蜚短流长

天气转凉以后，特别想看电影；又有电影节的推波助澜， 所以每个周末都看电影或看影碟。夏末秋初，名副其实我的“观影季”。






最近看的一部电影是美国影片“DOUBT”。这个电影在去年获得奥斯卡提名时，我本能般地拒绝观赏，现在得闲观看，它有些出乎我的预料。这些天，我又翻看在网上找到的英文剧本。电影剧本由于出自话剧，因而有着强大的台词优势，当然，成于斯，也败于斯，影片反而类似多幕实景话剧。不过，这是一部耐人寻味的电影，也是一部“暧昧”的电影。围绕着一个疑问，几方人物玩起了攻心战。貌似正义的一方，进行大胆的、不择手段的质疑，但也只是怀疑，所谓的“BURDEN OF PROOF”，只是不过硬的蛛丝马迹，可是质疑好似达到目的。而被质疑的一方，彻底“心虚”，我以为神父(Father Flynn) 会承认，他却偏偏剑走偏门。神父到底有没有罪?






跟HH聊这个电影，他说“暧昧”的感觉很正确。电影是改编自同名话剧，HH碰巧看过此话剧。他说在原话剧中神父和与之对着干的修女(Sister Aloysius)有明显说不清道不明的情感联系，但在电影中，导演撇清了这层关系，让神父和质疑她的修女变成十足的对头。这部电影包裹着一个宗教的外壳，其内里却是讨论关爱的出发点和怀疑作为手段的二义性能。循循善诱的神父在去职之前的布道会上，以一个精彩的打比方来反击修女对他的捕风捉影般的质疑。喜欢这段布道，抄录于此。

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this - that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.



‘Is gossiping a sin?’ she asked the old man.



‘Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?’



(Irish Brogue)

‘Yes!’ Father O’Rourke answered her. ‘Yes, you ignorant, badly broughtup female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!’



So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness.



‘Not so fast!’ says O’Rourke. ‘I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!’ So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.



‘Did you gut the pillow with the knife?’ he says.



‘Yes, Father.’‘And what was the result?’



‘Feathers,’ she said.



‘Feathers?’ he repeated.



‘Feathers everywhere, Father!’



‘Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!’



‘Well,’ she said, ‘it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.’



‘And that,’ said Father O’Rourke, ‘is GOSSIP!’



In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.