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。

'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"

这个电影豆瓣上的评论都不靠谱
导演的讲故事的能力有待提高
音乐很好，电影颜色也不赖，台词值得细细品
我根本就不明白一开始的枪战片是怎么回事
寻亲复仇似乎没有逻辑
到结尾杀掉Arthur更没有道理
The Burn's Family三兄弟就这样莫名其妙地被残杀
貌似王家卫的风格，不过故事连不成串
一个叫Eliza Hopkins的poor woman
had a child in her belly
不知道谁是凶手死了
剧中暗示Micky是rapist
可是又说Arthur是一个abomination
so Charlie被派去杀他的哥哥Arthur
中间还有一个疯疯癫癫的老头
不管怎么地，冲着音乐也值得一看。

"When?" said the moon to the stars in the sky.
"Soon," said the wind that followed him home.
"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.
"Why?" said the river that refused to run.
"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 blinded his eyes
"Yes," said the rider and pointed his gun.
"No," said the moon that rose from his sleep
"No," said the cry of the dying sun
"No," said the planets that started to weep
"Yes," said the rider and laid down his gun.

"Adieu," said the bird in the branch of a tree
"Farewell," said the snake to the dying light
"Adieu," said the fish in the river of sleep
"Goodby," said the rider, "Goodbye and goodnight"

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。

By Gary Sun

Notes: Hi Brigid, this article was originally written by me - Gary Sun



‘The Proposition’ And The Exploration Of The Australian Western Genre

In the nineteenth century, the Australian mainland started to be colonized by the Europeans. This period of history is composed of barbarous racial and intra-racial massacres, atrocities and countless people’s blood. The 2005 film ‘The Proposition’ directed by John Hillcoat and screen-scripted by Nick Cave is one of the rarest remarkable texts, which highlights the status of Australian Western genre in the world literature. Through the ingenious use of camera and narrative structure, ‘The Proposition’ authentically depicts the complexity and destructiveness of the modern Western civilization on Australian continent and thus leaves us to reconsider and reevaluate this specific period of history.

‘The Proposition’ tells a fictional story of the British Captain Stanley making a deal with Charlie Burns in order to stop his older brother Arthur’s outrages in town. Charlie has to kill Arthur, otherwise his teenage simpleton brother Mickey will be hanged for rape and murder on the approaching Christmas day. In this essay, the text will be discussed in terms of genre, especially by analyzing the last scene: While Captain Stanley and his wife Martha are having dinner for Christmas, Arthur invades their house and violently turns everything into chaos, and later is shot by arriving Charlie.

The genre of the text is generally classified as Western. Since Western genre was initiated by great American directors John Ford and Howard Hawks during twenties of the last century, Western films have always been linked to the Hollywood. ‘The proposition’ as an Australian version of Western genre, obviously shares many similar elements with the American ones. In the last scene, we can tell those characteristics from the vast and desolate desert outside Captain Stanley’s house, Arthur’s revolver, Charlie’s horse and the tragedy of Captain Stanley who symbolizes the power and authority of the colonial government.

However, Australian bushrangers should not simply be considered as equivalent to American cowboys. According to Jack Sargeant, ‘the American outlaw is pursing a variant of the American Dream, albeit by amoral means, while the Australian bushranger is simply trying to survive against the odds, driven to his cold circumstance’ Hence, Australian Western is perceived as a new genre by combining American Western elements and the unique historicity of Australia together; a new genre which is often named bushranger film. Often the heroic and romantic depiction of outlaws is mythologized and reinforced in classic American texts, not as the authentic reflection of the history. However, in ‘The Proposition’, this idea of heroism is challenged and even rejected. Instead of being legends, bushrangers in ‘The Proposition’ are depicted as ordinary human beings who also make mistakes and bear moral ambiguity.

For example, Arthur is rather portrayed as a romantic and poetic figure in the text: he gallops across the vast desert to rescue his brother; he sits in the sunset and praises the beauty of the nature; he seeks a perfect bond of family; he expresses once that dying alone without the people he loves is horrifying. However in the scene where he takes his revenge on Captain Stanley for the proposition by asking his subordinate Samuel to sing while raping Martha in front of Stanley. When Charlie tells him that Mickey is dead, Arthur doesn’t seem to care and continue praise Samuel’s singing. The image of Arthur suddenly becomes ambiguous. Arthur’s charm and humanism seem to evaporate. Instead, he is turning into a hateful viper.

As the centered character, Charlie’s experience is much more complex than punishing the despicable. He is given the most difficult question in the world: he has to decide which of his brother is going to die. He fails to shoot Arthur on several occasions which demonstrates his struggles. After Mickey’s death, he arrives at Stanley’s house and therefore finds out Arthur’s atrocity. Even though Captain Stanley has breached his proposition, Charlie helps to stop the ongoing tragedy by shooting his brother to death. Charlie’s movements and attitudes are seen as righteous and enlightened since he tries to stop the continuation of violence in town. In fact, however, this character is trapped by great confusion, helplessness and self-contradiction. ‘I’m going to be with my brother.’ Charlie says to Captain Stanley. Even though he is disappointed at Arthur, he still loves his brother. Thus his image is portrayed as passive, struggling and morally ambiguous. What he does should not be seen as a reflection of heroism, but a way to survive under the oppressive and cruel environment. As Jack Sargeant stresses in his article, ‘there is no glamour or heroism here, just the pragmatics of needing to survive over the next few weeks, days, hours, even minutes.’

More importantly, in order to dramatize the epic stories of outlaws, the authority is always depicted as corrupted, oppressive, violent and unjustified in classic American Western films. In fact, ‘The Proposition’ does reflect the brutality of Australian colonial government in Queensland as the authority figure. For instance, to civilize the place, the police office often indiscriminately arrests and tortures local Aborigines, which is referred to the process of assimilation or annihilation. Conflict definitely plays a crucial role in leading and developing the remarkable narratives of Australian bushranger films.

However, character Captain Stanley’s experience slightly contrasts with the classic brutish characteristics of authority figures. ‘I am going to civilize this place’, Stanley’s early line reveals his power and authority straight away to the audience. However, his attempt to seek for real justice shows that he is less insensitive. When Stanley’s superior Captain Fletcher orders him to whip Mickey as punishment, Stanley fights against Fletcher and tries his best to protect Mickey, not only because this would hold the proposition, but also because Stanley believes that it is unfair for Mickey to undertake the punishment. After Mickey being whipped to unconsciousness, Stanley’s talking care of him shows his kindness and humanism. Therefore this character gains some sympathy from the audience in the scene where he gets beaten up and even shot. According to Jane Stadler’s statement, ‘The Proposition’ depicts a series of obliquely related acts of interracial and intra-racial violence and retribution in which heros, villains and innocent parties are ill-defined.’ Therefore, apart from complex racial conflicts, moral ambiguity plays also a key role in making Australian bushranger genre distinctive from the American Western genre.

In addition, a unique Australian Western genre is not only conveyed narratively but also cinematographically in ‘The Proposition’. The text uses the Australian landscape to draw a distinction between Australian and American Western films. Since the story is set in the outback Queensland in the nineteenth century, with the scenery of the desolate and bare desert with numerous flies and unbearable heat, ‘The Proposition’ depicts Australia as an inhospitable and uncivilized ‘fresh hell’. The vast desert landscape in a endless vista is shown in the selected scene where Charlie gallops across the desert to Stanley’s house. Compared with Stanley’s ‘little England’ in the middle of the desert which symbolizes civilization and modernity, the Australian continent seems to be full of dangers and unknowns. This is linked to the argument that, instead of defending something against injustices, Australian bushrangers are more concerned to survive from the dreadful environment. Interestingly, the use of landscapes in ‘The Proposition’ does not only contrast internationally but also intra-nationally. Compared with other Australian bushranger films such as ‘Ned Kelly’, landscapes in ‘The Proposition’ is bright and contrasting in colors. As Rebekah Brammer mentions in her article, ‘silhouettes against blood-orange sunsets are also used at salient point in the story.’ In the selected scene, Arthur sits in the magnificent sunset while bleeding to death. His sad demise contrasted with the landscape emphasizes the conflict between brutality and beauty echoing on the continent.

In conclusion, ‘The Proposition’ tells its own western story of Australian and more focuses on the authenticity of the brutal Australian colonial history rather than mythology of classic outlaws of Hollywood or famous Australian bushrangers such as Ned Kelly. It really brings Australian western genre into a new level, distinguishable from Western stories elsewhere. As the screen-writer Nick Cave says in an interview, ‘we didn’t want it to sound like an American western that had been dumped in Australia. There is a certain incompetence that exists in the Australian character today, a real savagery and cruelty behind that kind of attitude.’ he adds ‘this film is about an isolated community, people struggling in a place where they really have no right to be.’




 Reference:
Brammer, Rebekah, Ned Kelly vs The Proposition: Contrasting images of Colonialism, Landscape and the Bushranger, Metro Magazine, issue 158, September 2008
Hillcoat, John (director) and Cave, Nick (script writer), The Proposition, 2005
Nick Cave and John Hillcoat: The Proposition Interview, futuremoveis, http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/filmmaking.asp?ID=159, 27 February 2006
Stargeant, Jack, Bloodshed Down Under: Mad Dog Morgan And The Proposition, issue 161, June 2009
Stadler, Jane, Landscape Spaces’ Colonial History, Metro Magazine, issue 163, December 2009