’Hero’: An Ending That Falls on Its Own Sword
By Stephen Hunter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 27, 2004; Page C01
A mighty wind blows through Yimou Zhang’s martial arts epic “Hero,“ filling the air with dust, ruffling the curtains, setting the candle flames asputter, and blissfully sending Maggie Cheung’s raven hair afly in the sunlight. This may be the windiest movie ever made, and the wind isn’t just actual, it’s also metaphorical: It’s the wind of history roaring through the story, but it’s also the wind of romance, courage, opera and, uh, rubbish.
一陣狂風吹過，塵埃四起，帷幔起伏，燭火飄搖，張曼玉烏黑的長發(fā)在陽光下歡快地飛舞。這一幕出自張藝謀的武俠史詩片《英雄》。這也許是以往電影中風勢最猛烈（注，windy一語雙關，另一意為空洞夸張）的一部，那風不僅僅實實在在，而且隱喻味道十足：貫穿于整個故事之中的不僅是歷史的颶風，也有浪漫、勇氣、以及——哦，垃圾之風。
It’s a brilliant movie, fluent, spectacular, breathtaking and basically, uh, wrong. But let’s save the wrong stuff till the end; the upfront message is more than 90 minutes of gushy joy, of old-time movie pleasures.
這一部光芒萬丈的電影，流暢洗麗，壯觀無比，懾人心魄，但從根本上說，嗯，立意是錯誤的。但，讓我們將那些荒謬的內(nèi)容留到最后來說；最先的消息說那會是超過九十分鐘的煽情愉悅和不落窠臼的觀影樂事。
Zhang is generally considered one of China’s two great directors (Kaige Chen being the other), as “Ju Dou,“ “Raise the Red Lantern“ and “Shanghai Triad“ have proved. In this film, he’s working in a somewhat less esteemed genre than those three serious dramas, but he takes it utterly seriously. So what you have is a brilliant filmmaker making a grindhouse chopsocky.
如《菊豆》、《大紅燈籠高高掛》和《搖啊搖，搖到外婆橋》所證明的，張被公認為是中國秀的兩位導演之一（另一位是陳凱歌）。在這部影片中，他是在致力于較那三部劇情片而言不被看重的一種類型，但他全然嚴肅地對待。所以你看到的是一位出色的電影制作人在拍一部可在*循環(huán)放映的功夫片。
Clearly influenced by the global success of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon“ (another brilliant director, Ang Lee, doing chopsocky), he has set out to duplicate its pleasures on a far greater scale, making, reportedly, the most expensive movie in China. It’s basically a rumination on the Great Man Theory of history with lots of sword fighting.
顯然受到在全球范圍內(nèi)獲得成功的《臥虎藏龍》（另一位出色導演李安也在拍功夫片）的影響，他著手在更大規(guī)模上復制該片所帶來的觀賞愉悅，因而制作了這部據(jù)報道是中國耗資最多的影片。它基本上是在以一些劍術打斗來反思偉人史觀。
The story can be summed up quickly; it’s that basic.
本片的故事可以簡捷地概括出來；那是如此至關重要。
Two-hundred-odd years before the birth of Christ, the king of Qin, the largest of six Chinese states, is trying to conquer an empire. Naturally, the other five kingdoms object, which has led to ceaseless war and slaughter as armies rage this way and that across the land. It has also led to a time of assassins. Hmm, sound familiar? Well, yes, Kaige Chen’s 1999 film “The Emperor and the Assassin“ covered the same situation, though it was twice as long and had a tenth of the action.
公元前200多年，六個王國中的秦國的國王正試圖統(tǒng)一其它王國并建立一個帝國。很自然，其它五個王國要抵抗，各國軍隊在那片土地上征戰(zhàn)不已、勝負不分，這引發(fā)了無休止的戰(zhàn)爭和殺戮，也成就了一個刺客的時代。哦，聽起來熟悉嗎？是的，陳凱歌1999年的作品《荊柯刺秦王》涉及同樣的背景，盡管比起《英雄》來要長一倍而動作場面只有后者的十分之一。
Zhang has gone all kung fu on the old story. There isn’t one assassin, there are three. The king of Qin (Daoming Chen, beaming feral intensity) lives in mortal terror of these extraordinary martial artists, named Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), Flying Snow (Cheung, who co-starred with Leung in Kar Wai Wong’s “In the Mood for Love“) and Long Sky (martial arts up-and-comer Donnie Yen). Poor fella hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in years.
張將所有動作籌碼都壓在這個陳舊的故事上。刺客不是有一個，而是三個。秦王（陳道明，殘暴無比）生活在對這三位武功超群的刺客的致命恐懼之中，他們被稱作殘劍（梁朝偉）、飛雪（張曼玉，她與梁一起主演了《花樣年華》）和長空（行情看漲的功夫片演員甄子丹）。很多年來，可憐的秦王沒有睡過一個安穩(wěn)覺。
Then word comes. A humble police officer in a rural province has hunted down and killed all three of them! He is a hero! He is the savior of Qin.
然后有消息說，某縣一位地位卑下的警官已經(jīng)俘獲并處死了所有三位刺客！他是英雄！他是秦國的救世主。
Thus the king calls him to the Great Hall in Beijing (and that’s really the Great Hall in Beijing), surrounded by a thousand warriors (and that’s really a thousand warriors) to tell his tale.
這樣，秦王將他召至北京的大會堂（那確實是北京的大會堂），要他講出他的故事，一千名士兵（確實是一千名士兵）將他團團包圍。
So humble is the pale, quiet young man that he refuses to give his name, for he believes himself so unworthy. He is simply called Nameless. Jet Li, that pale boy who moves faster than any man on Earth, is in the role, and alas, he’s 10 times more interesting in action than in repose. Nameless tells of each encounter -- recounted in flashback -- and the king listens intently, and after each one he beckons the nameless one closer and closer until he is so close that –
這位面色白凈、冷靜沉著的年輕人是如此微賤以至于他拒絕講出自己的名字，因為他認為自己不值一文。他只是被叫做無名。李連杰——這個面色白凈家伙比地球上任何男人都移動得快——飾演無名這一角色，唉，他動作起來要比不動可有趣十倍。無名以倒敘方式講述了每次的遭遇戰(zhàn)，秦王洗耳恭聽，并且，在每個故事講完之后他都會招呼無名走近，走近，直到——
Hmmm, could things not be as they seem?
嗯嗯，事情看起來會有所不同嗎？
The frequent martial arts sequences, I should say, are brilliant after the Chinese fashion. They are showy, flamboyant and exquisitely choreographed, mainly built around the use of the Chinese straight-but-flexible sword, which hums and sings as it sizzles through the air at jet speed. Fabulous fights; I didn’t care for them at all.
我要說，那些頻繁出現(xiàn)的武術片斷精彩萬分，符合中國風味。它們豐姿萬千，色彩繽紛，編排精巧細致并且主要圍繞筆直而變化多端的劍的使用來進行。在以氣流噴射的速度劃過空中時，劍鋒嗡嗡作響，吟唱不已。至于那些神話般不可思議的打斗，我根本不在意。
Sometimes it all comes down to preferences. I love the Japanese martial arts, particularly the iaido featured in samurai films, where the key is blade-speed out of the scabbard, followed by tightly controlled, almost ceremonially decreed moves, also at jet speed. The violence is short, sharp and brutal; the blood spurts like ketchup at a Kerry barbecue. Then the hero shakes the blood from his blade, resheathes his sword and sits with dignity. The Chinese style is more circusy; it features wire work which moves the fighters through improbable but flashy acrobatics, a lot more expressive sound (whiizzzzzzzzz! whannnnnggggg!), and its choreography is far more Broadway-like with larger, longer movements demanding a lot more space. Gee, if I’m right, a billion Chinese must be wrong.
有時候那要歸結為偏好。我喜歡日本武術，特別是武士電影展示出的合氣道。那種影片的關鍵之點在于武士刀出鞘時的速度，隨后是控制得恰到好處、近乎儀式性地規(guī)定好了的動作，也是以氣流噴射的速度。整個武力過程短促、迅捷而殘忍；鮮血如同烤牛肉野餐上用的調(diào)味番茄醬般噴濺。然后，英雄拭去刀鋒上的血跡，回劍入鞘，落座時神色莊重。中國式的打斗則更加有趣熱鬧些，它以吊鋼絲為特色，借助不大可能然而令人眼花繚亂的雜技，鋼絲使打斗者天馬行空般運動，輔以更加富于表現(xiàn)力的聲響（嘶！嘩啦！）。運用需要更廣闊空間的更多、時間更長的打斗使得整個動作編排更加像是百老匯的歌劇。唉吆，要是我說對了，那么十億中國人一定是錯了。
But beyond the issue of simple preference is a larger point. The movie, spectacular as it is, in the end confronts what must be called the tyrant’s creed, and declares itself in agreement with the tyrant. The argument: The great man wishes to unify the six Chinese kingdoms and give them the same language, the same monetary system, the same mores and traditions; then he will protect them by building a great wall. (The historical king of Qin did these things, and from the word Qin descends the name China, if you haven’t guessed.) To do these things, alas, hundreds of thousands of people must die.
但是，更關鍵的一點不在于這種簡單的偏好。縱是精彩絕倫，這部影片在結尾處涉及到必須稱作暴君信條的內(nèi)容，并且言明對暴君的認同。爭論是這樣：偉人秦王希望統(tǒng)一六個王國，賦予它們同樣的語言，同樣的幣制，同樣的道德風尚的傳統(tǒng)；然后他要修建一座長城來保護它們。（歷的秦王有這些舉措，如果你沒有猜到，China一名即來自秦這個字。）為了完成這些偉業(yè)，唉，成千上萬的人民就必須死。
But, the tyrant argues, it’s better that way. So the movie, in the end, endorses his right of conquest and unification on the grounds that fewer people will die than if the six nations continued to war against one another. To make an omelet, one must break some eggs, though nobody ever pays too much attention to the poor eggs. That’s the justification of all tyrants -- tyrants in nations and tyrants in offices: Do it my way so there’s less conflict. Obey me and it’ll be better. Why do all this fighting against me; peace through conquest.
但是，這暴君認為，那樣做更好些。所以這部片子在結尾處認可了他推進征服和統(tǒng)一大業(yè)的正當性，理由是，如果六個王國繼續(xù)作戰(zhàn)會有更多人死去。為了吃到剪蛋，必須打碎雞蛋，所以沒有人會太多在意那些可憐的蛋。那正是所有暴君們的自我辯護——不論是國家的還是政府機關里的：照我說的做就會少一些沖突。服從我就會更好。為什么這所有的紛爭都在反對我呢？用征服來實現(xiàn)和平吧。
That was the king of Qin’s reasoning and it was all the other big bad ones as well: Hitler and Stalin and most particularly that latter-day king of Qin named Mao, another great unifier who stopped the fighting and killed only between 38 million and 67 million in the process.
這就是秦王的推理，也是所有其他獨夫民賊們的邏輯：*、斯大林以及最為獨特的現(xiàn)代秦王毛澤東都是這樣。毛是另一位偉大人物，他中止了內(nèi)戰(zhàn)并在這期間殺戮了只不過三千八百萬到六千七百萬人。
Hero (96 minutes, at area theaters) is rated PG-13 for intense battle scenes without much gore.
By Stephen Hunter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 27, 2004; Page C01
A mighty wind blows through Yimou Zhang’s martial arts epic “Hero,“ filling the air with dust, ruffling the curtains, setting the candle flames asputter, and blissfully sending Maggie Cheung’s raven hair afly in the sunlight. This may be the windiest movie ever made, and the wind isn’t just actual, it’s also metaphorical: It’s the wind of history roaring through the story, but it’s also the wind of romance, courage, opera and, uh, rubbish.
一陣狂風吹過，塵埃四起，帷幔起伏，燭火飄搖，張曼玉烏黑的長發(fā)在陽光下歡快地飛舞。這一幕出自張藝謀的武俠史詩片《英雄》。這也許是以往電影中風勢最猛烈（注，windy一語雙關，另一意為空洞夸張）的一部，那風不僅僅實實在在，而且隱喻味道十足：貫穿于整個故事之中的不僅是歷史的颶風，也有浪漫、勇氣、以及——哦，垃圾之風。
It’s a brilliant movie, fluent, spectacular, breathtaking and basically, uh, wrong. But let’s save the wrong stuff till the end; the upfront message is more than 90 minutes of gushy joy, of old-time movie pleasures.
這一部光芒萬丈的電影，流暢洗麗，壯觀無比，懾人心魄，但從根本上說，嗯，立意是錯誤的。但，讓我們將那些荒謬的內(nèi)容留到最后來說；最先的消息說那會是超過九十分鐘的煽情愉悅和不落窠臼的觀影樂事。
Zhang is generally considered one of China’s two great directors (Kaige Chen being the other), as “Ju Dou,“ “Raise the Red Lantern“ and “Shanghai Triad“ have proved. In this film, he’s working in a somewhat less esteemed genre than those three serious dramas, but he takes it utterly seriously. So what you have is a brilliant filmmaker making a grindhouse chopsocky.
如《菊豆》、《大紅燈籠高高掛》和《搖啊搖，搖到外婆橋》所證明的，張被公認為是中國秀的兩位導演之一（另一位是陳凱歌）。在這部影片中，他是在致力于較那三部劇情片而言不被看重的一種類型，但他全然嚴肅地對待。所以你看到的是一位出色的電影制作人在拍一部可在*循環(huán)放映的功夫片。
Clearly influenced by the global success of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon“ (another brilliant director, Ang Lee, doing chopsocky), he has set out to duplicate its pleasures on a far greater scale, making, reportedly, the most expensive movie in China. It’s basically a rumination on the Great Man Theory of history with lots of sword fighting.
顯然受到在全球范圍內(nèi)獲得成功的《臥虎藏龍》（另一位出色導演李安也在拍功夫片）的影響，他著手在更大規(guī)模上復制該片所帶來的觀賞愉悅，因而制作了這部據(jù)報道是中國耗資最多的影片。它基本上是在以一些劍術打斗來反思偉人史觀。
The story can be summed up quickly; it’s that basic.
本片的故事可以簡捷地概括出來；那是如此至關重要。
Two-hundred-odd years before the birth of Christ, the king of Qin, the largest of six Chinese states, is trying to conquer an empire. Naturally, the other five kingdoms object, which has led to ceaseless war and slaughter as armies rage this way and that across the land. It has also led to a time of assassins. Hmm, sound familiar? Well, yes, Kaige Chen’s 1999 film “The Emperor and the Assassin“ covered the same situation, though it was twice as long and had a tenth of the action.
公元前200多年，六個王國中的秦國的國王正試圖統(tǒng)一其它王國并建立一個帝國。很自然，其它五個王國要抵抗，各國軍隊在那片土地上征戰(zhàn)不已、勝負不分，這引發(fā)了無休止的戰(zhàn)爭和殺戮，也成就了一個刺客的時代。哦，聽起來熟悉嗎？是的，陳凱歌1999年的作品《荊柯刺秦王》涉及同樣的背景，盡管比起《英雄》來要長一倍而動作場面只有后者的十分之一。
Zhang has gone all kung fu on the old story. There isn’t one assassin, there are three. The king of Qin (Daoming Chen, beaming feral intensity) lives in mortal terror of these extraordinary martial artists, named Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), Flying Snow (Cheung, who co-starred with Leung in Kar Wai Wong’s “In the Mood for Love“) and Long Sky (martial arts up-and-comer Donnie Yen). Poor fella hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in years.
張將所有動作籌碼都壓在這個陳舊的故事上。刺客不是有一個，而是三個。秦王（陳道明，殘暴無比）生活在對這三位武功超群的刺客的致命恐懼之中，他們被稱作殘劍（梁朝偉）、飛雪（張曼玉，她與梁一起主演了《花樣年華》）和長空（行情看漲的功夫片演員甄子丹）。很多年來，可憐的秦王沒有睡過一個安穩(wěn)覺。
Then word comes. A humble police officer in a rural province has hunted down and killed all three of them! He is a hero! He is the savior of Qin.
然后有消息說，某縣一位地位卑下的警官已經(jīng)俘獲并處死了所有三位刺客！他是英雄！他是秦國的救世主。
Thus the king calls him to the Great Hall in Beijing (and that’s really the Great Hall in Beijing), surrounded by a thousand warriors (and that’s really a thousand warriors) to tell his tale.
這樣，秦王將他召至北京的大會堂（那確實是北京的大會堂），要他講出他的故事，一千名士兵（確實是一千名士兵）將他團團包圍。
So humble is the pale, quiet young man that he refuses to give his name, for he believes himself so unworthy. He is simply called Nameless. Jet Li, that pale boy who moves faster than any man on Earth, is in the role, and alas, he’s 10 times more interesting in action than in repose. Nameless tells of each encounter -- recounted in flashback -- and the king listens intently, and after each one he beckons the nameless one closer and closer until he is so close that –
這位面色白凈、冷靜沉著的年輕人是如此微賤以至于他拒絕講出自己的名字，因為他認為自己不值一文。他只是被叫做無名。李連杰——這個面色白凈家伙比地球上任何男人都移動得快——飾演無名這一角色，唉，他動作起來要比不動可有趣十倍。無名以倒敘方式講述了每次的遭遇戰(zhàn)，秦王洗耳恭聽，并且，在每個故事講完之后他都會招呼無名走近，走近，直到——
Hmmm, could things not be as they seem?
嗯嗯，事情看起來會有所不同嗎？
The frequent martial arts sequences, I should say, are brilliant after the Chinese fashion. They are showy, flamboyant and exquisitely choreographed, mainly built around the use of the Chinese straight-but-flexible sword, which hums and sings as it sizzles through the air at jet speed. Fabulous fights; I didn’t care for them at all.
我要說，那些頻繁出現(xiàn)的武術片斷精彩萬分，符合中國風味。它們豐姿萬千，色彩繽紛，編排精巧細致并且主要圍繞筆直而變化多端的劍的使用來進行。在以氣流噴射的速度劃過空中時，劍鋒嗡嗡作響，吟唱不已。至于那些神話般不可思議的打斗，我根本不在意。
Sometimes it all comes down to preferences. I love the Japanese martial arts, particularly the iaido featured in samurai films, where the key is blade-speed out of the scabbard, followed by tightly controlled, almost ceremonially decreed moves, also at jet speed. The violence is short, sharp and brutal; the blood spurts like ketchup at a Kerry barbecue. Then the hero shakes the blood from his blade, resheathes his sword and sits with dignity. The Chinese style is more circusy; it features wire work which moves the fighters through improbable but flashy acrobatics, a lot more expressive sound (whiizzzzzzzzz! whannnnnggggg!), and its choreography is far more Broadway-like with larger, longer movements demanding a lot more space. Gee, if I’m right, a billion Chinese must be wrong.
有時候那要歸結為偏好。我喜歡日本武術，特別是武士電影展示出的合氣道。那種影片的關鍵之點在于武士刀出鞘時的速度，隨后是控制得恰到好處、近乎儀式性地規(guī)定好了的動作，也是以氣流噴射的速度。整個武力過程短促、迅捷而殘忍；鮮血如同烤牛肉野餐上用的調(diào)味番茄醬般噴濺。然后，英雄拭去刀鋒上的血跡，回劍入鞘，落座時神色莊重。中國式的打斗則更加有趣熱鬧些，它以吊鋼絲為特色，借助不大可能然而令人眼花繚亂的雜技，鋼絲使打斗者天馬行空般運動，輔以更加富于表現(xiàn)力的聲響（嘶！嘩啦！）。運用需要更廣闊空間的更多、時間更長的打斗使得整個動作編排更加像是百老匯的歌劇。唉吆，要是我說對了，那么十億中國人一定是錯了。
But beyond the issue of simple preference is a larger point. The movie, spectacular as it is, in the end confronts what must be called the tyrant’s creed, and declares itself in agreement with the tyrant. The argument: The great man wishes to unify the six Chinese kingdoms and give them the same language, the same monetary system, the same mores and traditions; then he will protect them by building a great wall. (The historical king of Qin did these things, and from the word Qin descends the name China, if you haven’t guessed.) To do these things, alas, hundreds of thousands of people must die.
但是，更關鍵的一點不在于這種簡單的偏好。縱是精彩絕倫，這部影片在結尾處涉及到必須稱作暴君信條的內(nèi)容，并且言明對暴君的認同。爭論是這樣：偉人秦王希望統(tǒng)一六個王國，賦予它們同樣的語言，同樣的幣制，同樣的道德風尚的傳統(tǒng)；然后他要修建一座長城來保護它們。（歷的秦王有這些舉措，如果你沒有猜到，China一名即來自秦這個字。）為了完成這些偉業(yè)，唉，成千上萬的人民就必須死。
But, the tyrant argues, it’s better that way. So the movie, in the end, endorses his right of conquest and unification on the grounds that fewer people will die than if the six nations continued to war against one another. To make an omelet, one must break some eggs, though nobody ever pays too much attention to the poor eggs. That’s the justification of all tyrants -- tyrants in nations and tyrants in offices: Do it my way so there’s less conflict. Obey me and it’ll be better. Why do all this fighting against me; peace through conquest.
但是，這暴君認為，那樣做更好些。所以這部片子在結尾處認可了他推進征服和統(tǒng)一大業(yè)的正當性，理由是，如果六個王國繼續(xù)作戰(zhàn)會有更多人死去。為了吃到剪蛋，必須打碎雞蛋，所以沒有人會太多在意那些可憐的蛋。那正是所有暴君們的自我辯護——不論是國家的還是政府機關里的：照我說的做就會少一些沖突。服從我就會更好。為什么這所有的紛爭都在反對我呢？用征服來實現(xiàn)和平吧。
That was the king of Qin’s reasoning and it was all the other big bad ones as well: Hitler and Stalin and most particularly that latter-day king of Qin named Mao, another great unifier who stopped the fighting and killed only between 38 million and 67 million in the process.
這就是秦王的推理，也是所有其他獨夫民賊們的邏輯：*、斯大林以及最為獨特的現(xiàn)代秦王毛澤東都是這樣。毛是另一位偉大人物，他中止了內(nèi)戰(zhàn)并在這期間殺戮了只不過三千八百萬到六千七百萬人。
Hero (96 minutes, at area theaters) is rated PG-13 for intense battle scenes without much gore.