作為一名演員，他是《天堂電影院》中永遠熱愛電影的托托，也是《放牛班的春天》里童年唱出天籟之音的皮埃爾。作為一名導演，他歷時11年游弋叢林，注視昆蟲的繽紛世界；又用4年翱翔藍天，追尋群鳥的千金一諾；他還曾登上世界之巔，記錄下人類挑戰極限的渴望。他就是影壇大師雅克?貝漢。今年他耗資5億，歷時7年，足跡遍及南北兩極，將我們帶入嘆為觀止的《海洋》，令每一個渴望自由的靈魂都直面一次極致的震撼。

段隱隱 編注

Jean Luc-Goddard[1] once said “Photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty-four times a second.” What you choose to show on the screen can have profound affects worldwide and influences generations to come. Film is without a doubt the most vivid art form that the world has ever seen. With its moving images, one can convey[2] a message to anyone and unite people of all backgrounds to a common cause. This is the mission of that rench actor and film director Jacques Perrin has in mind when creating his films.

More so than ever, the world needs to be united for the common good. “With the world connected through the media, every conflict, every crisis, should affect everyone around the globe,” remarked Perrin on the state of a globalized world. An oil spill in the gulf, a tsunami in Japan, or political unrest in Libya should be the concern of everyone in the world.[3] With films such as L’empire du milieu du sud, Winged Migration, and Oceans, Perrin is meticulous in creating grand pieces of art;[4] often taking several years (ten years as in the case of L’empire du milieu du sud) in order to educate the public to the greatest extent. His goal in these films is not to force facts onto the audience, but to beseech[5] the viewer to look at themselves and question who they are and what role they play in this world.

The first film by Perrin viewed at the French Film Festival recently was the nature epic Oceans released in 2009. The film is astonishing as it portrays the ocean and the life within it as it comes into contact with mankind. Humans are shown as almost alien like; the audience gets a glimpse of our own species through images of a ship that is distorted by the crystal surface of a bay, a ghostly rocket rising into the night sky, or the remnants of trash left behind like the ruins of an ancient civilization.[6] The creatures of the deep are the main character, the heroes of the film, and we are the villainous secondary characters that the viewer hardly ever sees.[7]

The audience becomes attached to the sea-life as Perrin illustrates the cohesiveness that goes into sea-life.[8] Nature is unsympathetic[9]; yet even the most violent act serves a purpose. Baby turtles, shuffling to the water’s edge for their lives, are scooped up by seagulls to be eaten.[10] Sitting in the theater, much of the audience cringed[11] at the sight of these “cute” turtles being swept up to their doom, but Perrin conveys the message of a life-cycle here. The turtles will be used as food for the birds so that they may live, and although “one out of a thousand turtles makes it to water, it is still enough to carry on the species[12].” Life goes on. Tenderness exists within the ocean as well; as we see a mother walrus embracing her baby, seemingly dancing with it in the icy waters of the arctic.[13] After viewing the beautiful natural and organic world that exists within the ocean, the evidence of humans is jarring[14] to the viewer. Whales, seals, and other forms of marine life are shown tangled within the rigid nets of fishermen writhing to get free.[15]

Mankind is shown as an invading force, hell-bent[16] on killing all in its path. Fishermen brutally spear dolphins, catch sharks only to cut off the fins and discard the still living bodies, and harpoon majestic whales.[17] The once crystal blue waters are turned into a frothy red mass of dying fish and sea mammals as Perrin juxtaposes the life-giving violence of nature against the needless and wasteful killing of mankind.[18] Nature itself becomes a character as the storms batter manmade structures such as a lighthouse.[19] In one scene, a battleship is tossed among the violent waves of the tempest, reminding us that man’s strongest weapons are rendered as toys against the power of Mother Nature.[20]

Near the end of the film, Perrin stands in front of a display with stuffed depictions of animals that have long become extinct, many due to human influence, with his real life son Lancelot. As Lancelot first symbolized the curiosity of youth toward the ocean during the opening of the film, Perrin looks to his son as representing future generations. He points out that as mankind can come together in a globalized world for trade and commerce, perhaps they can also come together in order to protect the ocean that they have slowly been killing over time. Through his son, he beseeches future generations to come together and reverse the damage that has been done through centuries of neglect.[21]

The film was released in 2010 by Disneynature, much to the chagrin of Perrin.[22] The Disney version of the film is geared toward children, therefore much of the scenes that show the horrifying treatment of the ocean by humans is largely edited out.[23] This completely defeats the purpose of the film, and the impact of the Disney film falls flat[24]. Perrin himself refuses to view the Disney version for just this purpose. In fact, upon mentioning the Disney version, Perrin’s face turns grim and his disappoint for its editing is more than apparent.

In many of his films, Oceans in particular, Perrin employs[25] what he believes is the future of cinema—the revolutionary digital camera. With a digital camera, Perrin claims that the art of filmmaking has for the first time been put into the hands of the amateur[26] filmmaker. This, he claims, will have profound effects on cinema as new perspectives will finally be able to be expressed. Indeed, new techniques will be used in order to tell stories and convey messages.

One example Perrin found joy in recalling was when he and his filmmaking team attempted to strap a microphone to a bird in the 2001 film Winged Migration in order to hear what the bird heard in flight.[27] What they discovered was astonishing. When the animal landed, it was breathing rapidly and deeply as if it was out of breath. “Keep that in mind next time you see a bird land in your backyard, it is not doing it to be beautiful, but it is exhausted and trying to catch its breath,” Perrin joked. Perrin once claimed “Cinema is an artistic spectacle, a source of emotion, but it can also function as a weapon to serve and defend the noblest causes, not the least of which is nature” with new filming techniques and tools, this “weapon” will be put into everyone’s hands one day in order to make the world a better place.

Vocabulary

1. Jean Luc-Goddard: 讓—呂克?戈達爾，一位思想激進且多產的導演，具法國和瑞士雙重國籍。

2. convey: 傳達，表達。

3. 海灣溢油、日本海嘯和利比亞政治動亂是世界上每一個人都應該關注的。

4. 本句提到的電影依次為《中華帝國之南》、《遷徙的鳥》和《海洋》。meticulous: 極其細心的，一絲不茍的。

5. beseech: 懇求，乞求。

6. alien: 局外人；distort: 歪曲，扭曲；ghostly: 幽靈般可怕的；remnant: 殘余。

7. the deep : <詩> 海，海洋；villainous: 罪惡的，卑鄙可恥的；secondary: 次要的。

8. illustrate: 說明，闡明；cohesiveness: 粘結性，內聚性。

9. unsympathetic: 冷漠無情的。

10. shuffle: 慢慢移動；scoop up: 快速撿起。

11. cringe: 畏縮。

12. carry on the species: 指“物種繁衍”。

13. tenderness: 照顧，照料；walrus: 海象；embrace: 擁抱；arctic: 北極圈，北極地帶。

14. jar: 使人感到不快，發出不和諧聲音。

15. 畫面中鯨魚、海豹和其他海洋生物被纏在漁民堅固的網里，痛苦地扭動著想要掙脫。

16. hell-bent: 固執的，拼命的。

17. 漁民們殘忍地用魚叉捉海豚，捕鯊魚僅僅為了切掉魚鰭，而把依然活著的軀體摒棄，用捕鯨叉捕大型鯨。

18. frothy: 起泡的；mammal: 哺乳動物；juxtapose: 把……并置。

19. batter: 連續猛擊；lighthouse: 燈塔。

20. 在一個場景中，暴風雨中一艘戰船在的駭浪中搖晃，這提醒我們：人類最強大的武器在大自然的力量面前如同玩具。

21. reverse: 使反轉，取消；neglect: 忽視，忽略。

22. Disneynature: 華特迪士尼電影集團于2008年突出的高端制片品牌，專門制作大屏幕紀錄片；chagrin: 懊惱，悔恨。

23. be geared toward (to): 給……準備，為……安排；edit out: 剪輯，刪除。

24. fall flat: 這里指影片的結果“反響平平”。

25. employ: 采用，使用。

26. amateur: 業余的。

27. strap: 束牢，扎緊；microphone: 擴音器，麥克風。

（來源：英語學習雜志）