白酋长

Fellini’s official first feature film accorded with a solo credit as the director, THE WHITE SHEIK has a simple premise, a newly-wed couple from a small town arrive in Rome for their honeymoon, the starchy husband Ivan Cavalli (Trieste) arranges a full-day’s sight-seeing activities including an audience in front of the Holy Father in Vatican (thanks to the connections of his uncle, who works there), but the young bride Wanda (Bovo) has her own plan, visiting Rome for the very first time, she is tempted to seek out “the White Sheik”, the protagonist of a popular photo strip (“fumetto”) played by the actor Fernando Rivoli (Sordi, who makes a good fist with a faux-matinee idol impression from which sincerity is the last thing one can expect), and after sneaking out of their hotel, Wanda embarks on a one-day field trip with the fumetto’s production team near Rome, whereas a wrong-footed and clueless Ivan has to field his uncle’s family, from whom he must hide Wanda’s disappearance.

The film robustly freewheels between a girl's swooning abandon in an almost surreal surrounding (roistering troupers in costumes included) and a man’s piteous befuddlement and predicament, and Fellini clearly indulges in the revelry and hubbub. But Wanda’s untoward jollification will eventually shade into a letdown of reality check, when her jolly, affectionate idol’s charming facade starts to unravel, as a playacting actor, Fernando is reduced to a henpecked buffoon as soon as his chat-up with Wanda on a sailing boat finishes and his thickset wife appears, thus Wanda’s folly becomes a parable of a fangirl’s caprice, whose castle-in-the-air finality is extraordinarily foreshadowed by the White Sheik’s magic “swinging aloft” entrance. “Don’t meet your idol” is a fair warning to heed and a starstruck Bovo makes a meal of her transition from doe-eyed demureness to remorse-driven pietà in the aftermath of a dashed dream (even the Tiber river pulls her leg in the nadir).

As Ivan, Trieste often relies on gaucherie and a wide-eyed catatonia to soup up his mounting anguish and comedy of errors (and his parochial penchant and family honor first preoccupation), and his story is more of a prosaic romp compared with Wanda’s more quixotic, implausible and rowdy escapade, not until a cameo by Giulietta Masina as the naive prostitute Cabiria (a character will leave an inarticulate pathos in NIGHT OF CABIRIA, 5 years later), where she is distracted by a fire breather in the wee hours, does Fellini finally embellish a touch of surrealism to his misery.

The next morning, Wanda is granted a second chance to consecrate her new matrimony by the Pope, before being vouchsafed a second chance from her husband, to whom she admits that now he is her “white sheik”, but throughout Fellini’s arch manipulation (and the fact that Wanda retains her innocence whereas Ivan is actually not), it is hard to tell he is poking fun at the moral fable or being serious about it, anyhow, the influence of neorealism and earthy comedy still loom large, but Fellini's baroque trademark has already emerged to a jubilant effect in conjunction with Nino Rota’s majestically spellbound score.

referential entries: Fellini’s NIGHT OF CABIRIA (1957, 8.7/10); I VITELLONI (1953, 8.2/10).

今年1月20日是意大利著名导演费里尼诞辰100周年。说来惭愧，虽然不时听到朋友们叨叨费里尼，我却连他的一部电影都没有看过。眼下这时候，只好赶紧找来他的一些片子看看，没有“致敬”的意思，只是为了维护我这个伪影迷的面子。那么只有暂且让德尼罗先在一边歇会了。

我这里收集了他执导的影片20部，顺手挑了一部《白酋长》看。这是1952年上映的电影，黑白片。讲的是一个再普通不过的事情。一对新婚夫妇到罗马开始蜜月旅行，妻子旺达是个狂热的追星族，一到罗马就去找她的偶像“白酋长”，还阴错阳差的和他一起拍片。其实这位“白酋长”在现实中不过是一个浪荡色鬼，和我们通常看到的那些演艺界人士一样。有女粉丝上赶着找上门来，他当然不会放过。好在50年代人们的观念还比较保守，再加上“白酋长”的胖老婆突然到了片场，使得“白酋长”策划的一场阴谋未能得逞。这边当丈夫的伊凡失魂落魄的四处找他的老婆，情急之中还跑到警察局报案，回来还要用尽心思敷衍叔叔和姑姑，搞的他焦头烂额。最后的结局还不错，迟到的夫妇随着一众亲戚们走进了教堂。

从影片中我们可以看到，明星崇拜早已有之，旺达只是其中之一。实际上，她所迷恋的并不是真实生活中的那个演员，而是他在影片中的演技，他所扮演的那个不死之身完美无缺的人物形象，以及他在影片中所经历的那些劈波斩浪所向无敌的奇迹。近年来，这股追星的狂热又有了新的发展，那就是羡慕明星们所拥有的财富。追星族们都暗自下定决心：一旦当上明星拥有了数不完的钱，一定要先买俩包子，吃一个扔一个！于是，这股风潮弥漫在横店街头、电影学院门前和北太平庄的马路牙子上。甚至对明星们溅到身上的泥点子也如醉如痴的迷恋。

那些明星们在银幕上创造了许许多多完美的形象。我们应该称羡的是他们的演技以及为此付出的劳动。可既然是演戏，他们就是在“演”，而并非表现的是戏下的自己。真实的娱乐圈就是一潭浑水，其中的烂人烂事可谓多矣。且不说谭鑫培就是个大烟鬼，就是我们平时印象中一贯正直传统的摩根·弗里曼也早已是绯闻缠身。如陈道明那样洁身自好的演员寥若晨星。更多的是近年来狗仔们纷纷揭示出那些出轨打架吸毒的明星们。《白酋长》中的这位就是一个很典型的例子。风流潇洒，善玩善骗。为了泡妞，可以把众多演员和导演晾在一边，驾上小船和旺达一起去浪漫。差点就得手了。

在今天的太平盛世里，早年的英雄崇拜早已荡然无存，道德观念也有了许多变化。信仰的缺失又使得人们找不到方向。生活节奏越来越快，人们懒得去思考。情感无处发泄无法寄托，于是有了追星。想起了一句话：“现在的人们没有思考，只有选择。”如影片中的旺达，追星追到了极致。咱们这里也有那个为了华仔死去活来的女子。到最后都使自己陷入了尴尬的境地。依我看，追星实在不是个好差事，有这功夫，你即使不信什么主义，哪怕找个天主教伊斯兰教佛教信一信也好啊，至少可以让人们空虚的灵魂得到一些抚慰。

在经历了那一天的失落之后，旺达清醒了。她的丈夫伊凡很平庸。可普通又怎样？平庸又怎样？在这个世界上，我们都是普通的人，过着普通的生活。如果你有才华有理想，你尽可以用这才华去追寻理想。如果你没有，就这样生活也不错。毕竟千百万人都是这样踏实的生活着。生活中最忌讳的就是志大才疏，整天活在虚无缥缈的幻想中，长此以往只会毁了生活，毁了自己。影片结尾，旺达挽着伊凡的手对他说：“你就是我的白酋长。”她确实明白了。

在战后一段时期中，欧洲各国的电影界开始了一阵创新狂热。法国有新浪潮，意大利则有了新现实主义。它的特点就是离开摄影棚，更看重实景拍摄，演员表演朴实自然。影片题材也采用生活中普遍存在的现象和事件，尽量让观众看起来未加雕琢，并置身其中感同身受。我看过的有《罗马十一点》、《警察与小偷》、《偷自行车的人》等。还有一部印象最深的，名字忘了。讲的是一个失业者到处找工作，碰见不少怪事，也遇到了心爱的女子，可最后还是对生活失去了希望，从水塔上跳下自杀了。费里尼自然也是新现实主义的代表之一。这部《白酋长》就一反好莱坞的风格，不去追求惊险刺激离奇怪诞，只是平铺直叙了一个最简单的故事。而触动观众的也许就是这样一些生活琐事。

影片的拍摄技巧稍显生涩。但也有一些成为了日后的经典。整体叙事比较拖沓，或许和50年代人们的思维习惯相一致吧。在影片中我们还感受到了意大利人的性格，和法国人的天性浪漫不同，意大利人更乐观更随意。并以这种散漫的态度生活着。

说点题外话。值此非常时期，我觉得朋友们还是少上街，少去超市抢购，少去看热闹，踏踏实实在家里呆着。何以解忧，唯有看电影。打开电脑，选一个好看的，也是一桩乐事啊。

本人评分：7.0。