Sunday, August 28, 2005

难忘的小英子:《城南旧事》


北京度过的25年可以说是我的金色年代,可以和故宫的琉璃瓦互映。北京城南的胡同、四合院,西山脚下的毛驴,以及脖子上挂着铃铛的骆驼……这些都给了我不尽的创作灵感。
--林海音  

我被小说《城南旧事》中那种沉沉的相思、淡淡的哀愁深深打动了,整部小说充满了朴素、温馨的思想感情。
--吴贻弓 


二十年代的老北京。纷乱的世象和小英子那双美丽明亮而又纯真好奇的眼睛。 她所遇到的每个人也许都很平凡,却在那双幼稚单纯的眼睛里清晰地折射出不平凡的印象。这些印象往往被大人们的世故和麻木模糊了。

英子的童年应该是简单和快乐的,就象电影里面让我着迷甚至感动的儿歌,还有小英子动情地朗诵给爸妈听的课文《我们看海去》:

我们看海去!
我们看海去!
蓝色的大海上,
扬着白色的帆,
金红的太阳,
从海上升起来,
照到海面,
照到船头。
我们看海去!
我们看海去!

简单稚气的句子,却充满无穷的想象和向往。人生不就是浩瀚的大海吗?大海有一望无际的辽阔,宁静的母亲般的温柔,可是也有险恶的风浪,处处诡异的暗礁。小英子的童年,交织着那颗童心渴望却难以理解和承受的世界:一个没有父母之爱的小伙伴妞儿,一个疯了的的被镇压学生的妻子秀贞,一个被生活所逼的无名的小偷,还有和自己朝夕相处的思念孩子的乳母宋妈。所有人的对生活的希望都最终在残酷的现实中破灭了。小英子凭着自己的直觉和好奇试图了解和关心这些周围的人,却在无意中或多或少地促成了悲剧的发生。小英子偶然发现妞儿就是秀贞的女儿,娘儿俩却在当夜的暴风雨里惨死在火车轮下; 小英子和小偷交了朋友,听他讲故事,却无意地给暗探泄露了线索,使想供弟弟读书以后出人头地的小偷锒铛入狱;宋妈抛下自己的儿女、家庭,到英子家当佣人赚钱养活在乡下的丈夫和孩子, 后来才发现她的儿子小栓子早死了,她的女儿也不知被好赌的丈夫卖到了什么地方…然而小英子至多只是一个热心的旁观者,社会本身才是制造悲剧的机器。电影并没有去可以渲染悲剧的气氛,而只是把淡淡的悲伤融入到人们对那个时代的记忆中。

在废弃的荒园子里,小英子和小偷聊天,说她没有见过海,分不清海跟天,所以也分不清好人跟坏人。正因为如此,她不会用世俗的眼光去简单地判断,而是用自己的眼睛去观察,用心去探索。当大家都用幸灾乐祸或者仇视的眼睛看着被抓到的小偷时,小英子的眼里却含着眼泪。英子的爸爸是进步的知识分子,他喜欢书和花鸟,喜爱进步的学生。爸爸的死结束了小英子无忧无虑的童年,也结束了这个动人的故事。当她一个人去医院探望患临终前的爸爸时,甜甜的笑意和又仿佛预感到什么似的害怕,让人心生爱怜,真希望能替她将一切美好留住。大海毕竟是无情的,它带走它想带走的一切。在埋葬爸爸的北京郊外的墓地旁,在洒满秋叶的小路上,宋妈被她乡下的丈夫用小毛驴驮走了。在悠缓的送别歌中,英子惆怅地望着宋妈的背影,一切似乎都永远地离她而去了……

虽然时代会有不同,我们每个人都曾经拥有的相似的童年和观察这个还很陌生的世界的眼睛,只不过不是每个人都会去拾起那些记忆。


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另附谢见积文:

在电影《城南旧事》中,选用了两首20年代的歌曲作为插曲。一首是艺术家李叔同(1880——1942)采用外国音乐家创作的歌曲旋律,重新填词的《握别》(亦称《送别》,另一首是音乐家黎锦晖(1891——1967)创作的儿童歌曲《麻雀与小孩》。

这两首歌曲,都曾在20年代流传于全国的学堂。《城南旧事》中用它们作插曲,确是增添了影片的时代感。《麻雀与小孩》出现在英子上学之初,歌中唱出的小孩与小麻雀的问与答,表现麻雀等“母亲”觅食归来的急切情景,在影片烘托出了孩子们天真无邪的心灵。而《握别》在内容情调上,又是深沉、复杂的心理活动的交织,与《麻雀与小孩》形成对比,在影片情节、人物性格的发展上,起到了以声相助,托景传情的作用。

《握别》的歌词是:长亭外,古道边/芳草碧连天;/晚风拂柳笛声残,/夕阳山外山。/天之涯,地之角,/知交半零落;/一觚浊酒尽余欢,/今宵别梦寒!/长亭外,古道边,/芳草碧连天;/晚风拂柳笛声残,/夕阳山外山。/这支歌曲第一次出现在“偷儿”的弟弟毕业时,第二次出现在英子即将结束小学生活时。这首歌曲,既配合了具体的故事情节,又与影片中生死别离的人物关系线索编织在一体,成为点化立意的“警句”,加强了影片的艺术魅力。

为这部影片谱写音乐的作曲家吕其明,在第二次出现《握别》的歌声后,接上由管弦乐队奏出的《握别》的音调,则又起到了引深其意、衔接其情的效能,给人以回味不尽之感。

1982年拍摄的《城南旧事》,正是插曲作者李叔同逝世40周年,黎锦晖逝世15周年。李叔同是把欧洲、日本近代音乐引入我国的先驱之一。他原籍浙江平湖,生于天津。1905年至1910年,他留学日本,在东京学习绘画兼修音乐。回国后,致力于艺术教育事业,曾先后在杭州、南京的师范学校任美术和音乐教员。著名音乐家、美术家丰子恺等,均出自李叔同门下。李叔同还编过《春秋》、《早秋》等歌曲,并选用外国歌曲的旋律填新词,成为我国“五四”前夕学堂乐歌的奠基人之一。李叔同的艺术教育生涯,在1918年出家为僧时结束。他出家后的法名为演音、号弘一。浙江、闽南一带的人们都称他为“弘一法师”。他为僧时生活过的地方,如福建惠安净峰寺、泉州的开元寺和清源山,至今还存有李叔同题字、题诗的墨迹和镌刻。

黎锦晖是湖南湘潭人,从小酷爱民间乐团的活动,开始学习音乐。在20年代创作了许多广为流传的优秀儿童作品。计有《麻雀与小孩》《葡萄仙子》《明月之夜》《小小画家》等12部儿童歌舞剧和24首儿童歌曲。这些作品,大都有鲜明的儿童艺术特点,宣扬了“五四”运动所提倡的进步思想;同时,也富有我国民族、民间音乐的风格,为现代音乐史专家所肯定。

重看《城南旧事》。感慨时光悠悠,写下此篇小文,也算是对“昨日”的一个怀旧之思吧。旧事难忘,旧情难断,此心如水,此心悠然。

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

查良铮 :《丘特切夫诗选》译后记

按:此文乃近代诗歌翻译大师和先驱查良铮先生之作, 他对作为诗人的丘特切夫有着难以比拟的深刻理解。

“如果我们没有弄错的话,他的每篇诗都发自一个思想,但这个思想好象一个星火,在深挚的情感或强烈印象的影响下燃烧起来;因此,由于丘特切夫君的作品的这一特点——如果可以这样说的话,——他的思想对于读者从来不是赤裸的、抽象的,而总是和来自心灵或自然界的形象相融合,不但深深浸润着形象,而且也不可分地、连续地贯穿在形象之中。丘特切夫君的诗歌的抒情境界是不平常的,几乎是瞬息即逝的,这使他必须写得短小,仿佛他是把自己局限在腼腆的、精致的小小范围内。”

--屠格涅夫
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link:
http://lxbook.diy.myrice.com/shige/tyutchev/1/yihou.htm

理想藏书-诗歌天地-丘特切夫-《丘特切夫诗选》


另附查良铮译作:

 春
不管命运的手如何沉重,
不管人如何执迷于虚妄,
不管皱纹怎样犁着前额,
不管心里充满几多创伤;
不管你在忍受怎样的
残酷的忧患,但只要你
碰到了初春的和煦的风,
这一切岂不都随风飘去?

美好的春天……她不知有你
也不知有痛苦和邪恶;
她的眼睛闪着永恒之光,
从没有皱纹堆上她前额。
她只遵从自己的规律,
到时候就飞临到人间,
她欢乐无忧,无所挂碍,
象神明一样对一切冷淡。

她把花朵纷纷洒给大地,
他鲜艳得象初次莅临;
是否以前有别的春天,
这一切她都不闻不问。
天空游荡着片片白云,
在她也只是浮云而已,
她从不想向哪儿去访寻
已飘逝的春天的踪迹。

玫瑰从来不悲叹既往,
夜莺到晚上就作歌;
还有晨曦,她清芬的泪
从不为过去的事而洒落;
树木的叶子没有因为
害怕不可免的死而飞落,
啊,这一切生命,象大海,
整个注满了眼前的一刻。

个体生活的牺牲者啊!
来吧,摈弃情感的捉弄,
坚强起来,果决地投入
这生气洋溢的大海中!
来,以它蓬勃的纯净之流
洗涤你的痛苦的心胸——
哪怕一瞬也好,让你自己
契合于这普在的生命!

      一八三八年
       查良铮 译

Monday, August 15, 2005

译丘特切夫: 我曾见过的一双眼睛

我曾见过的一双眼睛

我多么爱你的那双眼睛啊, 朋友,
那象火焰般迸射的光芒,
当它们飞快地抬起,
象天空划过的闪电,
目光急速地掠过。

然而更迷人的是,
当你的双眼垂下,
被一个激情的吻点燃,
穿过低垂的眼帘,闪烁着
朦胧幽郁的欲望的光。




The Eyes Once I Saw

[Tyutchev]

How I love your eyes, my friend,
With their radiant play of fire,
When you lift them fleetingly
And like lightning in the skies
Your gaze sweeps swiftly round

But there is charm more powerful still
In eyes downward cast
For the moment of a passionate kiss
When through lowered eyelids glows
The somber, dull flame of desire.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

牧马人:生命的根


“那里有他汗水浸过的土地,现在他的汗水正在收割过的田野上晶莹闪光;那里有他相濡以沫的妻子和女儿;那里有他的一切;那里有他生命的根!” (节录自张贤亮《灵与肉》)


电影《牧马人》是一曲对土地和生命的赞歌。幽暗晨曦中的沉雄苍茫的祁连山脉,阳光下辽阔的大草原和在微风中无数舞动着的马兰花,在天地间恣意奔腾的马群,还有淳朴憨厚的牧民的微笑,无一不令人屏息赞叹。这好像是一块人间的净土。而触动我久久沉睡的神经的,更是那种从土地中生长出来的质朴, 温暖,和深厚的情感, 纯净得如一湾清水。与之对比的是那个严酷冷峻,人人自危的政治时代大背景。在这样的年代里,每个人的命运都在难以抵抗的滚滚洪流中无助的漂流。也许正是在这样严酷的现实中更展现出人对真诚,善良,和美好的渴望。灵均和秀芝象两片漂流的叶子一样偶然的相遇并牢牢的连结在一起,在广阔的草原上,美丽得象一个童话。这种动人心魄的美,或许正是支撑苦难的人们抗争命运的精神力量。美可以拯救世界。如灵均对他父亲说的,他不但找到了生命的价值,他还找到了生命的温暖。灵均和秀芝的爱情,以及对更宽广的土地和生命的热爱,足以让所有其他的诱惑黯然失色,“这里有他的痛苦,也有他的欢乐,有他对人生各个方面的体验,而他的欢乐离开了和痛苦的对比,则会变得黯然失色,毫无价值”。我祝福着灵均的选择。


*******************************
灵均和秀芝 (电影剧本)

场景1.
许灵均倒了一杯水,放在木桶上说:“你喝吧,走了那么远的路。”
秀芝第一次抬起头,和许灵均的目光相遇,她从他的目光中感到了诚挚、善良和温厚。她拿过茶杯默默地喝着水,目光从床上移到地下,灵均赶快把自己的破鞋子往床底踢了踢,秀芝的目光又从地下移到炕上,最后停留在掉在地上的一本《解放军文艺》上。她喝完水,把茶杯放在一块木板上,又随手拾起那本《解放军文艺》,拍了拍灰尘,端端正正地放在木板上。她好象已是这里的女主人了。

场景2.
小土屋里许灵均刚跨进门,他吃了一惊,秀芝和衣躺在床上睡着了。他手足无措地望着她,又小心翼翼地把她的腿扶上床,拉过被子替她盖上。
秀芝醒了,她的脸上闪过一阵红晕。她不好意思地说:“看,我太累了,炉子上给你留了一盆热水,你洗脚吧!”

旁白:“一阵酸楚而甜蜜的感情使我的心激烈地跳动起来,从来没有人用这样的目光看我!我觉得我等待了多年的这一天终于来到了,我不敢相信我真的得到了幸福,我担心这侥幸得来的幸福会给我带来新的不幸!而她竟那么信任我,和我没有一点陌生感觉,好象她也等待我好几年了......”灵均洗完脚,用手捂着眼睛,他的心在激烈地跳动着。

场景3
“秀芝,”许灵均叹口气说:“我犯过错误,我注定要在这儿劳动一辈子。”
“劳动一辈子有什么不好?我陪你在这儿劳动。”
“那太对不起你了。”
“对不起我?我命好。”
“为什么?”
“我看出来了,我遇上了个好人!我第一眼就看出来来了!”
许灵均激动地抓住她的手说:“是嘛!”
秀芝闭起眼睛点了点头,两行泪水从她的眼里流出来,......草场蓝颜色的马兰花在摇曳......泉水边两匹马偎依着贪恋地喝着清澈的泉水。

场景4
小土屋里秀芝在洗着脸,掸着衣服上的土,她撒娇地对许灵均说:“明天我跟你一道去放马。”
灵均:“傻姑娘,汉民哪有女的去放马?”
秀芝:“我就要去!我化妆成男的。一去十来天,连马都想家了,人也不想家!”
灵均爱怜的笑着:“你还是脱坯吧,白天脱坯,夜里学文化。”
秀芝用头拱着他的胸膛说:“你就会象哄小孩一样哄我。”又天真地说,“我叫你看件东西,你可别笑话我。”她说着从枕头下拿出一本笔记本,“你看。”
许灵均翻开笔记本一看,高兴地说:“哟,你记日记了!”
秀芝咬着嘴唇:“你念念。”
许灵均念着:“今天,我从野地里刨了两棵杨树,借老牛家的车子拉回来栽在院子里。在我们老家,家家门口都有树,哪有一出门就见天的啊!”
画面上出现秀芝在院子里栽杨树。
许灵均念日记的声音:“今天,杏花她们来叫我去看电影。放的是《列宁在一九一八》。真好。瓦西里说:‘面包会有的!’灵均回来,我要把这句话说给他听。”
画面上出现《列宁在一九一八》故事片中瓦西里说话的镜头,又出现秀芝在电影散场时,和两个姑娘俏皮地学着瓦西里的话。
许灵均念日记的声音:
“今天,大青马从山上草场跑回来了。董大爷说它是想家了才跑回来。哎,马都知道想家,人也不想家!许灵均,你好狠!”
画面上出现董宽老汉逮马的场面,秀芝在自己门口呆呆地看着。
许灵均念日记的声音:“今天,从刘大夫家借来一本《三里湾》,灵均认为这本书很好,我这个四年级的小学生,要啃啃这本小说。......”灵均念着日记,秀芝一把抢了过来。
许灵均:“怎么不叫看了?”
秀芝:“下边就是脱坯的事了,‘坯’字我还不会写。......”

场景5
郭子:“要说你真得请我喝一壶,许老师不光改正了,现在还是国家教师。”
秀芝:“我不管教师不教师,在我的眼里,他还是许灵均!我从结婚的那一天起就给他改正了,不是现在!”
郭子:“你改正没有给他补贴五百块钱呀!”
秀芝:“我把心都扒给他了,比钱贵重的多” 她撒娇地说着,自己眼睛也红润了。

场景6
夜已很深了,许灵均简单的行装和一篓茶叶蛋放在桌上。
秀芝和灵均在床上睡着谈着话。
灵均:“我说不用带这么多茶叶蛋。”
秀芝:“这是我的一点心意,我就是和你在炕头站过一夜,也是你们许家的儿媳妇,我没有给公公做过一顿茶饭,还不带几个鸡蛋。”她说着有点惆怅。
灵均爱怜地看着她,慢慢地握住她的手说:“秀芝,要是爸爸叫我到美国去怎么办?”
秀芝:“你去呗,那里有洋楼住,有小汽车坐,还能跳光屁股舞,只要你高兴,我什么苦都能吃。”她说着掉下了眼泪。
灵均:“要是叫咱们一家都去呢?”
秀芝果断地:“不去!中国这么大住不了,还要去外国?”
许灵均内心非常感动,但他却控制着感情故意说:“那我只好一个人走了,叫郭子再给你找个对象!”
秀芝破涕为笑地捶着他说:“你浑蛋!你别吓唬我,你走不了,我心里有数!”
灵均:“为什么?你觉得我离不开你,是吧?”
秀芝:“我没有那么大的本事,你舍不得你的那些小学校里的孩子们,你舍不得郭子,董大爷, 还有你还舍不得她......”
画面上出现墙上的中国地图。
秀芝的声音继续着:“你天天爬在墙上看地图,你可以把它取下来装在口袋里带走,可那是空的,祁连山你背不走,大草原你背不走!”
许灵均一下子噎住了。他忽然流下了眼泪,激动地抱住秀芝的头,嘴里喊着:“秀芝......我的好妻子!我的好......”他疯了似地吻着她的脸和她含着泪水的眼睛。......

场景7
县城汽车站秀芝送着许灵均说:“到了北京就写封信来!”
许灵均:“嗯。”走上汽车。
清清喊着:“爸爸再见!爸爸再见!”
秀芝含着眼泪哭着把脸扭过去,不敢看许灵均。
车开动了,清清仍然喊着:“爸爸再见!”
秀芝突然往地上一伏,背起清清,追赶着汽车。
许灵均喊着:“别跑!别跑!”
秀芝和清清隐没在滚滚黄尘中。

尾声
”太阳完全隐没在西山后面了。她射出的几束剑似的桔黄色的强光映着山顶的晚霞,又从晚霞上折射下来,散在山坡的草场上、山下的田野上、田野的村庄上,最后变成了一片柔和的暮色。离学校越来越近了,远远地已经能看到那中央操场,就像一泓明净的湖水在泛黄的芨芨草滩中间。在晚风的吹拂下,他胸中的柔情也逐渐荡漾开去,终于形成了一股暖流在他全身回旋。他感到,父亲说他有坚定的信念,并没有真正理解他现在的精神状态。任何理性上的认识如果没有感性作为基础就是空洞的。在某些方面,在某些时候,感情要比理念更重要。而他这二十多年来,在人生的体验中获得的最宝贵的东西,正就是劳动者的情感。想到这里,他眼睛濡湿了。他是被自己感动了:他没有白白走过那么艰苦的道路。他终于看到了学校。他家门口正站着几个人向大路上这辆马车眺望。秀芝围的白布围裙,在柔和而苍茫的暮色中就像一点皎洁的星光。很快地,那里人越聚越多,最后,他们看出了是他,全都向大路上奔跑。最前面的是一个穿红衣裳的小女孩,她就像迸射出的一团火,飞也似的向他扑来。她越跑越近,越跑越近,越跑越近…“

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Abbas: Close-Up


Made in 1990, this is Abbas Kiarostami's masterpiece. It is about the suffering of life and the desire of self-expression through art. A unemployed young men, Hossain Sabzian, was obsessed in film-making, and he made himself up as a famous Iranian director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, to another unemployed mechanical engineering graduate who was zealous too to act in movie. Finally he was found out and sent to a trial. He defended himself the motivation to pretend as a film director, which moved the judge and also the plaintiffs in the context of unemployment and his ardour for art. In the final scene, the true and false Makhmalbaf went to the victim family’s house to ask forgiveness and they received a warm welcome. The music at this moment come out, as a mere appearance in the whole movie, and is beautiful and touching.

The film is based on a true story, and the main characters were acted by real person. In an interview, Abbas said this is the only film he really like among his films, what appealed to him was mainly what is going on inside Sabzian, and this film is like a form of therapy that help them to explore that. Abbas says he also cheat and get cheated, and he also need respect. He and the main character, Sabzian, share the same social background. The film was so successful in festivals that some audience sharing no common social background found them developed an emotional tie to this anti-heor character, concerning what he was doing and where he was now. what he like this film is that it is entirely inspired by the subject matter and the character involved. Some critics commented that this film was made under particular social circumstance where Iran and Iranians seemed to be going through an identity crisis, and Close-up poses some questions about the collective identity of a nation. Abbas replied that he didn’t have such view when making the film, although it might be true at the end. The lawsuit itself is not as important as what attracted both Ahankhahs (the cheated) and Sabzian (the cheating) to each other in the first place. It might be an identity crisis, a depression, or a common problem. Being asked about his some abnormal characters in his films, Abbas said that we are of the same nature as these characters, which is the same grounding, even the abnormality, shared by the actors, the directors, and many views relating to the film. Abnormal people who go to great length, break the boundaries, and cross the lines, tell us that ‘the limit you set for us are too confining for us and we need more space’. To those abnormal people, we should not act like a court and put them on trial, but should view them as an example of people who didn’t receive proper and timely care. Despite all the laws designed for the protection of deprived people, they were somehow left uncared for and started using their imagination at a point where there was no room for using one’s imagination.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Abbas: Taste of cherry


Another great film directed by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. The taste of the film is hard and bitter at the beginning, but becomes soft and sweet at the end. The wisdom and life-loving is the tastebud. In his fifties, wealthy Mr.Badii had his last journey in his SUV car, to look for someone to help him end his life, offering a very good pay. He looked exhausted, suffering, and downcast. His eyes had no shine at all. Three men, a young kurd soldier, a mid-aged Afghan seminarist, and an old naturalist, entered his car, listened to his request, and had various reactions. No one is willing to accept the weird idea, except that the last old naturalist was open to the possibility to collaborate with him. Actually the old man preferred to save his life to earning the money, and he has the ability to convince Mr.Badii at his old enough age.

To have the ride to his working place, a Natural history Museum, the old man ask Mr.Badii to choose a longer but more beautiful path, and on the way, he led Mr.Badii for every turn. All these are symbolic. In the autumn sunshine, everything is warm colored, the earth, the grass, and the trees... It is fabulous rural scenery in a golden season. In this journey, the old man told the story how a delicious mulberry saved his life when he managed to kill himself by roping under a mulberry tree. Unintentionally he touched something soft in the tree. He ate one. It was succulent. Then a second and third. Suddenly he noticed that the sun was rising over the mountain, and heard the children going to school. The children came to ask him to shake the mulberry tree to drop mulberries for them. Then he gathered some mulberries to take them home, to his wife. Although everything was the same, what changed was his mind. He felt happy. An ordinary, unimportant mulberry saved him.

He told Mr. Badii, “your mind is ill, but there is nothing wrong with you. Change your outlook. The world isn’t the way you see it. Look at things positively”. “have you ever looked at the sky when you wake in the morning? At dawn, don’t you ever want to see the sunrise, the red and yellow of the sun at sunset, don’t you want to see that anymore? Have you seen the moon? Don’t you want to see the stars? The night of the full moon. You want to close your eyes? The people on the other side would like to take a look here, and you want to rush over there? Don’t you ever want to drink water form a spring again? Or wash your face in that water? If you look at four seasons, each season brings fruit. No mother can fill her fridge with such a variety of fruit for her children, as God does for His creatures. You want to refuse all that? You want to give it all up? You want to give up the taste of the cherries? Don’t. I am your friend, I am begging you…” He sung a Turkish song before he got off the car,

“My love, I am flying off, come to me.
I am hounding from my friend’s garden, come to me.
From happy days before, I’ve fallen on hard times, come to me. Tell me, we barely know each other.
You go, I am your friend.
You stay, I am your friend too.”

After the old man went to his job in the museum, to teach the kids of the quails killed, Mr.Badii was put back to the edge to reflection on his plan. Around him are the real people and vivid life. He saw the yellow and red of the sunset, and its last flash on the horizon. In the early next morning, he drove to the pit hole he had prepared for himself. The remote is the city light and the voice of dogs and brids. He laid down inside, opening his eyes. The moon, the thunder, the wind, the rain, the bird, the leaves…the screen becomes dark in the rain….following the sound of a group of army men doing morning exercise, we saw Mr.Badii walked on the hill to the filmmaker Abbas….the movie switched to a documentary of the filmmaking. The army men were dismissed on a hill, playing with flowers. The jazz-like melodious music pops up, and Mr.Badii’s car was driving away the scene.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Dr. Kinsey: A Human Study

This is a documdrama of a pioneer scientist and a human being in the same time. Probably Dr. Kinsey’s own personal experience and his scientific courage impeled him to move from zoology to human sex study. His oringial drive was to help people to understand themselves and solve their problems, in a scientific approach. His faith of the variation of each individul life, from a fish to a person, is inspiring. As he lectured in a class about his insect study, "if every single thing is different from every other living thing, then diversity becomes one irreducible fact of life. only variations are real". We welcome this idea because it finds our value and self-dignity. Everyone is a unique existence, and we are not copies of a same mold. This forms Kinsey's fundmental philosophy of his sex study too, when he had to answer so many 'am I normal' questions. Back to 1930s, sex study is not in the mainstream science and is taught briefly in hygiene class of general medicine, which is tedious of course. Kinsey’s “honest and objective” study attracted young students, but also shook the fundamental morality and public perspective on this usually ignored topic, which shortly became the target of the attacks from conservative groups.

While Kinsey carried on the human study using the same research methodology he applied to study animals, it comes up with controversy and paradox which may puzzle any scientists. As Kinsey argued, to be measurable, except physiology, any other thing tightly attached on sex, such as love, emotion, and consciousness have to be stripped off in study. But how much truth can physiology give us about our behavior, even in some simplication? Where to distinguish human from animal? How much can we be objective in studying our own behavor? It is a fundmental dilemma in science. As one of his young colleague argued that sex is not something, but it is a whole thing. Human beings can’t be simplified as lab rats. The tragedy is science has no ability to study a whole thing. It is only possible to study by dividing the whole thing into small pieces, which can be analysed and measured. In some sense, Kinsey is a fighter but also a victim of science.

In the end, the film returned back to love, when Dr.Kinsey gripped his wife’s hand on the stem of a big tree. Their eyes contacted for a moment, warm and soft, that is the opposite of his science.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

译丘特切夫: 沉默

沉默

[丘特切夫]

沉默吧,藏起来,
藏起你的心情和梦想,
任它们沉浮在你的心底,
静静的如夜空中的星。
细细品味它们吧,默默的。

心怎能表达自己?
谁能知道你,
知道你的秘密?
说出的已非真意,
打开的盒儿又被盖起,
把它们喝下吧,默默的。

懂得活在你的心里,
那是你完全的自己,
令人心醉而充满神秘。
外面的嘈杂会将它们卷走;
炙热的阳光会将它们驱散;
聆听它们的歌唱吧,默默的。

08/03/05

(English version)

Silentium

[ Fyodor Tyuchev]

Be silent, hide yourself, and conceal
Your feelings and your dreams.
Let them rise and let them set
In the depths of your soul
Silently, as stars in the night;
Contemplate them with admiration, and be silent.

How will your heart express itself?
How will another understand you?
Will he understand what it is that you live by?
A thought that is expressed is a falsehood;
By stirring up the springs you will cloud them:
Drink of them, and be silent.

Know how to live within yourself:
There is in your soul a whole world
Of mysterious and enchanted thoughts;
They will be drowned out by the noise without;
Daylight will drive them away;
Listen to their singing, and be silent.