Inside the den of wolves 直入狼窩——電影《狼圖騰》里的看點與槽點

For moviegoers who are animal lovers and people who yearn for a connection with nature, Wolf Totem is highly recommended.

如果你熱愛動物、渴望與大自然親密接觸，那么電影《狼圖騰》一定不容錯過。

Based on Jiang Rong’s novel of the same name, the 3-D adventure epic is about Chen Zhen (Feng Shaofeng) and Yang Ke (Shawn Dou) being sent from Beijing to Inner Mongolia in the 1960s to live with a nomadic tribe. They are among the 17 million urban middle school grads in the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), who answered Chairman Mao’s call to go work and live with local villagers in poor provinces. After saving the life of a wolf cub and raising it in secret, Chen becomes captivated by the ferocious, agileand intelligent creature.

影片根據(jù)中國作家姜戎的同名小說改編，可謂一部3D史詩巨制。故事講述了20世紀60年代，北京知青陳陣(馮紹峰飾)和楊克(竇驍飾)在內(nèi)蒙古草原插隊時與牧民群落相依相存的故事。在“文化大革命”期間(1966-1976)，兩位年輕人響應毛主席的號召，奔赴貧困鄉(xiāng)村工作。一次，陳陣救了一只小狼崽，并悄悄將它收養(yǎng)，從此變得對狼非常著迷，深深地愛上了這種兇猛、敏捷而又充滿智慧的動物……

French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also directed The Bear (1988) and Two Brothers (2004) has proven he knows how to create a movie about wild animals. While watching a pack of wolves ambusha herd of gazelles over the snow-blanketed grasslands, I held my breath just like Chen and gray-bearded local leader Bilig (Basen Zhabu). And during a night snowstorm, as the wolves chased after a group of horses, I could feel the protagonists’ desperation welling up in my throat.

曾執(zhí)導《熊的故事》(1988)、《虎兄虎弟》 (2004)等影片的法國導演讓•雅克•阿諾堪稱拍攝野生動物題材的行家。我像陳陣和胡子花白的當?shù)啬撩癞吚?巴森 飾)一樣，當目睹狼群在雪原上伏擊一群瞪羚時屏住了呼吸;而在另一個暴風雪的夜晚，當看到狼群在追逐馬群時，我感覺自己就像主人公一樣絕望。

Through Annaud’s lens we observe the brutality of the wolves. The director’s close-up shots of the wolves are particularly impressive.

通過阿諾的鏡頭，我們目睹了狼群的殘忍。而導演給狼的特寫鏡頭更是令人印象深刻!

These days, many animals in films are computer animated, such as Caesar in the recent Planet of the Apes movies (2011, 2014) and the tiger that Yang Zirong fights in The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014). But Wang Weimin, the producer of Wolf Totem told China Daily that “our movie needed real wolves”.

如今，很多電影中的動物形象都是電腦動畫制作的效果，比如《決戰(zhàn)猩球》系列影片(2011, 2014) 中的猿族領(lǐng)袖“凱撒”、《智取威虎山》 (2014)中楊子榮打的“老虎”等。然而，《狼圖騰》的制片人王為民表示，“我們的電影需要真正的狼。”

British animal trainer Andrew Simpson spent three years raising and training a pack of wolves for the movie, watching them grow from cubs to adults. During the shooting of the movie, leading actor Feng would play with the wolves, feed them and clean their dens. The process helped Feng develop a deeper understanding of the wild creature. He told Mtime that “Wolves can treat you as friends, but never as owners.”

影片請來號稱“狼王”的英國馴獸師安德魯•辛普森，搭建狼圈，悉心照料，歷時三年，看著小狼長大。拍攝過程中，男主演馮紹峰、親自與狼玩耍、喂狼、打掃狼窩。這個過程使得他對狼的理解變得更加深刻，在接受時光網(wǎng)采訪時，他說“狼可以把你當成朋友，但絕不是主人”。

However, wolves are not particularly prone to following a director’s instructions, so Simpson and Annaud sometimes had to wait a whole day just to capture the right scene.

然而，狼可不是乖乖聽從導演指示的演員。因此，為拍攝一個特定場景，辛普森和阿諾有時需要等待一整天，才能捕捉到理想的鏡頭。

One of Wolf Totem’s most prominent themes is the contradiction between nature and humancivilization. To meet the need of feeding a growing population, the ecological balance of the grasslands was destroyed. But much of this theme is presented through Chen’s voiceovers, making the film a bit too didactic.

電影《狼圖騰》的主題之一是描述自然與人類文明之間的沖突。為了滿足不斷增長的人口對糧食的需求，草原的生態(tài)平衡遭到了破壞。不過，它主要通過主人公陳陣的畫外音中的陳述得以體現(xiàn)，因此使得影片頗有些說教意味。

Another problem with the film is the unnecessary romance between Chen and Gasma, a mother whose husband is killed by wolves. The limited interaction between the two as depicted is not enough to deliver a profound love story. Chen’s relationships with his wolf and Bilig are much more compelling.

電影的另一個問題，則是陳陣和噶斯邁之間多余的感情戲。噶斯邁是一個小男孩的母親，丈夫因狼群而死。在劇中，兩人的互動顯得輕描淡寫，不足以發(fā)展為深刻的愛情故事。倒是陳陣與收養(yǎng)的小狼，以及和蒙古族牧民畢利格(Bilig)的關(guān)系則顯得更加引人入勝。

But despite a few slight narrative flaws and lackluster 3-D imagery, there’s no denying that with Wolf Totem, Annaud has crafted a film upon a truly original premise.

但是瑕不掩瑜，除了些許敘事上的不足與有些平淡的3D效果，無可否認，《狼圖騰》仍是阿諾依據(jù)故事原型而打造的一部精良之作。