[影片] The Hurt Locker

[Jun]

I am still reeling from seeing this movie. Without a doubt the best I've seen in years.

A revelation.

During the movie, I was alternately on the verge of throwing up and pooping my pants. Hours after the movie, something hits me in sporadic waves in the chest. My heart pounds and my eyes well up, and I can barely breathe.

The movie is not about the Iraq War. It is neither for nor against war. It is a character study. It is about something primitive and fundamental.

********************************
很多年前，我刚到美国不久，在电视上看到半部电影 "Point Break"。这是我第一次看见 Keanu Reeves （那时他还没有主演 Speed，并未大红大紫）。突然一下子就把我给迷住了。这部片子其实有很多弱点，并不完美，但是含有某种奇怪的味道，关于一群法外之人，男人的小世界。说不出的感觉。

后来才发现，导演是个女的，Kathryn Bigelow. 她过去还导演过被褒贬不一的 科幻片 Strange Days.



The Hurt Lock 是个全男班电影，跟着一个三人排雷小分队在2004年的伊拉克度过回家之前的38天。小分队里一个是神经开始受不了了的新战士 Eldrige (Brian Geraghty)，一个是久经沙场的老战士 JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) ，一个是“野人”排雷组长 William James (Jeremy Renner)。在某种意义上，三个人其实都是常见而传统的男性形象：一个怕死的未成年男，一个镇定理智的冷静男，一个喜欢冒险、雄性激素过量、machismo 满天飞的阳刚男，特别是后者两个男性形象的对比，在 Star Trek XI 里根本也是采用这个经典人物设定。

全片对话很少，基本上是一系列心惊肉跳的排雷段落，中间夹杂一段很短的黑夜巷战，以及一段颇长的沙漠狙击枪战。排雷和狙击战都是被反复使用的桥段，俗套也非常之俗，特别是除炸弹戏，一般就两个工具：一是剪红线还是剪绿线，二是滴答跳动的定时钟。这部片子一上来刷刷两刀就把红绿线的神话给踢一边儿了。定时炸弹的戏被放在最后压轴，但也绝不按俗套出牌。我忍不住想，在这部片子之后，看谁还有脸回去拍老一套的排雷桥段？看谁还好意思拿个大秒表在那儿倒数计时？

而那一段漫长而惊栗的狙击战，哇，短短一段，把整个一部 Enemy at the Gate 甩到了天不吐，太精彩太真实了，特别是收尾之处。

这是一部技巧近似完美的作品，音响设计和音响剪辑，摄影，剪辑，导演，布景，美工，无一不精。特别是枪战部分的剪接，快而不乱，气氛极强烈，让人觉得身临其境，好像光秃秃地暴露在沙漠街中，危机四伏，时刻有可能从哪个楼上邦地飞来一颗子弹，或者咣地一个炸弹在街边爆炸。摄影一方面适当使用手提摄影，一方面决不象目前流行的瞎摇晃让人头晕呕吐的手提摄影法 (Bourne Ultimatum 之类)。

这部影片完全不讨论正义与邪恶，道德角色分配，当地人与外来军，如此等等之类的话题，完全不讨论战争是否合理之类，也完全没有一点煽情操纵观众感情和立场的地方。想必，对伊拉克战争看法完全不同的观众，能够各自对影片得出背道而驰的观感和解释，有人会觉得它是表现美国军人的英雄主义，有人会绝对它是控诉战争的野蛮和浪费。但其实编剧 Mark Boal （去过伊拉克的战地记者）和导演 Kathryn Bigelow 不置一词，并不流露他们自己的立场。

他们的立场和主题是关于战争本身， war as a human condition 。题记上明白地引用战地记者 Christopher Hedges 的一句话：War is a drug. （他还说过：War is a force that gives us meaning. 也可以跟这部片子对照着看。）肯定有很多知识分子站在 ideology 的两边不停争吵 Hedges 的说法，但是正如此片不着一词而深刻传递的感觉，任何从道义或哲学上批判战争或者鼓吹“正义之战”的文字和电视上的 talking heads，都是狗屁。

只能说这么多了，再多说一点都会剧透，一定要自己去看。没法解释。



Jeremy Renner ，一张苍老的童颜，paradoxical.



Anthony Mackie, 过去在 Law and Order 里看见过不止一次，quite beautiful in this movie.

一个很真实的细节，三个比较有名的演员出现 (Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse) 都是晒的漆黑满脸沙尘的样子，虽然仍然认得出，但并不觉得突兀。

[Jun]

A lighter bonus:

看到两个片花，一个是英国演员主演美国电影 Adam，有点疑似糖浆的爱情喜剧，关于一个患 Asperger's （轻度自闭症）的男青年。

另一个片花是美国演员主演英国电影 An Education。剧本是 Nick Hornby 写的，应该一点也不糖浆而是又辣又甜又苦又咸的。男主角，当当当，是让我老心滴滴答答淌了一地的 Peter Saarsgard，而且还满口英国口音，而且似乎脸蛋儿还增了点肉。

[simonsun]

哼唧，同推荐一下。

[Knowing]

被你这么一说我就不敢看了。

[Jun]

很好看的，特别阳刚，特别酷特别帅。就是情节惊心动魄，让人喘不过气来。。

[tiffany]

我悲伤的说，得等dvd了，我

[Jun]

Every book, movie, art leaves a tiny indent on one's mind, usually unnoticeable but still present. Once in a long while, something like "The Hurt Locker" comes along and causes a large and lasting reverberation inside. It has changed the way I think about the world, others, and myself.

Like Ann Hornaday of Washington Post said, "When viewers are ultimately released from "The Hurt Locker's" exhilarating vice grip, they'll find themselves shaken, energized and, more than likely, eager to see it again."


Quote LA Times Ken Turan:

'The Hurt Locker'
In Kathryn Bigelow's hands, the tale of an Army bomb squad unit deployed in Baghdad becomes a classic study of men in combat and the toll it takes.
By Kenneth Turan film critic

June 26, 2009

"The Hurt Locker" has the killer impact of the explosive devices that are the heart of its plot: It simply blows you apart and doesn't bother putting you back together again. Overwhelmingly tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude, it's both the film about the war in Iraq that we've been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that's been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow.

Bigelow has been on critics' watch lists since her hallucinatory early films "The Loveless" and "Near Dark." But until now she's never had a subject that so successfully utilized her gift for stylized suspense and what she calls "heightened emotional states" as this tale of a three-man U.S. Army bomb squad (tautly portrayed by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) deployed in the terrifying streets of Baghdad.

Actually, it's unfair to burden "The Hurt Locker" with the Iraq label. It's more of a classic study of men in combat and under stress that could have taken place almost anytime, anywhere. There's no sense of winning or losing a war here, no notion of making a difference or achieving lofty geopolitical aims. But by narrowing its focus to the bomb squad's specific life or death tasks of defusing roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices), the film manages to expand its effectiveness as well as its relevance.

Though its themes are universal, "Hurt Locker's" specificity of action and situation are what make it compelling. Bigelow and her team bring an awesome ferocity to re-creating the unhinged mania of bomb removal in an alien, culturally unfathomable atmosphere. Here is a world where total jeopardy is the watchword, where chaos, paranoia and random chance make the rules, where the number of ways you could lose your life -- or your mind -- are infinite yet growing.

"The Hurt Locker's" verisimilitude begins with the lean and compelling script by Mark Boal, a journalist and screenwriter who wrote the magazine article on which "In the Valley of Elah" was based. Boal spent time embedded with an Army bomb squad in Iraq and the resulting script is closely observed and sharp enough to attract, in addition to the three stars, performers of the caliber of Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse in what are essentially supporting roles.

The actors who play the bomb squad trio are admired in the business as consummate professionals: Renner for his work in "Dahmer" and "North Country;" the protean Mackie for "Half Nelson," "Brother to Brother" and "Million Dollar Baby" and Geraghty for "Bobby" and "Jarhead." What they accomplish here will raise their profiles considerably.

Helping the actors dig into themselves are aspects of the way "The Hurt Locker" was shot by Barry Ackroyd, who did similarly impeccable verite work on "United 93." First, most of the film was photographed in the at times 130 degree heat and dust of Amman, Jordan, a city with physical similarities to parts of Baghdad. Second, Bigelow chose to shoot with four hand-held cameras working simultaneously -- a scenario similar to the one Jonathan Demme used on "Rachel Getting Married" -- which gave editors Bob Murawski and Chris Innis a staggering 200 hours of footage to deal with.

Director Bigelow brought all these elements together by hewing to that venerable dramatic rubric of revealing character through action. We learn almost all we need to know about these men not through what they say but through what they do in a series of mind-bending situations. What comes to light is not only individual traits but also different attitudes to crises, separate but surprisingly equal definitions of what we talk about when we're talking about heroism and courage.

"The Hurt Locker" is structured around the 38 days the three men in the EOD (for Explosive Ordnance Disposal) squad have left in their rotation in Iraq. Men like Spc. Owen Eldridge (Geraghty) know all too well that every new day is potentially one they will not survive. They all want to avoid the hurt locker, the place where bad things happen.

The veteran of the group is Sgt. J.T. Sanborn. As played by the always excellent Mackie, he's a soldier who is as sane and level-headed as the situation allows. His job is to keep everybody safe and to communicate with the team leader, the guy who puts on the 140-pound protective suit and goes in to defuse the bombs knowing that no suit will protect him once he gets close to the device and enters the kill zone.

Though Eldridge and Sanborn have been in the Army and in Iraq for some time, they've never met anyone like their new leader, Staff Sgt. William James (Renner). A true fatalist whose first act is to remove the protective plywood around his bunk to let the light in, James just wants to get in there and handle it, no questions asked.

Nerveless, fearless, reckless, willing to do without any number of safety devices, including the suit, James is simultaneously a hot-shot action junkie who gets high on adrenaline and a cool, extremely accomplished technician who relishes the intellectual challenge of figuring out what makes a particular bomb tick. Literally.

As this three-man squad progresses from terrifying situation to more terrifying situation, we experience not only breathless action but also the development of what might be called a philosophical rivalry between the two sergeants about the best way to be a brave and effective soldier. It's not an abstract question, it's one that could determine who will live and who will die.

One of the most unexpected things about "The Hurt Locker" is that, unlike many war films, it is not interested in having you choose sides in this debate. In fact, it reveals unlooked-for aspects of all the characters, especially James, like the sergeant's playfulness with a young Iraqi boy (Christopher Sayegh) who calls himself Beckham and says things like "I hook you up." Renner handles all sides of his surprisingly complex character beautifully, in a performance so good it feels like a gift.

For all its realism, "The Hurt Locker" is also a stylized film that deals in the quality of myth. While documentaries have shown that the reality of Iraq is incendiary combat interspersed with tedious down time, this film largely does without the down time, placing us in such a rapid-fire sequence of high-octane situations that we never ever have a chance to catch our breath.

Finally, almost without our realizing it, "The Hurt Locker" asks difficult questions about heroism's costs and demands, about what war does to soldiers, and about damage that may be impossible to rectify or repair.

The film starts with a celebrated quote from the book "War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug." It's easy to understand this thought intellectually, but by the time this remarkable film comes to an end, we feel it in our souls.

[simonsun]

话说回来这个女导演还真的很厉害……这么冷静macho的拍法

看照片真像sontag呀，结果是sontag的学生，还model过来着

[buzz]

小时候，中国和越南在老山，者阴山打架。我到现在也没弄明白为什么会有这么一场莫名其妙的战争。只知道79年那次大约是老邓给美国人的投命状。不管我明不明白，我们那儿下面一个小镇出了个老山一级战斗英雄。 那时流行英雄巡回报告会。英雄，当然要衣锦还乡， 所以他就来我们学校作演讲。但奇怪的是大人都说他原先是个人见人烦的小流氓， 被他老爸用绳子捆了送去军队的。作为一个满脑子英雄崇拜的小孩子，我自然一肚子不服。同时我作为给他挂红领巾的学生，有机会和他近距离坐在一起。 只记得他一直说杀死多少多少越南人，他是怎么把特工扔过来的手榴弹捡起来再扔回去，怎么设置假人诱人上当，又怎么去狙击。 我看到他说话的时候，手一直在颤抖， 讲到杀人的时候，声音变得很高亢，按时下的说法，从头到尾他都很high. 那时我并没有太多的想法，只是有点奇怪。 war is an addiction. 现在再想想，我真信这点。

恩，有一点， 这位LA Times的影评家说得很对。真实的战争远没有电影里那么有style， 那些老山斗士们几个月赤身裸体地呆在潮湿闷热的猫耳洞里，绝大部分时间是漫长无聊的等待, 担心自己的给养，担心特工的偷袭，和洞里的蚊子蛇虫作斗争，和溃烂的皮肤作斗争。。。

[Jun]

只知道79年那次大约是老邓给美国人的投命状。

挖，这个理论还是我第一次听说，buzz 同学解释下？

[buzz]

当时是冷战时期。越南是前苏联阵营。 出兵前，邓给美国打过招呼， 赢得了他们的默许。当然，美国后来在道义上还是谴责了几声。李光耀的回忆录里好像也提到了这件事。 战后， 中美关系进入蜜月期。 一直到89年。

[Knowing]

huh? 难道我们不是一惯把越南当属国，看不顺他们傍着老毛子的粗腿才要灭他们一道的么？

[tiffany]

你不知道啊？当年我记得是因为邓掌权还不稳固，然后又要跟美国修好，然后就替美国教训越南，顺手铲除我党当权不会打仗的文革余孽------ total disillusion for me啊～！

[Knowing]

不知道。当时不关心这些事情，只记得我党宣传机构老是说越南怎么猖獗挑衅，我军如何忍辱负重忍无可忍才打起自卫反击战，我愤怒的同时还很纳闷：越南这个弹丸小国，我国一动手灭了它都是轻而易举的事情，为什么他们居然如此大胆敢先挑起矛盾？！现在明白了。。。原来看上去没逻辑的事情的确是不是真的。。。人家才是自卫。。。可怜啊。。

[nanping]

只能说相对于国家机器，个人是如此渺小。象我以前奇怪，为什么小布什伊战最死忠的支持者，有时候反而是那些受战争伤害最直接最深重的人，比如军属，比如烈属；后来才明白，恰恰因为他们的投入太多也失去太多，所以越发地不能忍受这种投入变成毫无意义――这是多么强悍地观念绑架。

[Knowing]

今天看了这片子，真intense 啊，我看的都要紧张死了，但是最后一想，其实没什么故事情节，全是战争里的＂日常＂生活检出来一段段。最后发现导演是个女的真让人诧异（jun 说过但是我早就忘了）。这片子简直纯男性，都是男人和男人之间建立伙伴关系的过程。它对战争的描写简直是写实的记录片，完全不吝惜时间拍摄＂无关＂细节，到处是假警报真警报绷紧神经，简直带人到那里亲身体验战争的恐怖。
强烈推荐，而且这片你们家的男生肯定也爱看。

[tiffany]

这个片子我屯了好久，终于昨天晚上跟良人一起看了，崇拜死了，这个片子拍的！两个小时，完全不觉得长。那个男主角是个疯子！他就是为肾上腺素高而活着的！最后那个做了7年情报，什么都见过的黑人都不行了..... 他们遭遇狙击手那10几20分钟，靠，我汗都出来了。

[幻儿]

今晚The Hurt Locker 完胜！真为Bigelow高兴！把这个帖子提上来庆祝一下！

[putaopi]

女导演姿态真漂亮，整个晚上的镜头都在她和James Cameron脸上晃

[笑嘻嘻]

Oops, 卡梅隆输了。 我可是Avatar 的粉丝。

[Knowing]

卡梅隆得金球奖的时候讨口头便宜说：我还以为凯瑟琳会得奖。这时其实可以损他一句，不过她啥也没说，很帅。

[Jun]

Katherine Bigelow is gorgeous for >50.

[Knowing]

She looks gorgeous for 59! I am sure she had a few things done. But that's ok, she looks quite natural.
Can you believe the ex-husband is actually 3 years younger?

[tiffany]

容我赞一下儿千年塑料花1，三爪不老客；2，带米摩尔真的是塑料花成精啊

[幻儿]

I'd like to look like Bigelow when I'm 59 years old. And I want to know her doctor!

[Knowing]

Yeah! Age gracefully with professional help!

[幻儿]

我真八卦，刚才看了几个关于Cameron和Bigelow的文章。他俩20多年前结的婚，两年多就离婚了，因为Cameron劈腿。不过俩人仍然是好朋友好同事。Bigelow给Cameron看过The Hurt Locker的剧本问他意见，Cameron看过该片剪辑过程多次。Bigelow也到过Avatar拍摄现场好几次。

Cameron和现任老婆Suzy Amis



Bigelow和现任男朋友Mark Boal：此君是The Hurt Locker的编剧，现年37岁的帅哥，比Bigelow小22岁。

[Knowing]

哇塞，原来Mark Boal是她的玩具男孩，我看她领最佳影片奖的时候还想，后面一排三个男演员，前面两个写手合作人，都是年轻帅哥，简直象个queen bee，好神气！

[putaopi]

这故事一点儿都不八，小男友很帅很知性，简直就是女性励志片儿么。看来不论男女，上了年岁都需要power来增强魅力。

[幻儿]

对了，还应该补充一下，Mark Boal 昨晚也获得了一座小金人--最佳原创剧本
我小人之心的想，我要是Cameron肯定得郁闷得

[putaopi]

为电影的合作成就了他俩的感情，反过来激情又成就了电影，我肉麻地说。

[ruby]

我今天也把他们俩及其ex们的bio看了一遍，觉得这才是没有负担的gossip, 都是阿尔发男女啊，再一次证明自己强大是王道.

卡麦隆现任老婆真显老

[putaopi]

难道Ruby最近看了什么有负担的gossip？我不坏好意地问

[tiffany]

我不是不反调的说，虽然喀麦隆两口子都很显老，不过看着还挺舒服的

[ruby]

难道Ruby最近看了什么有负担的gossip？我不坏好意地问

[Judy]

这部片我还没看，不过一直欣赏Katherine Bigelow的人生姿态，恭喜获奖，也喜欢看到她和年轻男友的照片，太漂亮了！

关于“什么有负担的gossip”，我今早上就收到一个Email，是个就未联系的朋友群发的，标题是“爆炸性新闻 -- Cisco女郎偷人老公了‏”，然后给了两个link，唉，什么事儿啊！

[tiffany]

你们看个人意见哦四卡奖穿衣评了没？他那句：因为老娘是枚力而四吹扑笑死我了。
我倒是很悲哀的看着大美女kate winslet跟cemeon diaz都开始走成熟大妈路线。

[silkworm]

Cameron Diaz老得特别厉害，怎么脸都垮下来了那样的。
肉丝儿至少脸上还挺漂亮的，瘦了不少，身上还是壮。
还有SJP,怎么搞那么棕，跟金佛似的。

[幻儿]

今年奥斯卡真是星光惨淡，Brangelina两口子没来，四小花旦一个都没来（Anne Hathaway，Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Amy Adams)，其他诸如Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Hillary Swank, Renee Zelweger, Drew Barrymore, Jeniffer Aniston, Jeniffer Garner, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow全都没来 ！这是为什么涅 ？
然后为什么J. Lo每回都来涅？她也没怎么唱歌也没怎么拍电影啊

[ruby]

今年奥斯卡真是星光惨淡，Brangelina两口子没来，四小花旦一个都没来（Anne Hathaway，Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Amy Adams)，其他诸如Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Hillary Swank, Renee Zelweger, Drew Barrymore, Jeniffer Aniston, Jeniffer Garner, Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow全都没来 ！这是为什么涅 ？
然后为什么J. Lo每回都来涅？她也没怎么唱歌也没怎么拍电影啊

Exactly! I did search for their red carpet pictures last night, and was very disappointed. The headlines at ABC.com last night right before the ceremony was 'red carpet style of the past 5 years'.

[simonsun]

但是Gerard Butler和Hugh Jackman站在一起我觉得还是满登对的。

[tiffany]

太slash了！

这个家伙第一眼看有点象russel crow

[Knowing]

我要锻炼！看了Katherine Bigelow的漂亮肌肉胳膊和紧张腰身我捏着小拳头下决心说

[Jun]

她这个精神劲儿绝不是光靠漂亮撑起来的。十年内质量最高的Oscar最佳影片啊。

[Knowing]

那是权力和地位的光环！

[Jun]

Talent, energy, intelligence, character.

[Knowing]

yeah yeah yeah but without the Oscar people can't see how much talent, energy, intelligence, character there is in her.

[Jun]

yeah yeah yeah but without the Oscar people can't see how much talent, energy, intelligence, character there is in her.

I see it.

Oscars are so overrated.

[tiffany]

我前两天看过一篇影评，力批此片说是how not to 拍战争片。其实想想从小到大看了那么多战争片，都讲的是战争的荣光，真的战场怎么样估计不会有人能拍出来。

我理解到战争残酷是看了一本叫做公民士兵的历史书，讲的是二战时期的美国兵。因为都是志愿兵，所以入伍之前都是平民，具体到现在我就记得一个细节，是战争末尾，有个德国兵冲出来投降，被一个小兵随手就给了一枪。这个小兵之前好像还没高中毕业？这么那个啥据说是因为他哥哥被德国兵打死了。看完了我就觉得，战争真是扭曲人啊。

大家有空的话可以考虑看看the young lions，Irvin Shaw著。讲二战里三个兵的故事。尤其阿大，应该会喜欢这书。

[Jun]

He totally missed the point.

The sneaking-out part late in the film is not about a realistic vignette of a soldier's life. It is meant to be a symbolism of the entire f**king invasion.

He is taking the movie literally without getting the artistic intentions. It is not a documentary. It is not even really about war, or this war. It is a character study, an examination of a certain nature of man.

There has been quite a lot of rumors in the industry before the Oscars that Harvey Weinstein (or some other studio execs) engineered a media campaign to discredit "The Hurt Locker" in order to boost their own movie's chance. For some reason this year's awards are particularly political.