story, Dad. I'm the context for your great adventure, which never happened. Incidentally (附帶提及), you were selling novelty products in Wichita the day I was born.
Edward: Come on, Will. Everyone loves that story!
Will: No, Dad, they don't. I don't love that story. Not anymore. Not after a thousand times! I ... I know every punch line, Dad. I can tell them as well as you can! For one night, one night in your entire life ... the universe did not revolve around Edward Bloom. How can you not understand that?
Edward: I'm sorry to embarrass you.
Will: You're embarrassing yourself. Dad, you just don't see it. [Will的旁白] After that night, I didn't speak to my father again for three years.
這種情景是否似曾相識(shí)?青春期的我們,一氣之下好久不再跟父親交流,不說一句話。Will成家后離開父母生活在另一個(gè)城市,他對(duì)父親的看法如下。
Will: The truth is I didn't see anything of myself in my father, and I don't think he saw anything of himself in me. We were like strangers who knew each other very well. In telling the story of my father's life ... it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth.
這時(shí),Will與父親就是一對(duì)彼此熟悉的陌生人。Will需要一個(gè)真實(shí)的父親,而這種真實(shí)無疑是建立在殘酷人生經(jīng)驗(yàn)之上的對(duì)天真幻想的拒絕。直到有一天,Will得知身患癌癥的父親病情惡化,他趕回家,嘗試與躺在病床上的父親做最后的交流。他對(duì)真實(shí)的渴求卻引起了父親的憤怒。
Will: Dad, I have no idea who you are ... because you've never told me a single fact.
Edward: I've told you a thousand facts, Will. That's what I do. I tell stories!
Will: You tell ... lies, Dad. You tell amusing lies. Stories are what you tell a 5-year-old at bedtime. They're not elaborate (精心描述的) mythologies that you maintain when your son is 10 and 15 and 20 and 30. And ... I believed you. I ... I ... I believed your stories so much longer than I should have and.... Then when I realized of course that everything you said was impossible, everything, I felt like a fool to have trusted you. You're like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny combined, just as charming and just as fake.
Edward: You think I'm fake?
Will: Only on the surface, Dad. But it's all I've ever seen. Look, I ... I'm about to have a kid of my own, and it would kill me if he went through his whole life never understanding me.
Edward: It would kill you, huh? What do you want, Will? Who do you want me to be?
Will: Just yourself. Good, bad, everything. Just ... just show me who you are for once.
Edward: I've been nothing but myself since the day I was born. And if you can't see that, it's your failing, not mine!
是啊,父親一直都是那個(gè)幽默健談、幻想聯(lián)翩的父親,他將真實(shí)的經(jīng)歷隱入奇幻的故事,他的故事中處處都是睿智的人生譬喻和精妙的生活警言,比如他講自己一次生病的經(jīng)歷時(shí)。
Edward: "Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish will double, triple, or quadruple (四倍于) its size." It occurred to me then that perhaps the reason for my growth ... was that I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can't have an ordinary-sized life. As soon as my bones had settled in their adult configuration (布局), I set upon my plan to make a bigger place for myself in Ashton.
這分明是父親在講述自己成長(zhǎng)過程中為了成就雄心壯志所下的決心??!再如,當(dāng)離開美麗的幽靈鎮(zhèn),那里的人們熱情地挽留他時(shí),他的回答。
Edward: This town is more than any man could ask for. And if I were to end up here, I would consider myself lucky. But the truth is, I'm just not ready to end up anywhere.
多年后,忍痛離開幽靈鎮(zhèn)的Edward回到破落的鎮(zhèn)子,幫助和挽救了這里的人們。難道你看不出幽靈鎮(zhèn)就是我們年輕時(shí)碰到的那一次次誘惑?那么多的人掛起了自己的鞋,放棄了風(fēng)雨兼程,過早地停留在當(dāng)時(shí)的美景中。而Edward卻懂得選擇和放棄。
片中,父親講述的方式也許有些讓人難以理解,因?yàn)樗J(rèn)為:Most men, they'll tell you a story straight through. It won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either.
父親用愛的語(yǔ)言來講述自己的故事,而兒子卻被殘酷的現(xiàn)實(shí)遮蔽了視聽。生活的瑣碎磨滅了我們想象的光芒,時(shí)光的蛛絲包裹了我們?cè)炯?xì)膩敏銳的心。父輩的經(jīng)歷之于我們,真的就像是一個(gè)個(gè)遠(yuǎn)去的童話,模糊而不真實(shí)......
在整理父親的辦公室時(shí),Will發(fā)現(xiàn),父親的故事并不完全是假的。父親在朝鮮的荒唐經(jīng)歷好像是假的,但政府誤發(fā)的死亡通知書是真的,這讓新婚后等待了多年的母親幾乎崩潰;父親解救的巨人好像沒有那么巨大,但父親如巨人般的野心是真的,他跟著這個(gè)巨人走出了束縛自己的小村莊;父親種種離奇經(jīng)歷好像是假的,但父親從一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)無名青年到成功推銷員的坎坷奮斗經(jīng)歷是真的。
Will漸漸聽懂了父親的那些故事,也開始理解父親的苦心,他在父親彌留之際繼續(xù)講述著父親未完的故事:You become what you always were: a very big fish. 父親將會(huì)是一條大魚,游弋在屬于自己的水域里。
那個(gè)人,你注定要和他相遇,你一直想弄明白他到底是誰(shuí),你一直在尋找你與他的相似之處,而你也一直在努力走出他高大身影的庇護(hù)。那個(gè)人,一直都在以不同的方式講著我們不熟悉的故事,然而,只有當(dāng)你開始繼續(xù)他的故事,他的生命才得以延續(xù):
Have you ever heard a joke so many times that you've forgotten why it's funny? And then you hear it again and suddenly it's new. You remember why you loved it in the first place.
A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They will live on after him. And in that way, he becomes immortal.
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