宅家几天,看了六七部美国讲橄榄球的片子。除了一部 The Longest Yard,其他几部都是根据真实故事改编,很感叹橄榄球故事在美国的盛行——他们尊重过去、铭记过去那些或残酷或光辉的痕迹。
这部We Are Marshall的主角是马歇尔大学的橄榄球队,出场对阵的是Eagles,而Eagles是我看的另一部橄榄球电影Invincible的主角球队。
Marshalle这只球队位于西弗吉尼亚的Huntington,数据显示:2000年这里的人口才5万人。 我看的另一部片子 The Express的男主角在Elmira踢球,数据显示:Elmira到2000年才3万人。 而纪录片Undefeated中的主角是一所叫做 Manassas High School 的中学橄榄球队,学校全是黑人学生,家里的亲戚几乎都能找出吸过毒坐过牢的。那在这样的情况下,依旧有一只整编的、有完好装备的、跟各个学校打比赛的正牌球队。
另一个感触是:美国运动的现代史也是黑人努力争取、崭露头角、红遍天下的历史。从一开始全白人运动;到后来某几个俱乐部战战兢兢雇佣一两名黑人,黑人忍受各种不平等待遇与威吓;到现在几乎美国流行的各类运动(NFL、MBL、NBA等)都是最重要的力量。 The Longest Yard里面有一段对话很有意思,黑人囚犯对白人囚犯说:你们白人动不动就得什么抑郁症,真不懂你们有什么好抑郁的,你们可是白人啊!(意思是各种尊重、福利、机会) 同时你在看这些片子的时候,也会对于美国黑人的生活状况非常吃惊,作为一个相对民主、富裕、保障体系良好的国家,黑人区是如此的贫瘠、混乱、缺乏教育与秩序。你在黑人区长大,还不像说在中国一个贫困山区长大,因为在黑人区你会受到很糟糕的环境影响,几乎很大程度上会成为混混或帮派的一份子。中国的一些不发达地区的孩子,如果好好念书,相对单纯的环境还是可以补足一条出路给他们。
Finally got to see We are Marshall here in Huntington, WV, the very town this movie has as its setting. I like it a lot, but It is very difficult to see it as being just a movie, because the movies is so much about the town, the university, and even somebody you may know or meet here. You cannot maintain the distance that could be afforded to other movies when appreciating them. Yet this feeling is special.
The movie is emotionally charged most of the time, as it should be, given the fact that so many people died and a team rose from ashes. It oscillates between being poignant and funny. The pain part was very well captured by Mathew Fox, who plays Red Dawson, the assistant coach, who was tormented by the fact that he happened to have missed the disaster while the rest of his team died.
The other Mathew who played the head coach seemed to lack some emotional depth in the role he played. That might be natural, because the role he portrayed had had nothing to do with Marshall before accepting the role as head coach. Yet at other times, it is just Mathew the "star" coming out. That effect could be diminished if the coach is played by a less well-known guy. Or have I been way too saturated with all the coverage about Mathew the superstar that it is now impossible to scratch the actor to see the acted?
Even as someone who speaks English as a foreign language, I can tell that his language is somewhat banal as some critics have pointed out. It is too “movie-like”, so to speak. However, there are also bursts of freshness. For instance, when he gets President Dedmon to visit NCAA in person by asking Dedmon how he proposed to his wife.
But to be fair, Mattew did a good job showing the development of his character. Jack the head coack is actually the one transformed by the whole experience. When he makes that speech in the cemetery, one sees the transformation reach a climax.
My favorite is the character of Don Dedmon. He is portrayed into a rounded, developed, and rich character. In him you see the mixture of the somewhat clumsy academic, a really hard-working leader, and a converted Herd fan. The rise of the football team seemed to have had the greatest impact on him.
At the end of the movie, it is mentioned that the Young Thundering Herd lost more games in the 70s than any other football program in the nation. However, the glory comes in the 90s, when the team won championships and produced national football stars. That line has the potential of becoming something really great. But it was dismissed too quickly. There is really a good point in there: It takes time to actually make a program work. More importantly, it takes incubation, nurturing, and even patience in years and years of tireless work. Yet these are not materials for Hollywood. There is less drama in them. Instead, the movie turns to a spike of glory in those years that were not actually chracterized by winning games. The real thundering glory, I believe, is the laying of foundations in these early years in spite of pressures and losses. Hemmingway says courage is grace under pressure. So is glory.
这部影片的中文名有好多个:《同球敌忾》《加油,马歇尔》《后继有人》《我们一条心》《希望不灭》,而《同球敌忾》则更多的被宣传所用。但是看完片子后,我更愿意把它叫作《We are Marshall》,这即是马歇尔大学橄榄球队的口号,也代表了马歇尔人的一种信念。
一道闪电就将马歇尔人从天堂打入了地狱。飞机的失事使他们失去了包括球迷和队员家属在内的75个人。他们引以为荣的球队瞬间就化作灰烬,这样的打击,无论对谁都是无法承受的。特别有的家庭还在这次空难中同时失去了2名亲人妻子和儿子!泪水已无法再承载悲痛,留给人们的将是无尽的黑暗。幸存的4名球员也沉浸在伤痛中无法自拔,直到新教练杰克·兰格的到来。他先是招来另外几名教练然后便开始到处招募球员。他们一开始四处碰壁,直到全国大学生体育协会同意他们在新的赛季允许新生上场,凭着这一优越条件,他们的招生工作才得以顺利展开。紧接着的训练,他们克服种种困难,终于使球队走上了正轨。但是第一场比赛的失利,使得他们遭受到了来自各方面的质疑,甚至连马歇尔大学的校长也被牵连。杰克·兰格顶住了来自各方面的压力,全力备战第一个主场。赛前,他把队员带到死去队员的墓地前,告诉他们只用赢取胜利才能给死去的同伴们带来荣誉。队员们在墓前高呼“We are Marshall!”小镇居民也给予了球队最大的支持,都来观看他们的第一个主场。年轻的队员们不负重望,获得了胜利。这个胜利对于队员们,对于马歇尔人来说,都是沉甸甸的、意义非凡的,这代表了他们的新生和思想上的重生。