大家都说把名著拍成了雷剧，其实还好，只是用了一种现代的手法去拍摄，摆脱了历史抗战剧的沉重，从这个角度来看，其实也算是一种创新。另外的优点就是人物刻画地其实还不错，说几个有代表性，性格突出的人物，比如座山雕、蝴蝶迷、醉花，三炮这些角色其实都在名著本身的人物性格上加入了演员自身对角色的分析，没有硬套原著的表现，其实还别具一格，令人眼前一亮!其实翻拍名著就是怕毫无新意却又突破不了原著，这么说来，这部剧还是值得一看的！

This is the harrowing story of a (not quite) typical mule: Maria Alvarez (Moreno), an intelligent and fiercely independent 17-year-old girl from Colombia who agrees to smuggle a half-kilo of heroin into the United States.

Walking out of the theatre, I found myself at a loss of words.

What struck me the most about the story was how un-exaggerate everything was. Let it be Maria’s job, her village, or her family. They were portrayed with moderation and care. The result was impressively real and honest. Maria’s job was not uncommon for a third world country’s village girl of 17. I’ve read far worse treatment and horror stories of factory workers in ShenZheng, China. The real evil was in the lack of a choice. All Maria had was the job in the flower factory. It was the only economic opportunity presented to Maria. It was what her family, even her entire village depended on. Sounds familiar? I thought of that British mining town in Billy Elliot.

Like all country girls who rebelled against their fate, Maria made a choice, the same choice all country girls in her shoes made, to go to the city. On her way, she was tempted away from the possibility of becoming a rich family’s maid; instead, she was offered an adventure. Traveling, America, and American dollars added together proven to be too big a temptation to turn down for a rebellious country girl. Was there really a huge difference for her, between pulling thorns off roses and swallowing cocaine pellets and carried them to America? Both were rich people’s merchandises, both were beyond her reach. She was one little link in the economy chain. The latter sounded a lot more exciting than the former, and it would take her beyond the depressing village outside of Bogota. She was, finally, presented a choice.

The subsequent story made me admire Maria’s intelligence and coolness. But it also chilled me to the bone to see how cruel and brutal the drug world was (is).

Would legalizing drugs clean up all these brutality? Would legalizing drugs prevent Maria and her fellow Columbian women from participating in this dark and ugly trade?

If so, then why wouldn’t any country take that step?

“Because drugs are evil and hurt people who use them. How could you legalize something so damaging to our very selves? How could any government give out any signal that drug abuse is ‘legal’, therefore, ‘ok’?”

Because not legalizing it made it worse? Because the huge profit margin is driving the drug trade into a frenzy, and it is killing poor people like Maria left and right? Cigarette is legal, isn’t it? It is harmful to people’s health, too. Why is that okay to endorse but not drugs? Since when human being became such innocent creatures?

“If you legalize drugs, then more people will become drug addicts. That would be disastrous and self-destructive.”

Okay. People have self-destructive tendencies. There are evils in these world, too many. People always have the choice of whether to become drug addicts, just like people have the choice of whether to smoke a cigarette. Are you saying that government has the right to make the choice for its citizens that the government knows what is best? What about education? What about the fittest survive? It is not like I don’t get drug offered when I walk down Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, it is not like high school kids don’t get drug offers in parties, at playground, on their way to school, anyways. It is happening right now. How much worse could it get? Besides, once it became legal, it could take away the “adventurous lure” it has right now to the rebellious type. Couldn’t it?

Drug abuse is part of modern societies already. We have to deal with it. But if legalizing it could take away the huge profit for the drug lord, then it could reduce their incentive to produce them. It could dry up so many money sources for terrorist groups and anti-government organizations. It could save Maria and girls like her the fate of dying on ruptured cocaine pellets that they carry in their stomach. It could save them from being treated like animals (”mule”), whose stomach was cut open so their cargo could be retrieved. Mule’s life was of no consequence. The dehumanization of Maria and her fellow mules was not caused by drug’s own evil-ness directly. It was made possible by the huge profit of drug trade, and its huge profit came from their illegal status. It was made possible because of human being’s own greed.

If government wants to do good to the society, then it could place the choice into everyone’s own hand. Take away the possibility to make people even more greedy than they already are. Don’t tempt them. Trust them.

In Chinese modern history, there was a much revered national hero, General Lin Zexu. Who initiate the fight against the British in 1840’s. He burned all the opium he could gather in a huge public display. His angry words are still recited in today’s Chinese elementary school classrooms, “Opium is evil, it weakened our people, our soldier, our country…” But the fact was, Chinese society was weakened from inside before opium even appeared. The closed society has been quietly rotten away from top to bottom for centuries. There was little outlet for real talent of the society. There wasn’t much progress happeneing for the society as a whole. Corruptions were prevalent. Opium provided an escape. A dying plant happened upon a killer disease. It was easy to blame the disease. Even though General Lin Zexu won his opium war, the final treaty between the British and the Qin Dynasty turned out to be the first of many humiliating treaties to come in China’s Modern History. Burning Opium didn’t help General Lin’s cause. Burning the entire country might. That was exactly what Chairman Mao tried over a century later.

There is a little analogy in gardening. When a flower attracted diseases, it was often because the plant itself was weak and unhealthy, either from lack of water, light, or too much water, etcetera. To prevent disease from happening, you either make the plant strong and healthy, or you try to shut down all disease sources. The latter has proven to be a harder path. Shutting down flow of air would usually cause more problems to the plant. Exposing the plant to the natural elements was usually more healthy for the plant. As long as the plant was healthy, often it could fight off many diseases using its own strength.

一、颠倒的世界

　　早在两千多年前，古希腊人通过观察月亮就知道地球是圆形的。只可惜之后取代古希腊人和罗马人的基督徒们傻乎乎的依旧坚信地球是平的，直到麦哲伦的环球航行证明了他没有在地球的尽头便掉下去。世界颠倒的意象似乎从很早就存在了人类的脑海中，而且意义各有不同，有好有坏，不过均带有些疯狂和愤世嫉俗的颠覆意味。

　　美国作家亨德里克?房龙有个小嗜好，就是亲自给自己的书画插图，其中不乏其文字中透露的那种带有讽刺调侃味道的小趣味。他曾经画过一幅画，画面中北半球的人站立在地球上，而南半球的人和树木则纷纷掉落。德国诗人海涅曾经为了世界中颠倒的黑白愤愤不平，诗文中描绘了一个用脑袋走路，死人给活人草拟墓志铭的世界。

　　如果仔细回想，现实中颠倒倒错的小事其实经常发生，呈现的景象也十分怪异，那时候便会发现沉默严肃的世界实际上具备了满麻袋的冷幽默。

　　威尔第的著名歌剧“茶花女”在首演时曾惨遭滑铁卢。倒不是因为歌剧糟糕，而是当一位重达二百六十多斤的女高音出演重病垂危、苍白纤弱的茶花女时，实在效果惊人——惊人的糟糕，那场面倒像是一出滑稽讽刺剧，而非感人肺腑的爱情篇章。无辜的威尔第就这么败给了超重的肥肉，音乐也无法挽救什么。

　　在《圣经故事》中，上帝在创世的第六天用泥土造了亚当，从亚当身上取下一根肋骨造出了夏娃。在几个世纪的斗争后，人们不再满足于书本上的故事和信仰，而是从科学角度追溯人类的共同祖先，人类最早的起源被无数次正实并推翻。人类带着很多疑惑不停探索。

　　对于即将生产的母亲来说，她能确定的只有孩子的性别，其他的一概未知。他会喜欢什么颜色，爱上男人还是女人，性格是懦弱还是坚强，只有天知地知。

　　也许在故事中，爱情的伊甸园只存在于男人和女人之间，但当他们被放逐到世界上，经过了这么多年，爱情不再只独属于男人和女人。有些人甚至不满足这与生俱来的性别，剥夺上帝所剩无几的选择权。对于这一点，上帝也管不着。

　　约翰?卡梅隆?米切尔在他的电影“赫德维格的愤怒乐队”（Hedwig and the Angry Inch）中，更是直接唱到，“远在地球还是扁的时候，人类有三种性别：一种像两个男人，背对背黏在一起，他们叫太阳之子；跟着他们外型差不多的是大地之女，她们像两个女子，合二为一；然后是月亮的子女，他们一半是太阳，一半是大地。一半是女，一半是男。”诸神忌惮人类的力量，于是用雷电把他们劈成两半，变成孤独的两脚动物。

　　其实正如地球是圆形的，住在地球的另一端也没有人会失去平衡跌落到宇宙中去。颠倒的世界，只不过是世界的另一面。我们的倒影。

　　二、沙漠妖姬

　　“我曾路过天堂，却不曾到过自己的灵魂深处。”

　　英国先锋电影人德里克?加曼的影片“庆典”（Jubilee）中有这样一句话，“只要我们还听得到音乐，就不会听到世界分崩离析的巨响。”这是否可以说明在那些为自己的理想和权利斗争的少数人心中，音乐的重要性？因为音乐对美没有偏见，它包容各种情绪起伏、音符跃动。音乐不会因为听众皮肤的颜色改变旋律，人人都可信赖它，都可享受它的美。

　　“沙漠妖姬”就开始于夏琳（Charlene）的名曲“未曾有自己”（I’ve never been to me），那是属于经历沧桑的女人的歌曲：她游历了美国，到过法国尼斯，欣赏过希腊岛屿，生活在万千谎言中，放荡地摇曳生姿，接受着男人们的邀约，虚掷光阴。她曾经路过天堂，却始终没有找到自己的心之所向。

　　打扮得艳光四射的米斯就在这首歌曲中诉说自己的故事。他也结了婚，有了孩子，但是有一天他蓦然发现自己更喜欢女人的衣裙和光鲜的妆容。他不想伤害任何人，只想追求自己喜爱的生活——在俱乐部的灯光下为观众展现他热爱的歌曲，他的美丽。但是人们的非议和对家庭的渴望与恐惧让米斯渐渐迷失了方向。他带着满身的疲惫和迷惑与两位好友伯纳黛特、费利西亚踏上了去往沙漠小城的旅途。开着辆超大的巴士，招摇过市。

　　在荒漠中他们遇到土著人和城镇中的居民，他们大多用惊异的眼神目不转睛的打量着这三个装扮妖冶艳丽的“女人”，有些人喜欢她们，有些人讨厌她们，有些人则伤害她们。大多数时候，她们沉默以对，必要的时候就毅然回击。也有她们无能为力的时候。

　　给我印象深刻的一幕是那个清晨，她们兴致勃勃地准备上路，却发现巴士的车身上被人用红漆喷满了鲜红的侮辱性话语。米斯和伯纳黛特无言地摘下了墨镜，费利西亚却戴上了墨镜。这看似不经意的动作也有意无意地刻画了这三个人的性格：米斯和伯纳黛特选择面对现实的残酷，而费利西亚却选择悄悄逃开，这也给她之后为何沉迷于药物作出了合理的解释。

　　面对羞辱和社会的压力，她们已经足够坚强。总会有很多辛酸的时刻，比如朋友不愿意当众承认和她们相识，台下的观众不欣赏她们的表演，有人朝她们扔水瓶叫他们人妖，还有地痞流氓的追打。对此，她们学会理解，然后一笑了之，就算会哭泣，第二天也能再次活蹦乱跳。就算如此坚强隐忍的她们，还是会受到伤害，正如车上刺眼醒目的红字一样来自社会的不理解。

　　那是一种灵魂深处的痛楚，也是许多人心中难言的苦楚。渴望爱与被爱。

　　电影中最美的画面是每当巴士行驶在金色的沙漠中，费利西亚穿着缀满亮片的衣服，拖着长长的头巾，随风飘扬，巴士犹如长了长长的尾巴在水中畅游的鲸鱼。天空中响彻着威尔第的歌剧“茶花女”的唱段，那个女孩歌颂着自己将要遇见的爱情。

　　她们就像怒放在滚烫岩石上的天堂鸟，展开双翅，散发着比沙漠的阳光还要高昂的热情与活力。那样的画面无法用昂贵的画框定格，无尽的生命力从银幕中慢慢溢出。荒芜的沙漠因此生意盎然。
[怒放在滚烫岩石上的天堂]
　　三、宽容

　　人类的无知与暴虐似乎是并存的。当人类开始相信冥冥中的神灵时，我们便开始为服从这些虚构的想象而付出代价。每个时代，每个国家都有自己的立法与道德准则，一旦有人触碰到这个底线，便会不同程度的受到惩罚。当男人爱上男人，女人恋上女人，那些上帝的法则，道德的约束便会统统跑出来横加指责。

　　一生都在为同性恋群体争取权利的德里克?加曼可以说，“异性恋不是生活的准则与标尺，它只是比同性恋更加普遍。”此言一出，定会有人追随，有人反对。我们没必要效仿古希腊学者们展开几天几夜的讨论，没人逼迫你去接受或者质疑。你可以不理解，不屑一顾，但是得学会尊重与宽容。宽容不是凡事忍气吞声，沉默寡言，也不是对于恶人恶事一笑了之。关于究竟怎样才是宽容，也是房龙在其著作《宽容》里讨论的核心。

　　《大英百科全书》的第二十六卷中写道：“宽容（来源于拉丁字tolerare）：容许别人有行动和判断的自由，对不同于自己或传统观点的见解的耐心公正的容忍。”远在古希腊，人们从未有过对于真理和谬误严格森严的教规，也没有什么信条，这一理念也体现在他们的文学中。《荷马史诗》中的宇宙统治者宙斯虽然脾气暴躁，但是还算通情达理，允许有关他的玩笑，并不把他本身和他所拥有的权利看得太重。

　　苏格拉底为了传播这种宽容，引颈受戮。房龙在书中大大抨击了教会的人，无数臭名昭著的事件也都由教会酝酿。简单点说，教会的人就是一些坚持自己信仰的人，这并无任何过错，但是当他们要把这些信仰强加于人，制订成金规戒律，违反者便拖上火刑架烧死时，灾祸产生了，罪恶也由此而生了。他们认为自己的上帝被亵渎了，于是要借上帝之命来惩戒这些不知好歹的人。不过，台比留大帝曾说过，“如果那位上帝认为必须补偿他所蒙受的损失，他一定会自己关照的。”

　　“待人宽则人亦待己宽”不仅实现了“罗马和平”，也适用于今时今日。当电影中的那些人把那些垃圾和肮脏的字句投向那三个无辜的人时，他们便是不宽容。别人恋爱、装扮、跳舞又如何伤害到他们的利益了？仅仅是视觉上的不能容忍么？

　　其实，一直都有抵制同性恋的运动和文字上的口诛笔伐，很少看到同性恋群体跳出来抵制攻击异性恋。在电影中也是，我喜欢那三个“女人”并非因为他们特殊或者是同性恋，也并非出于什么同情，而是喜欢她们对于生命的热爱，对于人们的热情和善良，喜欢她们对于美的不舍追求。
[夜幕逐渐掩下，星光便会露出]
　　四、晨星闪耀

　　“作为见证人，我必须写这个时代的悲伤，但并不是要拂去你们的笑容。请读一读我在字里行间所写的这个世界的关怀爱心，然后，把书合上，去爱吧！希望你们有更好的未来，无忧无虑地去爱。也请记住我们也曾爱过。夜幕逐渐掩下，星光便会露出。
　　我活在爱中！”——德里克?加曼

　　沙漠中，每到傍晚天空都会弥漫了红、黄、蓝三种颜色，犹如漫天撑起一幅缤纷馥郁的锦帷。她们终于可以脱下斑斓的外壳，投入自然的怀抱，云朵为她们烧得热气腾腾。那些蜥蜴和小虫，都可以收起抵御外界伤害的保护色，享受黑夜带来的宁静，月光鼓起的清弦。

　　赫德维格在她愤怒的故事最后，找到了被朱庇特劈掉的另一半，不再一只眼睛看世界，而是纯净完整地走在街道中，毫无掩饰。

　　“沙漠妖姬”的结尾，米斯终于又回到了家，和费利西亚一起站在人群中高唱着ABBA乐队的名曲，倾倒众人。伯纳黛特在旅途中找到了她的爱情。

　　当世界颠倒，似乎无法如常所愿，一切都看似疯狂，太阳甚至会绕着地球转动。就像加曼说的，去爱吧，无忧无虑地去爱。那些曾经苦苦寻觅的东西就在最后一刻出现在眼前，如晨星闪耀。
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http://www.mtime.com/my/LadyInSatin/blog/680030/