大移民

上周第一次尝试了港村三俗之wakesurfing。开船的教练晒得油光锃亮，像一只走地鸡，肌肉上覆盖着一层鲜美肥油。每次他趴在船尾调整造浪机，我都强忍伸手挠他脚底板的冲动（怕他踹我）。其实他全程只是在船上大喊大叫，并没有下水，我心想没准他也是装的他根本就不会呢。

大海灌进我的鼻子和脑子里，好咸，晚餐少吃点盐。当晚我熄灯躺下，还觉得床在我身下微微摇摆起伏，好像这张两百块的二手床垫正带着我在吐露港漂流。

想起之前看扬特洛尔的《大移民》，瑞典农民为了逃荒乘船迁往明尼苏达。丽芙乌曼演的大美女农妇，在空气污浊的船舱里染上败血症、生了虱子。十周后船终于抵达，她迫不及待地在蓝天和草地之间躺下，希望在坚实的陆地上得到片刻休息。

然而她刚闭上眼，就感到大地在自己身下如水起伏，风吹草地掀起阵阵海浪声。她立刻呼吸急促，只有紧紧抓住身侧的草皮寻求安慰，提醒自己已经着陆。

作为国内最关注移民影像的影迷之一，我的最高理想是在我所生活的城市——深圳，中国头号移民城市——创办一个以“移民”为主题的国际影展，放眼全球搜索当年及上一年的关注“移民”的电影作品，进行集中展映，也放映一些经典的关注“移民”的电影作品。当然，这是痴人说梦，但这也是我多年来持续搜索、观看与“移民”相关的影视作品的动力。我一直在搜寻那些史诗级的移民题材的电影作品，为尚还子虚乌有的“深圳国际移民电影节”储备重量级的资源。 伊利亚·卡赞的《美国，美国》（1963）是一部史诗级的作品，但它聚焦的更多的是个体的挣扎，而非移民的“浪潮”。爱德嘉·莱兹的《另一个故乡》（2013）也是一部史诗级的作品，但却只是一部“移民前史”。《大移民》是我看的第一部称得上是“移民史诗”的电影作品，它的格局并不宏大，但足以折射出“移民潮”中人的困境以及人在困境中寻求改变的勇气、坚毅与冒险精神。

“本片讲述从瑞典斯莫兰省的利尤德郡移居到北美洲的人们的故事。1844年利尤德郡有1925户居民，在100年间，人口增加了3倍。除了254名拥有土地的农场主之外，还有39名工匠，92名无地产农民和11名士兵，另外，还有274名仆人、23名失业者、104名乞丐、60名残障者、5名反应迟钝者、3个白痴、3个妓女和两个小偷。该郡由四个男人通过他们的宗教或非宗教的权力控制着：布鲁桑德牧师、英格纳林警长、贵族爵士保罗·卢德伯格中尉，还有教堂助祭、商人坡·坡森。这与当时大多数其他郡的情形一致。”



伴着耕作的声音，在土地、石头的空镜头中，影片打出了以上字幕。这是“大移民”的背景，不算荒凉的土地，却承载着一组如此冷漠的数字。“移民”总避免不了“乡愁”，但这并不是一部关于乡愁的电影，如果说这部影片里也有乡愁，大概都存在于“静物”之中，而在人们的身上，他们无暇顾及，执念远去。

影片长达191分钟（德国版和美国版分别少9分钟和40分钟），用了将近一半的篇幅来讲移民前史——这群远涉重洋者的困境。卡尔·奥斯卡和克里斯蒂娜拥有自己的农场，却只能勉强为生，在遭遇天灾和痛失爱女之后，克里斯蒂娜终于同意离开伤心之地，到彼岸重新开始。罗伯特是卡尔·奥斯卡的弟弟，年轻的雇农，被雇主毒打，被警长追缉，他接受了一些新知识，对美国充满幻想和向往。他的好友阿维德，5名反应迟钝者之一，却带给他最大的信任，并始终追随他。丹尼尔一家、乌尔丽卡等，因为信仰问题，遭受宗教和法律的双重迫害，唯有自我放逐以自救，他们同时希望抵达上帝的净土。

前史叙事是漫长而煎熬的。扬·特洛尔似乎刻意弱化了戏剧冲突，更多表现的是人的状态。他们的苦难，存于天地之间，自然之物；空镜头或别有用心的特写，扬·特洛尔以景照人，以物顾人，做到了王国维所言之“一切景语皆情语也”。劳作、用餐、洗刷、聚会、狂想、发呆……人物和事件在扬·特洛尔的镜头中总是显得特别的日常化，同时带有一点干涩的诗意。前史的叙事节奏是非常缓慢的，沉闷与枯燥让观众几乎能够切身体会到环境与生活的固化。苦难是画地为牢的世界的产物，却也是打破僵局的契机，如同影片中敲开冰层的锤子。在苦难的叙事中，扬·特洛尔也是非常克制的，平静的呈现足让观众万分揪心，无需让影片中的人物歇斯底里——真正的苦难拒绝煽情。

在《另一个故乡》中，我感受到了浓烈的乡愁。对于故乡，《另一个故乡》的主旨是留恋，而《大移民》的前史部分，我看到的是故乡的沉沦。或为生活所困，或为梦想所诱，或为信仰所惑，他们渴望也只能从沉沦中出走——乡愁只在远方，而此刻他们只想抛弃。远去的乡愁终有一天会回到他们身边，扬·特洛尔此时让它远去，是因为他理解困境中的人们。


乡愁远去，他们踏上了漫长的征途。此去多艰难，他们肯定有预见，但当灾难来临，他们的痛苦和绝望还是会被放大很多倍，而他们也只能选择默默承受。19世纪从欧洲到美国的移民潮中，几乎每一艘船上都会死人，因为旅途太漫长（两个月以上），不可预测的因素太多，医疗水平太低。残疾老人之死，丹尼尔妻子之死，都让人心有戚戚，但旅途中最动人的部分却是克里斯蒂娜对卡尔·奥斯卡的“临终”告别。“你是我最好的朋友。”当他们平静地互相告白，多年来看似平淡的夫妻情分在那一瞬间浓得化不开了。最高级的爱情从来都不是用甜言蜜语来表达的，而是以相知、谅解来达成的。克里斯蒂娜、卡尔·奥斯卡与乌尔丽卡的矛盾也是非常精彩的段落，从偏见到和解，书写了人性中闪烁的光斑。其中，丽芙·乌曼（饰 克里斯蒂娜）和莫妮卡·泽特兰德（饰 乌尔丽卡）在船上因虱子发生冲突的那场对手戏，她们都贡献了教科书式的表演——真实到工作人员不觉得她们是在演戏。丽芙·乌曼是伯格曼的御用女主角，其演技在影史上都是排得上号的，而莫妮卡·泽特兰德只是当时瑞典的流行音乐巨星，表演经验不多，她的表现更值得我们喝彩。据丽芙·乌曼说，莫妮卡·泽特兰德的个性与乌尔丽卡高度一致，她是这个角色的不二人选——出演之前，她可是备受质疑的，尤其是受到小说原作者维汉·莫伯格的质疑。

不得不说，扬·特洛尔在影片中玩了一出非常高明的“明修栈道，暗度陈仓”的戏。当克里斯蒂娜流鼻血不止，并跟卡尔·奥斯卡的“临终”告别时，我已经深陷悲戚之中，以为克里斯蒂娜大限已至。但扬·特洛尔笔锋一转，丹尼尔前来报丧，死的其实是他的妻子！虽然之前已有伏笔（死者向克里斯蒂娜说过自己已患重病），我也早有心理准备，但扬·特洛尔的处理还是颇为巧妙的，也是非常有慈悲心的一笔。



扬·特洛尔身兼编剧、导演、摄影，可以说是影片的绝对主导者，他也很善用自己的三重身份。除了上文提及的情节，影片中还有不少神来之笔。比如少女心的克里斯蒂娜荡秋千一段，做到了情节、表演、摄影“圣三位一体”。又比如罗伯特（艾迪·埃克斯伯格 饰）淘金梦一段，不管从艺术的角度还是技术的角度看，超现实主义感都很强烈。更不要说结尾处卡尔·奥斯卡的窃笑和树林、湖、雁群的微妙融合了。

扬·特洛尔的摄影也是影片的一大亮点，沉稳的长镜头中，静中有动，动而能静。扬·特洛尔并不是希区柯克那种严格执行剧本和分镜头的严谨创作者，他的摄影机在拍摄现场不时会有一些因地制宜的即兴创作。他很看重拍摄的环境，那些一不小心跑进画框内的画面，往往会成为他摄影机的点睛之笔。扬·特洛尔称自己是一个用摄影机画框作画的画家，他知道自己要什么，但最终呈现在画布上的，一开始是看不到的。

美国大导演约翰·福特曾经属意执导该片，甚至已经找人翻译剧本了，但小说原作者维汉·莫伯格却不肯放出改编权。扬·特洛尔是维汉·莫伯格钦点的导演，那时候的他只导演了两部长片，资历和影响力和约翰·福特相比都差太远了，但维汉·莫伯格在看过他之前的作品后，认定他是唯一的人选。维汉·莫伯格的眼光非常精准，但好的创作者之间很容易水火不容（特别是各自擅长的领域不同的时候），他因为创作上的分歧和扬·特洛尔闹得很不愉快，但作为一个专业的电影导演，扬·特洛尔顶住压力，默默地坚持自己的创作。而电影上映后，维汉·莫伯格对影片还是认可的。

扬·特洛尔也许算不上一个伟大的电影作者，但他确实是《大移民》导演的最佳人选，他的平民视角、悲悯之心以及画框内的叙事天赋让《大移民》成为一部伟大的平民史诗、移民史诗。

Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell’s categoricalpièces-de-résistance, a diptych, 7-hours long saga based on his fellow countryman, the literature titan Vilhelm Moberg’s THE EMIGRANTS ensemble.

Divided into THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND, this 19th-century epic holds a dear look at the travails of an ordinary Swedish household, the Nilsson family, resides in the Småland hinterland, when (mostly natural) adversity mounts against their livelihood, the eldest son Karl Oskar (von Sydow) mulls over the prospect of emigrating to the United States. A proposition deprecated by his wife Kristina (Ullmann) initially, but when poverty and hunger is aggravated by the premature death of one of their brood, she eventually accedes, joining their emigrating pack are Karl Oskar’syounger brother Robert (Axberg), his farmhand friend Arvid (Lindstedt), the family of Kristina’s uncle Pastor Daniel Andreasson (Edwall, a straight-up hard-hitter, brilliantly bringing about an air of smug virtuosity that treacherously verges on hubris), who is at loggerheads with the supercilious local parish clergy for preaching to the fallen ones (viz. those who are deemed not worthy of Christian gospel), among whom a former prostitute Ulrika (jazz chanteuseMonica Zetterlund), now a reborn woman, also partakes in the trek with her teenage daughter Elin (played by Monica's own daughter Eva-Lena Zetterlund).

THE EMIGRANTS itself can be bisected into two halves, before and after the family’s embarkment for the state of Freedom, during the former, Troell introduces the hardship and inequity (religious parochialism and mistreatment) with a pastoral equanimity (occasionally lard with invigorating drumbeats) and purveys his main characters with sufficient impetus for their longing for a reset button in an idealized country where everyone is (purportedly) being treated equally and fairly, especially for the young Robert, it is the California gold rush beckons him, and supports him against the cavalier abuse he receives on a daily base when working as a farmhand.

Once their journey kick-starts, a looming nostalgia begins to sweep the cohort, Troell (who is also presiding over the cinematography department) fixes the valediction shot with a subdued solemnity, no goodbyes, tear-infused eyes, lingering looks are deployed, just a long-shot of the elderly parents seeing their children off in front of their house, incorporating the place into their final adieu, and the impact is ineffable.

Tellingly, THE EMIGRANTS' most accomplished passage is theten-weeks trans-Atlantic voyageon a wooden brig, and Troell valiantly re-enacts its sordid state of affairs with swingeing maritime verisimilitude when most passengers are fallen victims of sea-sick, life is snuffed within a two-by-four space, by scurvy or even quinsy (a pertinent reference to today’s illegal immigrants’ ordeal on the sea). Here Liv Ullmann holds court in two magnificent scenes, one is Kristina'saltercation with Ulrika, both actress are emotively unsparing, and letting out their prejudice and retorts once for all, which also presciently serves as a catalyst for their eventually best-friends transition; the other is when Kristina, apparently in extremis, exchanges with Karl Oskar their fondness, as if for the last time, by confessing that they are each other’s best friends, a superlative affirmation that true love does exist thanks to the two players’ most poignant delivery.

Once the survivors touches the terra firma but incognita, they are still miles away from where they will start life anew, hopping on the train and later a steamer, than on foot, when they finally reach their destination in Minnesota, their first dream is dashed by a boastful liar who never expect his lie will be debunked in his face, and THE EMIGRANTS finishes when Karl Oskar finds their new land under their new identities, American homesteaders.

Right picking up where its predecessor leaves,THE NEW LAND takes place entirely in the new land, where the Swedish emigrants forming a somewhat enclave, mostly living among themselves, which brings about a problematic issue about the story’s sense of locality and Troell’s inaction of alleviate this anonymity, if it is not for the random appearances of the indigenous Indians, one can safely surmise that the household is still live in their homeland, with very similar sylvan exuberance and harsh winter-time, and not much foreignness to interact with, in a way, it takes the shine off one of the story’s focal points: displacement.

Yet, what THE NEW LAND excels in, is that oater flashback of Robert, who manages to stay alive just long enough after a futile gold-digging attempt with Arvid, a sounding slap in the face to the wide-eyed daydreamers, the pair is saddled with the same drudgery and hardship (not to mention Robert'spotluck is rooked by deception)that ultimate will cost them both their young lives, here Troell launches a more hallucinogenic experiment in accentuating the pair’s delirium and exhaustion when wandering in the desert, to admirable effect.Eddie Axberg has weathered convincingly in honing up Robert’s tale of woe, and his final resignation with fate effectually brings a lump in one’s throat.

Life goes on, as Karl Oskar’s household finally prospers, a God-fearing Kristina turns out to be benighted enough to risk her own life for the sake of procreation, indoctrinated as a wife’s sacrosanct duty, even after receiving the doctor’s warning that another pregnancy would become her undoing, together with a less disinterested depiction of a wanton slaughter during the Sioux Uprising, by suggestion that it is at the expense of those white homesteaders’ hospitality upon which the Indians conducts their retaliation, THE NEW LAND’s luster starts to ebb away, notwithstanding a show-stopping Max von Sydow consistently radiates with plebeian bonhomie, sympathy and mettle from stem to stern of the entire roman-fleuve.

referential film: Ingmar Bergman’s FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1982, 8.5/10).