雅克•贝汉：电影中的大自然

作为一名演员，他是《天堂电影院》中永远热爱电影的托托，也是《放牛班的春天》里童年唱出天籁之音的皮埃尔。作为一名导演，他历时11年游弋丛林，注视昆虫的缤纷世界；又用4年翱翔蓝天，追寻群鸟的千金一诺；他还曾登上世界之巅，记录下人类挑战极限的渴望。他就是影坛大师雅克•贝汉。今年他耗资5亿，历时7年，足迹遍及南北两极，将我们带入叹为观止的《海洋》，令每一个渴望自由的灵魂都直面一次极致的震撼。

段隐隐 编注

Jean Luc-Goddard[1] once said “Photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty-four times a second.” What you choose to show on the screen can have profound affects worldwide and influences generations to come. Film is without a doubt the most vivid art form that the world has ever seen. With its moving images, one can convey[2] a message to anyone and unite people of all backgrounds to a common cause. This is the mission of that rench actor and film director Jacques Perrin has in mind when creating his films.

More so than ever, the world needs to be united for the common good. “With the world connected through the media, every conflict, every crisis, should affect everyone around the globe,” remarked Perrin on the state of a globalized world. An oil spill in the gulf, a tsunami in Japan, or political unrest in Libya should be the concern of everyone in the world.[3] With films such as L’empire du milieu du sud, Winged Migration, and Oceans, Perrin is meticulous in creating grand pieces of art;[4] often taking several years (ten years as in the case of L’empire du milieu du sud) in order to educate the public to the greatest extent. His goal in these films is not to force facts onto the audience, but to beseech[5] the viewer to look at themselves and question who they are and what role they play in this world.

The first film by Perrin viewed at the French Film Festival recently was the nature epic Oceans released in 2009. The film is astonishing as it portrays the ocean and the life within it as it comes into contact with mankind. Humans are shown as almost alien like; the audience gets a glimpse of our own species through images of a ship that is distorted by the crystal surface of a bay, a ghostly rocket rising into the night sky, or the remnants of trash left behind like the ruins of an ancient civilization.[6] The creatures of the deep are the main character, the heroes of the film, and we are the villainous secondary characters that the viewer hardly ever sees.[7]

The audience becomes attached to the sea-life as Perrin illustrates the cohesiveness that goes into sea-life.[8] Nature is unsympathetic[9]; yet even the most violent act serves a purpose. Baby turtles, shuffling to the water’s edge for their lives, are scooped up by seagulls to be eaten.[10] Sitting in the theater, much of the audience cringed[11] at the sight of these “cute” turtles being swept up to their doom, but Perrin conveys the message of a life-cycle here. The turtles will be used as food for the birds so that they may live, and although “one out of a thousand turtles makes it to water, it is still enough to carry on the species[12].” Life goes on. Tenderness exists within the ocean as well; as we see a mother walrus embracing her baby, seemingly dancing with it in the icy waters of the arctic.[13] After viewing the beautiful natural and organic world that exists within the ocean, the evidence of humans is jarring[14] to the viewer. Whales, seals, and other forms of marine life are shown tangled within the rigid nets of fishermen writhing to get free.[15]

Mankind is shown as an invading force, hell-bent[16] on killing all in its path. Fishermen brutally spear dolphins, catch sharks only to cut off the fins and discard the still living bodies, and harpoon majestic whales.[17] The once crystal blue waters are turned into a frothy red mass of dying fish and sea mammals as Perrin juxtaposes the life-giving violence of nature against the needless and wasteful killing of mankind.[18] Nature itself becomes a character as the storms batter manmade structures such as a lighthouse.[19] In one scene, a battleship is tossed among the violent waves of the tempest, reminding us that man’s strongest weapons are rendered as toys against the power of Mother Nature.[20]

Near the end of the film, Perrin stands in front of a display with stuffed depictions of animals that have long become extinct, many due to human influence, with his real life son Lancelot. As Lancelot first symbolized the curiosity of youth toward the ocean during the opening of the film, Perrin looks to his son as representing future generations. He points out that as mankind can come together in a globalized world for trade and commerce, perhaps they can also come together in order to protect the ocean that they have slowly been killing over time. Through his son, he beseeches future generations to come together and reverse the damage that has been done through centuries of neglect.[21]

The film was released in 2010 by Disneynature, much to the chagrin of Perrin.[22] The Disney version of the film is geared toward children, therefore much of the scenes that show the horrifying treatment of the ocean by humans is largely edited out.[23] This completely defeats the purpose of the film, and the impact of the Disney film falls flat[24]. Perrin himself refuses to view the Disney version for just this purpose. In fact, upon mentioning the Disney version, Perrin’s face turns grim and his disappoint for its editing is more than apparent.

In many of his films, Oceans in particular, Perrin employs[25] what he believes is the future of cinema—the revolutionary digital camera. With a digital camera, Perrin claims that the art of filmmaking has for the first time been put into the hands of the amateur[26] filmmaker. This, he claims, will have profound effects on cinema as new perspectives will finally be able to be expressed. Indeed, new techniques will be used in order to tell stories and convey messages.

One example Perrin found joy in recalling was when he and his filmmaking team attempted to strap a microphone to a bird in the 2001 film Winged Migration in order to hear what the bird heard in flight.[27] What they discovered was astonishing. When the animal landed, it was breathing rapidly and deeply as if it was out of breath. “Keep that in mind next time you see a bird land in your backyard, it is not doing it to be beautiful, but it is exhausted and trying to catch its breath,” Perrin joked. Perrin once claimed “Cinema is an artistic spectacle, a source of emotion, but it can also function as a weapon to serve and defend the noblest causes, not the least of which is nature” with new filming techniques and tools, this “weapon” will be put into everyone’s hands one day in order to make the world a better place.

Vocabulary

1. Jean Luc-Goddard: 让—吕克•戈达尔，一位思想激进且多产的导演，具法国和瑞士双重国籍。

2. convey: 传达，表达。

3. 海湾溢油、日本海啸和利比亚政治动乱是世界上每一个人都应该关注的。

4. 本句提到的电影依次为《中华帝国之南》、《迁徙的鸟》和《海洋》。meticulous: 极其细心的，一丝不苟的。

5. beseech: 恳求，乞求。

6. alien: 局外人；distort: 歪曲，扭曲；ghostly: 幽灵般可怕的；remnant: 残余。

7. the deep : <诗> 海，海洋；villainous: 罪恶的，卑鄙可耻的；secondary: 次要的。

8. illustrate: 说明，阐明；cohesiveness: 粘结性，内聚性。

9. unsympathetic: 冷漠无情的。

10. shuffle: 慢慢移动；scoop up: 快速捡起。

11. cringe: 畏缩。

12. carry on the species: 指“物种繁衍”。

13. tenderness: 照顾，照料；walrus: 海象；embrace: 拥抱；arctic: 北极圈，北极地带。

14. jar: 使人感到不快，发出不和谐声音。

15. 画面中鲸鱼、海豹和其他海洋生物被缠在渔民坚固的网里，痛苦地扭动着想要挣脱。

16. hell-bent: 固执的，拼命的。

17. 渔民们残忍地用鱼叉捉海豚，捕鲨鱼仅仅为了切掉鱼鳍，而把依然活着的躯体摒弃，用捕鲸叉捕大型鲸。

18. frothy: 起泡的；mammal: 哺乳动物；juxtapose: 把……并置。

19. batter: 连续猛击；lighthouse: 灯塔。

20. 在一个场景中，暴风雨中一艘战船在的骇浪中摇晃，这提醒我们：人类最强大的武器在大自然的力量面前如同玩具。

21. reverse: 使反转，取消；neglect: 忽视，忽略。

22. Disneynature: 华特迪士尼电影集团于2008年突出的高端制片品牌，专门制作大屏幕纪录片；chagrin: 懊恼，悔恨。

23. be geared toward (to): 给……准备，为……安排；edit out: 剪辑，删除。

24. fall flat: 这里指影片的结果“反响平平”。

25. employ: 采用，使用。

26. amateur: 业余的。

27. strap: 束牢，扎紧；microphone: 扩音器，麦克风。

（来源：英语学习杂志）