关键协议

官兵捉强盗的游戏，玩到后来总是分不清谁是官兵，谁是强盗；谁是猎人，谁是猎物。从一场官家围剿强盗的枪战开始的好莱坞电影《猎杀》（“The Proposition”），恐怕就是这么一场官盗难分的格斗。场景，澳大利亚昆士兰内陆；时间，1880年代；背景，无边无际的荒漠，还有如血的残阳。凶悍的强盗，残暴的官兵，粗犷的土著，加上怪石嶙峋的山谷，桀骜不驯的植物，生动地构勒出一副地狱般的图像，从中爆出一群仙人掌一般的人物。







借用剧中人物所念叨的一句莎士比亚台，叫做“这是个什么样的短命地狱！” （“What fresh hell is this?”）当然，这其实不是地狱，而是一部风格雄浑的好莱坞影片。好莱坞似乎很久没有制作如此狂野的片子了，一下子上人回到了遥远的西部片时代。







比起当年的西部片，《猎杀》显然更加狂野和混沌。选择19世纪的澳大利亚内陆作背景，不是为了讲述历史，而是为了将画面做得更加原始。看惯了肥皂剧的美国观众，一定会被混沌初开式的旷野和野兽般的人物震撼得激动不已。在懒洋洋的啤酒中浸泡惯了之后，突然猛喝一口烈酒，会同时杂间火烧火缭和沁人心脾这两种截然相反的感受。







影片在人物塑造上采取了善恶交叉、黑白间杂的手法。强盗中有冷血的大哥阿瑟（Arthur），有小兔子般可怜的小弟麦基（Mikey）；而殖民官府那边，则既有残暴的警察，又有善良美丽的上校夫人，玛莎（Martha）。两位男主角，强盗三兄弟中的老二查理（Charlie）和斯坦利上校（Stanley），则分别站在这两片黑白区域的当中；一个是恶中有善，一个是善中有恶。







基于这样的人物关系结构，影片的两处高潮，分别由可怜的小弟遭笞和善良的上校夫人被奸呈现。上校夫人玛莎在警署里第一次见到才14岁的麦基时，彼此的目光里就同时蕴含了深切的同情。仿佛互为镜子一般，双方都从对方的眼神里，感觉到了自己的命运。后来，玛莎看着可怜的孩子被鞭打得血肉模糊之际，痛苦得晕倒在地。也许是这样的痛苦，致使玛莎最后遭受盗匪带有复仇意味的强奸时，脸上的表情与其说是痛苦的、羞耻的，不如是说麻木的、茫然的。







影片的人物关系结构，仿佛一个刻意安排好的天体运行图。整个宇宙运行的第一个推动，则来自斯坦利上校一个不无古怪又不无慈悲的念头。在一场枪战之后，斯坦利告诉被俘的老二查理，他可以放走查理，条件是把14岁的老三麦基留下作为人质。他让查理回去杀死作恶多端的老大阿瑟，以此换回麦基。于是，查理面临了艰难的选择，在两个兄弟之间，在官府和强盗之间，在和平和暴力之间，也在爱和恨之间，也在善良与邪恶之间，更在个人良心和社会正义之间。







斯坦利上校那个超乎寻常的念头，把查理推进了地狱。虽然影片以相当生动的画面，展示了地狱般的图景；但真正的地狱，却是在查理的内心深处。



最后，查理是如此这般地得以解脱的：救出奄奄一息的弟弟，然后将他埋葬在乱石堆里；再杀死正在强奸上校夫人的同伙，打死恶名昭著的阿瑟、他那个深爱着他查理和麦基的大哥。整个影片的最后一个画面，是查理和垂死的阿瑟，并肩坐在血红的残阳里，坐成二个剪影。阿瑟的脑袋似乎不小心地向前一低，聋拉了下去。镜头轻轻地拉开，一片死寂。







画面是混沌的，手法却是相当精致的，或者说，颇是人为的。影片时不时地让人感觉到明显的雕凿痕迹。比如，麦基被鞭笞的场面，会让人想起梅尔·吉布逊的《基督受难》。饰演玛莎的演员，尽了很大的努力，尽量将角色演得精致和优雅，但导演让她坐在浴缸里向丈夫轻声述梦一段，却处理得犹如恐怖片。那样的构想，还不如让她坐在钢琴跟前、弹奏一曲肖邦来得更富诗意。而且，在钢琴盖上遭受强奸和在书桌上受辱的对比效果，无疑是很不相同的。前者要强烈得多。导演也许被自己设计的画面给征服了，脑子里充满了如何制作恐惧，忘记了影片本意是立足于如何从荒蛮之中拍出诗意。







无论是从画面构思、摄影角度、明暗对比着眼，还是从音乐配置上说，此片原初的构思是一部诗意盎然的警匪片。尤其是有关夕阳的拍摄，可谓用心良苦。几度夕照，一派苍凉。影片还有意识地一再运用剪影，给满目的荒蛮，平添一片片不无雅致的凄美。







有些细节是令人难忘的。麦基遭笞时，同时闪现盗匪山姆（Sam）站在山谷里，像天使般地唱着爱尔兰民歌。在斯坦利上校和夫人玛莎恩恩爱爱的当口，画面上交替出现的是，查理在一个脏兮兮的酒气熏天的小屋里，遇见兰博（Lamb），一个喝得醉意朦胧却依然满口莎士比亚台词的怪人。







虽然这些细节看上去似乎都像是天然浑成的，演员也演得相当自然，但细细一品，不难感觉出刻意的雕琢，带有明显的刀工斧迹。







这么说，当然不是挑剔，而是觉得意犹未尽。好不容易看到如此一部狂野奔放的影片，却被过于细心的经营，做得过犹不及。然而，即便如此，在一派或者嘻嘻哈哈逗乐，或者想方没法媚俗的好莱坞风气里，此片也已然可属上乘之作。假如奥斯卡评奖委员会的诸位大人们不像在下这么挑剔的话，那么应该考虑给个小金人。

澳大利亚西部片，我有史以来看过的最血腥的片（日本片除外）。白人杀黑人、黑人杀黑人、白人杀白人三部分组成。那种神也救不了你的感觉，英系的沉重，和以前看的“风吹稻浪”、“稻草狗”挺像。可最后那个讨厌的政客还是没有死！音乐很棒，尤其是开头的提琴女童声：There is happy land far far away~~

'When?' said the moon to the stars in the sky
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all

'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone

'How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run

and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun

'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan

'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone

'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun

'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun



诗一样的西部片
情节、配乐、对话、旁白都透着Nick Cave的调调


Adieu, said the bird in the branch of a tree
Farewell, said the snakes to the dying light
Adieu, said the fish in the river of sleep
Goodbye, said the rider,"Goodbye and good night"

关键协议
tags: Nick Cave Guy Pearce 西部

本来是冲着Guy Pearce去的,看完以后发现,好久没看到这么干净的电影了.一直对西部片很有爱~广袤的景色,漫天扬起的黄沙,在荒凉的情境设定下,人物故事性就显得非常强了.

说到Guy Pearce,洛城机密中亦正亦邪的年轻警察,factory girl中"真实"的安迪沃霍尔,新片death defying acts中不温不火的魔术师,更不必提记忆碎片中遍布纹身的姣好身材...相信也是大多数此片粉丝的热情来源~ ~像这样外形演技超出同龄演员一大截,但由于其定位终究不能大红的新生代或中生代气质型帅哥,当然被我列为狂追的对象范围.(对早年的brad pitt, johnny depp不再痴迷,开始追guy pearce, ryan gosling, ethan hawke, 小罗伯特唐尼等埋头于独立电影,风味另类且独特的男演员,莫非我真的向装B文艺青年靠拢了- -汗一个...走题了)

回到影片的内容,很简单,身为黑帮的弟弟在打砸抢烧时被小镇警察的A方人物虏获并达成协议,后者要挟其强奸妇女的弱小兄弟作为筹码,与弟弟达成一份协议:让弟弟带回更加"臭名昭著"的哥哥.期限未过,弟弟的兄弟被违反协议的警察B方人物以鞭笞示众维持治安的理由残酷折磨至死.哥哥大怒,和弟弟回到小镇,将B方警察活活打死,欲将A方警察灭门时,弟弟闯入,将哥哥及其喽啰射杀.

Nick Cave的音乐乍一听平淡无奇,仔细品来却恰到好处,与影片氛围相得益彰.此片的主题也是一样;平淡中蕴含着深刻.每一个人都有自己的角度,如果从这种角度坚持信仰,必然会触碰到别人的利益,成为别人眼中的罪恶.就像片中的弟弟,与小镇警察本来是对立的,为什么在最后时刻射杀了杀人不眨眼,自己一直很崇拜的亲哥哥?因为他们的行为超越道德底线,违背了自己的信仰.小镇警察A方从利益的角度出发,放长线钓大鱼,自己也极力反对B方警察毁约的行为,无奈寡不敌众,最后命悬一线.但是弟弟最后的"拯救"行动超越了他和哥哥之间的亲情,宽恕和道德超越了家庭.完全之于自身的信仰.B方警察则是官僚主义国家机器的代表,但是从其角度来说,"惩恶扬善",保卫小镇居民安全,就是错的吗?哥哥的位置就更不必讨论,家庭的责任让他变得高大起来,况且坏人做坏事还需要理由!?甚至哥哥手下那个阴阳怪气的喽啰,干坏事时哼起美妙的歌声,从那一刻来看,他也是相当可爱的~每个角色都无关善与恶,无关是与非,没有英雄,没有恶棍.故事的结局,人物的"下场",都在不断激化的矛盾中被无奈的催生出来.

还有一些细节的刻画,比如A方警察队长与其妻子的美好家庭生活,是对哥哥和弟弟残缺家庭模型的一个反衬,以及对最后结局的铺垫.还有对于暴力画面的描写,冷静的点到为止,非常的喜欢.

记忆最深的一段就是哥哥和弟弟坐在夕阳下,倾心的聊天.此情此景,不禁令人黯然泪下.还有最后一幕前哥哥说的那句台词,大意是这样:人与人之间是没有仇恨的.because we are families.无非是点睛之笔.

Set in the Australian outback in the 1880s, the movie follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang.

The film opens in a brothel during a violent gunfight between the police and Charlie Burns' (Guy Pearce) gang, which ends with the deaths of all of the gang members except for Charlie and his younger brother Mikey. Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) makes the proposition to Charlie: he and Mikey can go free of the crimes they have committed if Charlie kills his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston). Arthur is a mercurial psychopath who has become something of a legend and is so vicious that the Aboriginal tribes refer to him as "The Dog Man" and both the police and the Aboriginals refuse to go near his camp. Captain Stanley muses that perhaps the bounty hunters will kill Arthur in time and then states his intention to civilize the harsh Australian wilderness by bringing Arthur to justice and using Mikey as leverage. Charlie has nine days to find and kill Arthur, or else Mikey will be hanged from the gallows on Christmas Day.

We discover why Captain Stanley is intent on taming Australia: he has been forced to move there with his delicate wife, Martha Stanley (Emily Watson), and apparently wants to make it an appropriate place for them to live. The Stanleys were also friends of the Hopkins family, leading Martha to have nightmares about her dead friends and the unborn child one of them is revealed to have carried. Word spreads of Stanley's deal with Charlie, primarily from Stanley's corrupt subordinate, Sergeant Lawrence (Robert Morgan), causing disgust among the townspeople.

Shortly thereafter, Eden Fletcher (David Wenham), for whom Captain Stanley works, orders that Mikey be given one hundred lashes as punishment for the rape and murder of the Hopkins family. Stanley is aghast at this, not only because he believes that Mikey is innocent and the flogging will surely kill him, but because it would also break his deal with Charlie and thus put him and his wife in grave danger. Stanley sends Sergeant Lawrence away with tracker Jacko (David Gulpillil) and other men to "investigate" the reported slaying of Dan O'Riley by a group of Aborigines. Captain Stanley attempts to defend Mikey by gunpoint from the bloodthirsty townspeople, but is overruled once Martha arrives, insisting on revenge for her dead friends. Mikey is then brutally flogged, and horrifically wounded. The formerly excited townspeople slowly become disgusted and Martha faints at the ghastly display. After 40 lashes, Mikey has collapsed and the whip is soaked with blood. Captain Stanley grabs the whip and throws it at Fletcher, staining his face and suit with blood, who in turn fires Stanley.

Meanwhile, Charlie rides a great distance in search of Arthur, drinking and apparently reflecting on what he will do. Along the way, he encounters an inebriated old man named Jellon Lamb (John Hurt). In the course of conversation, Charlie realizes that Lamb is a bounty hunter in pursuit of the Burns brothers and knocks him out. Later on, after sleeping on a rock bed, Charlie awakes and, before he can gather what's going on, is speared in the chest by a group of Aboriginal men standing over him. Seconds later a gunshot is heard and the head of the man who threw the spear explodes. Charlie then passes out.

Charlie wakes up in the camp of his brother Arthur, which is located in caves among desolate mountains. Arthur's gang consists of Samuel Stoat (Tom Budge), who shot the Aboriginal man who had speared Charlie; a woman named Queenie (Leah Purcell) who tends to Charlie's wound; and a muscular Aboriginal man called Two-Bob (Tom E. Lewis). As he recovers from his wounds, Charlie has several opportunities to kill his brother, but does not. Not too far away from Arthur's camp, Sergeant Lawrence and his men have found and butchered a group of Aborigines. Arthur and Two-Bob find Lawrence's group while they sleep, ostensibly to get a horse for Charlie, and proceed to kill Jacko and Sergeant Lawrence. Before Arthur stomps Lawrence to death with his boot, Lawrence tells Arthur that Charlie has been sent to kill him. While this occurs, Jellon Lamb enters Arthur's camp and ties up Samuel and Charlie, both of whom are sleeping. Without his realizing it, Lamb is shot from behind by the returning Arthur. Arthur then proceeds to begin torturing the still-living Lamb with a knife, but Charlie instead performs a mercy-killing.

Charlie decides that he wants to break out Mikey and informs Arthur. Arthur, Samuel and Charlie ride into town dressed in the clothes taken from the officers Arthur and Two-Bob had killed, pulling behind them Two-Bob, posing as an Aborigine that they've captured. Once at the jail, the men free Mikey, and Charlie and Two-Bob ride off with him. Arthur and Samuel remain to slaughter the two officers inside the jail. The badly injured Mikey, who has never recovered from the flogging, dies in Charlie's arms. As they bury Mikey, Two-Bob tells Charlie that all of this is Charlie's fault: "You should never have left us."

Captain Stanley and Martha, who had become increasingly paranoid as they were ostracized by the townspeople after the flogging, let their guard down to have a peaceful, civilized Christmas dinner. Immediately following their conclusion of grace, Arthur and Samuel shoot open the door and invade their home. Arthur pulls Captain Stanley into the other room and brutally beats him, while Samuel taunts his wife. Arthur then calls Samuel to the room. Samuel drags Martha inside, and Arthur shoots Captain Stanley through the shoulder. As Samuel rapes Martha, Charlie walks in and informs Arthur of Mikey's death; Arthur ignores the news and encourages Charlie to listen to Samuel's beautiful singing. Charlie walks up to the unsuspecting Samuel and shoots him point blank in the head, then shoots Arthur twice, saying afterward, "No more." After this Arthur staggers out of the house. Charlie looks at a gun on the table that could potentially be picked up to shoot him, and then tells Captain Stanley "I want to be with my brother." Charlie leaves the house and follows a trail of blood to find Arthur hunched over on a hill nearby and sits down next to him. Arthur states that Charlie has finally stopped him and asks what he will do now, to no answer, and then slowly dies as his brother watches the blood red sunset of the outback.

先摘录Nick的访谈的几个我很赞同的片段（转自伊万的BLOG，谢谢你的翻译）：
《关键协议》里的英雄比较阴暗，你可能会同情某个人物，同时觉得另一个人物是罪有应得的，但到最后，你却分不清哪个人是值得同情的，而哪个人是罪有应得的。有时候你会觉得自己和某个角色的想法一致，但后来又觉得和另一个角色的想法一致了。这些角色都在被他们的愚蠢所慢慢毁灭。

对我来说，片中唯一的恶棍是那个霸占小镇并且施加暴力的人。

但是从这部电影所要表达的中心意义来说，这是一群本不该待在这片土地上的人的故事，也许地球上本来就该有一些地方不该被人类占据。

看封面似乎不是我喜欢的风格，两个拿枪的男人；看介绍也并不能打动我，3兄弟之间的生死抉择。但是看完后爱不释手，不断回放，欲哭无泪。拍出让人哭的戏很容易，让人笑的戏也很简单，而让观众看完后愣在那里的戏就很难的，要真的有料才可以。

画面很美，音乐很赞，对于暴力画面的处理也恰到好处，很适合我这种暴力阈限很低的人。

这个戏里面没有英雄，只有恶棍，矛盾的恶棍。比起完美的英雄，我更容易被恶棍所打动。坏人ARTHEN和弟弟聊天的那节反反复复看了3遍，即使对于杀人不眨眼的大坏蛋来说family也能让他变得可爱起来。
Cave的剧本写得很赞，一个完美的结局！弟弟杀掉了自己很崇拜却做了很多坏事的哥哥，结束了一场本该无休止的浩劫和苦难。如果说有比家庭更重要的东西，那就是正义和宽恕了吧！这也是让人类高尚起来的原因吧。

音乐，没有统一的主题和色调，但是配合每一个画面又是那么的完美。象戏梦巴黎一样，看完后就会想找原声，可是找到后发现没有了画面的音乐似乎就没有那么的让人惊艳。

里面有的SAMULE似乎是个不折不扣的坏人，可是他的一段SOLO声音美的让人无语。用arthen的话就是you shamed all night bird不知道CAVE赋予这个人物这么美好的声音的原因何在，我想不明白。