双语影评：《猩球崛起》进化变成革命(图)

　　背景资料：《猩球崛起》是经典系列科幻电影《人猿星球》的前传，它讲述了由于人类自负导致了猿猴智力的发展，猿族与人类之间爆发战争，以及地球上的人类是如何在各种自私自利下，一步一步的走向灭亡。《阿凡达》的特效团队为本片制造出了上百个逼真的猩猩，加上先进的日观等下动作捕捉技术，视觉效果绝对令你震撼。

　　Among the trillions of binary digits skittering across screens this summer, a vibrant minority have been gathered into a shrewd, coherent, and fully felt movie. I’m speaking of the expertly crafted “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” by far the best spectacle movie of the season, and one of the few films to use digital technology for nuanced dramatic effect.

　　今夏，由数以万亿计的二进制数字信号组成的电视节目充斥着荧屏，其中，一小撮活跃的信号组成了一部精致巧妙，情节连贯，让人感同身受的电影。我讲的就是制作优良的《人猿星球的兴起》——本季度目前为止最好看的奇观电影，它也是为数不多的应用数码技术达到细致入微戏剧性效果的电影之一。

　　“Planet,” of course, draws on the old species-reversal conceit worked out by Pierre Boulle in his 1963 novel, “La Planète des Singes,”a book that launched a cluster of movies and television shows, most notably Franklin J. Schaffner’s “Planet of the Apes” (1968). In that mock epic, the manacled, nearly naked Charlton Heston is rated an interesting specimen by a variety of simian overlords.

　　如你所想，“星球”一词是援引于Pierre Boulle 在1963年写的小说《人猿星球》，它讲述了由于人类自负导致物种的逆向进化。这本小说被改编成一系列的电影和电视节目，其中最著名 的是Franklin J. Schaffner于1968年执导的《人猿星球》。电影中，Charlton Heston 被种类繁多、济济为患的猿猴们俘虏，他戴着脚镣，近乎赤裸，并被看作是一个有趣的外物种标本。

　　The new movie draws not only on Boulle’s outrageous idea but on some of the most enduringly suggestive fables we know. It begins as a benevolent version of the Frankenstein story. Will (James Franco, trying harder than usual)， a young genetic engineer working for a San Francisco biotech company, creates a serum that reverses brain damage. (He wants to treat his father, Charles—played movingly by John Lithgow—who has Alzheimer’s。) The company tests the serum on apes, one of which goes mad and has to be destroyed. But Will takes home the ape’s baby, Caesar, who has inherited his mom’s supercharged gray matter, and he and Charles raise him as a pet.

　　而今年的新作不仅传承了Boulle 奇异骇人的思路，也融入了我们熟悉的，最久为流传、引人联想的传奇故事。电影以一个和谐的弗兰肯斯坦式的场景开始。Will (James Franco饰演，这次他表演得更卖力)，是一位年轻的基因工程师，在旧金山的一家生物科技公司工作。他发明了一种可以逆转人脑损伤的血清。(他的父亲Chales，由John Lithgow 精彩饰演，患有阿尔茨海默氏病，Will想治愈父亲的病)。公司用这种血清在猿猴身上做实验，而其中的一只疯掉了，必须处死。好心的Will 将它的孩子Caesar带回了家，和父亲Chales一起把他当成宠物养了起来。

　　Caesar swings through the house, leaping up and down stairs and throwing himself in and out of the attic, but he sits quietly at the dinner table, too. He listens, he grunts, he eats, he makes signs. He’s a darling little ape.But there’s a joke buried in our wonderment: we all anthropomorphize our pets, finding spirit, even conscience, in beautiful collies, in cool, blue-eyed Siamese cats, in potbellied pigs. Out of affection, we see what we want to see of ourselves.But Caesar really is like us, in many ways.

　　Caesar继承了他母亲的强健的运动体质，活动能力很强。他在屋里乱窜，在楼梯上跳上跳下，在阁楼里蹦进蹦出，但在餐桌边还是会安静的坐着。他听人讲话，发出叫声，吃喝东西，还会做肢体语言，是一只可爱的小猿猴。在我们惊叹于它的灵活的背后却有些讽刺：我们都将宠物拟人化——我们在漂亮的牧羊犬，蓝眼睛的暹罗猫，胖肚皮的小猪身上寻找某种精神，甚至是良心，而不是在人群中感受到这些。出于喜爱，我们从他们身上看到了一些在人类社会中想看到的东西。但是，Caesar 确实在很多方面与我们很像。

　　He plays and chatters like a chimp, but, like a child, he needs protection and reassurance, and then—a fellow-primate to the rescue—he rushes to the defense of Charles, his ailing “grandfather,” when he’s attacked by a neighbor. An empathic ape! The screenwriters, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and the director, Rupert Wyatt, create many small gestures, glances, and pauses that anchor the improbable turns of the story.At one point, Charles, confused, holds a fork by the wrong end, and Caesar slowly, gently takes it out of his hand and turns it around. The scene is ineffably, absurdly touching, the sweetest expression of family love seen in recent films.Pierre Boulle’s novel was sardonic, even maliciously satirical—science fiction with a tickle. But “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” discovers a new emotion: what you’d have to call interspecies pathos.

　　他像黑猩猩一样地玩耍、喃喃自语，又像小孩子一样需要保护和安慰，他还是一个能提供援助的灵长类同胞——在他生病的“祖父”Chales受到邻居攻击的时候，他迅速冲出来保护Chales。真是一只富有感情的猿猴！电影编剧Rick Jaffa 和Amanda Silver,以及导演Rupert Wyatt为人物设计了许多细微的言行、眼神以及停顿来锁定故事的进展(虽在真实生活中不太可能发生)。一天，Chales犯病了，他拿起叉子吃饭却将叉尖朝着自己。这时Caesar 慢慢地轻轻地地将叉子从他手里拿过来，反过头去，再放回他手心。这个场景是无法言喻的感人至深，它对家庭之爱的表达是最近所有电影中最贴心的。Pierre Boulle 的原著有些嘲讽，甚至是恶意的讽刺，有一点科幻小说的味道。而《人猿星球的兴起》则揭示了一种新的感情：物种间的同情爱怜。

　　Andy Serkis, who was the emaciated, depraved, ground-hugging Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, plays Caesar—that is, he lends his body and face, covered with reflective markers, to image-makers who then, employing the techniques of motion capture, create a digitized simulacrum of an ape, but an ape that has unrivalled flexibility and expressiveness. The filmmakers have pulled off a stunning paradox: Caesar is much more human than an entirely digitized creation, and much more apish than an actual ape—faster, stronger, more exuberant in his knuckle-dragging, chin-thrusting, lunging glory. Caesar becomes an adolescent; hormones kick in, and he turns violent, doing bongo numbers on his enemies with his fists. At last, digital fantasy means something: we are not watching a dull-brained superhero banging off walls like a fly in a bottle; we are watching an animal with suddenly enhanced powers who still behaves recognizably like an animal. But a juiced-up ape can become something more than fun for us—he can shock us with his power, even inspire terror.There’s a premonition early in the film: when a leashed German shepherd barks at Caesar, he roars back at the dog, and then, climbing into Will’s car, surly and sad, he signs with his hands that he feels like a pet—it’s a complaint, a question, and a challenge.

　　Andy Serkis，就是《指环王》三部曲中那个消瘦憔悴、腐化堕落、生活在社会底层的Gollum,在本剧中扮演Caesar。形象设计师用具有猿猴特征的行头从头到脚装扮Andy,然后采用动作捕捉技术制作出一电子模拟猿猴，这只猿猴行动非常灵活，亦善于表达。电影制作人成功设计出了Caeser这个引人入胜的矛盾形象：与纯粹的电子制作物相比，他更富人性；而与真实的猿猴相比，他更富物种特性——指关节拖动力与咀嚼能力更强大，而且精力充沛，进攻性强。很快，Caesar 长成了青少年，由于体内激素的作用，他变得暴力起来，拳头像敲小鼓似的打在敌人身上。这些奇妙的数字化影像最终是想揭示一些道理：我们不是在观看一个木脑袋的超级英雄像没头苍蝇一样在瓶子里乱撞，而是一只忽然获得巨大力量的猿猴，却仍表现的像个动物。一只给电影倍添精彩的猿猴可不仅仅是个笑料，想想看：他力大无比，足以震慑我们，甚至能够挑起暴动。其实，在电影开头就由一个不太好的预兆：当一支被拴着的德国牧羊犬朝Caesar狂吠的时候，Caesar反咬回去，然后上了Will的车。他粗鲁打着手势，对自己是宠物的身份很不满意——这是抱怨，是疑惑，也是挑战。

　　A second fable moves into place. The violent Caesar gets sent to an ape compound, where he’s forced through steel mazes, prodded, and stun-gunned. The imprisonment is unbearable: he experiences the humiliation that a mere dumb animal would never feel.Gorillas, orangutans, and other chimps live with him in the compound, and Caesar quickly becomes a leader of apes. For a while, the movie turns into the latest version of “Escape from Alcatraz,” reaching its climax in a single syllable, a roaring “No!”—Caesar’s first word, a refusal that caused the audience when I saw the movie to go ape.

　　接下来，第二则传奇故事出现了。暴力的Caesar被送到一个猿猴基地。这个基地内部被钢架隔开，结构错综复杂，他在这里受到体罚，甚至会被枪杆打晕。被囚禁的滋味是难以忍受的：他在这里经受着羞辱，一种哑巴牲口永远感觉不到的羞辱。非洲大猩猩、褐猿，还有其他的黑猩猩和他住在一起，很快，Caesar成了他们的首领。接下来，镜头转到最新一版《逃离恶魔岛》的画面，Caesar的一声怒吼“No!”——他的第一句话——将电影推向高潮，这一声拒绝也让观众们吃惊地张大了嘴：“NO！”。