 |
|
Spring 2007 | Volume 30, Number 1
| Books, Film & Music
|
|
|
Response onScreen
良心、品格和信念: Amazing Grace and The Lives of Others
灵魂以神秘的方式活动. Sometimes, God changes our hearts through the inspiring testimony of a godly person. 有时他通过良心的影响来改变赌博十大靠谱软件的心.
2007年最著名的两部电影—— Amazing Grace and The Lives of Others ——讲述人们陷入良心危机的故事. In Amazing Grace, the passion of William Wilberforce inspires a whole nation to change its ways. And in The Lives of Others, one man experiences a change of heart while sitting alone in a dark room and spying on his neighbors.
Both stories could be summed up in that famous lyric penned by John Newton: “I once was blind, but now I see.”
Amazing Grace (Bristol Bay Productions)
Amazing Grace |
迈克尔·阿普特是一位多才多艺的导演. He’s made movies such as Nell and Enigma, 随着詹姆斯·邦德系列电影的上映而出现转机(The World Is Not Enough)，并执导了几集电视剧 Rome. Every seven years, he delivers a new installment in a series that Roger Ebert calls one of the greatest contributions to cinema — the “Up” series (7 Up, 14 Up, etc.).
但阿普特从来没有执导过这样的电影 Amazing Grace, 这是一部讲述威廉·威尔伯福斯故事的豪华古装剧, 以及他的领导如何在英国废除了奴隶制.
The film celebrates political courage without misleading us about the hardship suffered by those who strive to do the right thing. Wilberforce (1759–1833) suffered on several fronts as he stood like David before the Goliath of British Parliament, 试图改变他们在奴隶制问题上的想法和想法. Apted，用一个聪明，活泼的脚本工作，由Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) gives sufficient time and attention to the complications of court proceedings. And we're left in no doubt that Wilberforce's convictions took a toll on his health.
圣经说:“你的财宝在哪里，你的心也在那里。.” While Wilberforce may not have lived long enough to bask in the joy of his victories, 很明显，他奋斗的时候眼睛一直望着天堂. 他被选为下议院议员时只有21岁, but his long battle against the slave trade ended only three days before his death. 他身体上承受的负担, psychologically, 在精神上一直到最后——这是这部电影的重点.
In a season when filmmakers are rushing to get the attention of movie-going Christians, 阿普特提醒赌博十大靠谱软件如何制作一部赌博十大靠谱软件信仰的鼓舞人心的电影. 赌博十大靠谱软件有多少次看到没有愤世嫉俗的基督教信仰? 当基督徒把信仰的故事搬上银幕, how often are they honest about the hardships and unanswered questions that come with the journey? Far too often, movies about Christians end up telling us that faith in God will make our lives happier and more successful. Wilberforce's story truly reflects the glory of Christ as we see him sacrificing so much to save others.
Amazing Grace 有一点好莱坞的色彩吗. 为了给观众一个更吸引人的故事，浪漫的情节似乎经过了修饰, 法庭上的一些滑稽动作感觉有点做作. The chronology of the film is a bit disorienting at times (flashbacks and "four years later" updates keep us on our toes). Nevertheless, it's remarkable how many characters have wit and personality in spite of their standard-issue period-piece costumes. 奈特让原本枯燥乏味的作品变得生动起来, 为法庭场面注入个性和激情, spicing the romance with wit, 并将宫廷语言的冲击力与足够的活力结合起来.
演员阵容使剧本栩栩如生. 伊安·格鲁弗德可能不会推荐自己出演这个角色 Fantastic Four但他在这里却出奇地引人入胜. 虽然他在法庭上的演讲不够吸引人, Gruffudd makes up for that by drawing us into the inner struggle of a man who fought formidable odds day after day.
作为浪漫，你可以称之为 Love, Eventually. Romola Garai plays Barbara Spooner, who eventually marries Wilberforce, with charm and humor. Garai is a scene-stealer in everything she does — she proved herself a natural leading lady in I Capture the Castle她很快就会在改编自伊恩·麦克尤恩的电影中回归荧幕 Atonement, directed by Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice).
但让老兵们来抢戏吧. In every scene they're given, Michael Gambon and Albert Finney mop the floor with everyone else. As the great reverend John Newton, who penned the famous hymn of the title, Finney is fantastic. He’s onscreen for only a few minutes, but you’ll be talking about him after the movie. In one emotional moment, he utters one of the simplest, clearest, 这是我看过的最感人的基督教见证. Just as memorable, Michael Gambon, 那么擅长扮演阴险的恶棍, 他在自己饰演的阴郁的查尔斯·福克斯勋爵的作品中发现了很多喜剧元素.
虽然它不能达到同样的高度， Amazing Grace 抓住了米洛斯·福尔曼的一些精神和表演技巧 Amadeus such a classic. We learn a great deal about Wilberforce's interests and personality along the way, 从他对动物的爱护到他对穷人的慷慨. And while it's fair to say that too many films about the sufferings of Africans end up glorifying privileged white guys, Wilberforce's contribution to history is long overdue for a standing ovation. 所以这种抱怨不应该阻止任何人去看这部电影.
The Lives of Others(Sony Pictures Classics)
这是一个在任何背景下都难以讲述的故事——一个怪物的救赎. 一个接受挑战的故事讲述者将面临巨大的挑战:
• How do you convince the audience that a villainous creep is experiencing a change of heart?
• How do you manage to illustrate this without wrapping his transformation in sentimentality?
• How do you create a character so monstrous that we'll find his deeds repulsive, 然而如此有趣，赌博十大靠谱软件会渴望他的救赎?
然后是变换本身的复杂问题. What triggers it?
这种变化不应该发生得太快. Damascus-road encounters do occur, but they’re rare, and difficult to portray convincingly. How do you illustrate an event so shattering that it changes a man, heart and soul, in a moment? No, it's much more possible to show an incremental change, because that is how most of us change ... 通过一长串的事件，分阶段进行.
The Live of Others |
The Live of Others, 这部电影获得了奥斯卡最佳外语片, is about a monster named Gerard Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) who lurks in East Germany, 在20世纪80年代中期担任斯塔西部队的监视官. When Wiesler is appointed to secretly monitor every conversation in the apartment of a writer who may have anti-socialist sentiments, he finds that it's not quite so easy to resist the allure of his target’s convictions.
作为威斯勒，乌尔里希·梅，他很迷人. 当他听剧作家讲话的时候, 乔治·德莱曼(塞巴斯蒂安·科赫), 他的女演员女友Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck饰), 还有他们那些阴谋的朋友, his face is like a death mask, 让人想起汉尼拔 The Silence of the Lambs. But where Lecter was a monster, 没有一丝良心, Wiesler seems feeble, sad, and thus, 一个可能还没有迷路的人.
Like Hamlet's wretched uncle forced to watch a play that reveals his own wickedness, 威斯勒开始意识到自己空虚生活的黑暗. To revise a line from Hamlet, “这出戏能让监视官员良心不安.” However, in this case, the “play” is not a charade — it’s the true-life interaction of good men and women, 每天都在上演，而威斯勒在暗处看着. Starved for light, he begins to long for the freedom and virtue that his “neighbors” are conspiring to defend. Ultimately, he must decide whether or not to crush the very thing he secretly cherishes.
In that sense, 这部电影是赌博十大靠谱软件政府和“普通民众”之间的分歧,” and how those who live insulated by walls of power and privilege may fall victim to delusions about the rest of the world. 这部电影也很好地证明了艺术的力量. As these government agents seek to ensnare the playwright before he delivers any truly subversive work, 很明显，他们是被恐惧驱使的. 但像他们这样的恐惧源于不安全感, 从认识到真理不会支持他们到底, 不管他们自己承认与否.
但这主要不是一部政治电影. 导演弗洛里安·亨克尔·冯·多纳斯马克 directs our attention to a central question: Can a selfish man learn to be selfless? If so, what brings that about? 而这样的逆转会把他引向何方? The answer is clear. But The Lives of Others 用一点点感伤来说明, so that we have to face, along with Wiesler, 正直导致脆弱和牺牲的真相.
我看着威斯勒听着耳机, 被偷窥癖的工具包围着, 赌博十大靠谱软件可能会想起赌博十大靠谱软件自己的媒体饱和文化, and how much of our time we spend “spying” on “the lives of others” — through film, television, and news media. 赌博十大靠谱软件和威斯勒一样密切关注吗? 如果有，赌博十大靠谱软件在找什么? Evidence by which we can condemn the subjects and make ourselves feel superior? 还是赌博十大靠谱软件怀着同情和谦卑来见证他们, 愿意看到真相并被改变?
— BY Jeffrey Overstreet (jeffreyo@apipros.net)
Read past columns in Response OnScreen Archives.
Back to the top
Back to Books, Film, & Music Home
|
|
|
|
|
