榮獲奧斯卡獎項的電影都會引起我想看的動機。少年 PI,是榮獲多項奧斯卡獎項的電影,導演為電影界鼎鼎有名的李安。這部電影實是由 Yann Martel 的探險小說《Life of PI》(2001)而來。
電影張力十足,一開始就從各宗教入手,經過精心鋪陳之後,才開始到精彩的部分,尤其是大船在狂風暴雨的深夜裡失故,少年跳入海水時一片漆黑,伸手不見五指,唯有看見的,就是眼前依然亮著光的大船斜斜的沉入海底。
印度少年在海上漂浮時,幾回遠視鏡頭由高往下看,汪洋上的一葉舟顯得格外無助,令人深深覺得大自然的力量不可抗拒,而人的力量又是多麼的渺小,渺小得為了生存,我們必須違背自己的原則,甚至是道德或精神上的良心,做出許多自己沒辦法想像的事情。這是一種突破,拋開先前的觀念或一直以來的生活習慣,嘗試前所未有的事物,啟發生活技術上的智慧,沒有所謂的好壞,只為活下去的意志,只因為,人的生命就是如此的卑微。
印度少年獲救,對日本官員敘說船沉事故,當他選擇說第二個故事時,讓人驚訝的是他的臉上毫無撒謊飄忽之色,一切好似真的發生一樣,我還真不明白為什麼他可以如此淡定,清楚的說明廚師殺了他的母親,而他以同樣的方式殺掉廚師等等。一開始我以為這裡隱喻著人們寧可選擇相信聽起來很像事實的故事,而不去理會也不想聽另一個明明就是真實的故事。
後來好友告訴我一些網上的影評,有人說,其實第二個故事才是真實事情。廚師真的殺了少年的母親,而少年也殺了廚師,還吃了自己的母親等等,第二個故事才是真正發生的事情。怎麼說呢,從另一個角度來看,老虎其實就是少年本身的形象,投射少年當時的野性,它有可能只是少年野性的幻化,是少年想像出來的幻影。我想也是,因為少年小時候曾經見證老虎吃小羊的殘忍現實。這也解釋了為什麼到後來少年與老虎安全到岸、抵達島上時,老虎尚未告別就離開了他。赫然想起電影快結束的最後一個鏡頭,老虎轉身,向草叢行去,不告別,不回首,我個人認為這象徵著人們的野性依然存在,而現實的殘忍將會推動內在隱藏的獸性。
敘說第一個故事的時候,少年口述船上有老虎、人猿、斑馬等動物,而實際上這些動物就是他在第二個故事裡所提到的人物。為什麼他要把真正的人物,包括自己的親媽媽想像或轉化成動物呢?或許他無法接受現實的殘酷與悲劇的發生,而潛意識裡把他們通通想像成動物,因為只有透過動物的食物鏈,才能為人類的互相殘殺鋪上一層薄霧,透霧看實情,或許心裡比較好過。畢竟經歷了這一串不幸事故,失去了家人與見證人類互相殘殺只為生存的事實,從不碰葷的他被迫持刀殺肉吃肉,這些都是心靈與精神上的折騰,少年或許就是透過轉化與想像來安慰自己受傷的心靈。
鏡頭幾回拍深夜的汪洋,讓我覺得深夜裡的海總是神秘與變幻莫測,有時平靜有時狂風暴雨,除了再次強調人們無法掌控或操控大自然的變化,更透露了人們的無知。這個世上還有多少事情是我們不知道的?我們根本都不曉得我們不知道的還有什麼。感覺起來,海洋似乎象徵著少年的潛意識。他在船上看透海水,看見媽媽與家人,甚至是宇宙與宗教信仰的部分,而這些通通都是構成我們心靈與實體的元素。
以上我所提到的都是有關人類生命的卑微與無法掌控大自然的部分,我想跟電影一開始就從宗教切入的部分做鏈接。這位印度少年小時候活在一個多元宗教的社會,有回教(伊斯蘭教)、基督教與他不本身的印度教,而通常多元宗教的社會裡,各宗教總會互相排斥,或是獨門立戶,不想跟彼此扯上任何關係,因為大家都堅信只有自己所信仰的宗教的神才是唯一的,而這位印度小男孩卻像只小魚穿梭在珊瑚群與海藻裡,融入各種宗教的文化,甚至自行融合各個宗教的元素,而創造出某種獨特的、專屬自己的,以及本身願意全心全意的相信的精神寄託。
當然,這種現象總會被世俗認為不倫不類,而世人總是以自己過去的經驗與眼光去判斷所面對的事情。就像少年的爸爸一樣,總是提醒他勿接近老虎,更希望他以冷靜理智的批判性思考,勿輕易相信所有的事情(提醒少年勿輕易相信各宗教)。我想說的是,看完這部電影,我的第一個感想就是,人們的生命是如此的卑微,而當我們剩下什麼都沒有的時候,甚至是不知道能不能夠僥倖活著的時候,我們根本不相信任何東西,就連本身也開始懷疑自己,只能相信的,惟有宗教信仰,那是一種精神上的寄慰,是提醒我們繼續向上進取、往正面方向思考的支柱。
看完電影,深感震撼,何時再有一部如此引人深思的電影?
以下是從《Life of PI》小說摘下的小文,蘊含引人深思的哲理:
1)To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.
2)I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.
3)If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.
4)Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud...
5)It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.
6)When you've suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling.
7)If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?
8)It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.
9)Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart.
10)You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.
11)To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures who people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you. It is like losing--I'm sorry, I would rather not go on.
12)The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?
13)All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.
14)Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.
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(文/小柔)