香港電影金像奬快到了，其中一齣大熱的候選電影，是曾國祥導演的校園欺凌電影「少年的你」，說來今日香港電影都和「創痛」脫不了關係，其實華語電影都離不開這個主題：戰亂、高壓統治、歷史事件帶給人民的創傷，已經成為電影中一個現成的符號，白睿文的《痛史》就以一個西方學者的角度，探究這種由電影人在中國百年變亂中的「想像」的「創傷」，作者也指出另一種「創傷」：由性與暴力而得之狂喜交織出現的副主題，即以施虐受虐或強暴經驗呈現性主題馥電影。作者討論華語電影如何重構出個人從身體到心靈的創傷，藉以提升到整個國族的層面。書中剖析的例子，不限於民國時期、中國大陸或港台的電影和電視劇，也有著名小說如王小波的《黃金時代》和賈平凹的《廢都》，無論是文字抑或映像，作者都用精神分析角度，仔細審視那些高度真實的對暴力或性的描寫。作者從陳界仁的《凌遲考》和關涉抗戰題材的《血色玫瑰》開始，討論到關錦鵬旁涉六四的《藍宇》和香港不少關於九七題材的電影，展現中國近現代的歷史，怎樣被理解為走向現代國家到遠離國家暴政重塑個人經驗的「痛史」。

這本書特別之處在於——它以剪接師的角度討論電影。大部分的電影評論，都不在討論電影製作層面，而是從其藝術、觀影者本身作出評價。剪接師的角色往往被忽略，作者也是不滿足電影所帶給他的娛樂，才從製作電影的方向作探討。

Robert Bresson曾說過電影需要經歷三次誕生：劇本、拍攝及剪接。剪接師停留的一兩秒鏡頭以及混音，對觀影感受製作很大的落差。他們將碎片縫合起來說故事，這種仔細的工作在默片時代更是女性的領域。

不少讀者大概與我的想法相似，導演和剪接師是怎樣的存在？書中有一個比喻為大家解答問題，導演是樂曲旋律，而剪接師是指揮。剪接師能夠將樂曲本身昇華，通過他的巧手將素材組織起來，使觀眾領會。

本書整合四十至七十年代殖民時期的香港電影審查歷史，從冷戰時代開始，到香港親共左派的反電影審查抗爭，一直伸延至七十年代審查政策改革。內容易讀，從制度、歷史與社會狀況三大脈絡，分析審查的原因、背後政治考量以及審查政策的演變。更提供歷史時序、參予官員與審查機制圖表，嘗試為一般讀者勾畫清晰明確的圖像。對於有興趣從電影審查加深英殖時期社會認知的朋友，本書值得一閱。　

這部被稱為「震撼華文文壇」的長篇小說，獲得第一屆茅盾文學獎，影響巨大。作者把自己二十幾年來所熟悉的南方鄉村裏的人和事，囊括、濃縮進該書裏，借人物命運寓政治風雲。而根據小説改編的同名電影，曾獲中國電影金鷄獎、百花獎。影片的兩位主男女主角劉曉慶、姜文，也憑本片成為中國當紅的娛樂明星。

眾所周知，中國老百姓一直在各種政治運動中度過，在人爲倏忽風雨中，一些小人物隨著風雨交加的動蕩而有無數的悲歡離合。本書的故事發生在1963至1979年──從「四清」運動、「文革」時期，一直到中共十一屆三中全會召開，加上男女主人公的「右派」和「富農」身份，幾乎將中國二十餘年的歷史濃縮在了幾個人物和一個小鎮裏。故事情節不算複雜，概括起來就是一句話：一個富農女人和一個右派男人，在絕望中「臭魚找爛蝦」，偷偷摸摸搭夥過日子，好不容易在三中全會後「摘帽」，不再是「階級敵人」了。饒有嘲諷意味的是，另一個「貧農」不堪壓力，在文革後發了瘋，成天在街上幽靈般的遊蕩，拖著淒厲的哭腔喊道:「運動嘍，運動嘍，七八年又來一次啊啊啊......」。

無論是小說還是電影，這樣的結尾有相當的震撼性，當時有評論指出，這是一個可悲可歎的時代尾音。然而整整四十年過去了，如今又回到文革平行時空，「尾音」變成了「強音」。因為中共當權者統治法寶始終是「階級鬥爭，一抓就靈」，信焉！

我因工作忙，連看書的時間幾乎都沒有，看電影對我來說是奢侈的。但今時今日，只要上YouTube ，就能花數分鐘看完一部電影，對我來說很不錯。在電視還未發明的年代，一些偏遠的小鎮，上電影院看電影真的是奢侈的娛樂。《電影女孩》是一部智利小說，由主角講述自己的故事，她因家裏環境因素，從十歲起被發掘出「說電影」的天賦，能把看過的電影，精彩地表演出來給人欣賞。這本小說本身就如一部電影，作者一幕幕把主角整個人生刻畫出來，用輕鬆幽默的文字，訴說主角的不幸與當時社會的不公不義。主角說：「說一部電影，就像傾訴著一場夢。講一段人生，就像傾訴著一場夢，或是一部電影。」若這個故事發生在今天，女孩應該會是YouTuber。

In a gripping scene early on in the Army of Shadows a small group of French Resistance fighters captures a traitor from within their ranks by posing as police officers. They spirit him off to a seaside village where another member of the group is waiting, having secured an empty home for their mission. They plan to execute the traitor but none of them have killed before. The initial plan of using a gun is nixed because the neighbors might hear the gunshot. A debate ensues as to an alternative solution. The idea of using a knife is rejected as too harsh. Gerbier, the leader, suggests that they look in the kitchen for another suitable weapon. This all becomes too much for Lemasque, the youngest member of the group, and he lashes out.

‘It’s impossible - just consider it, I beg you. It’s murder.’

‘In any case, we’re here to kill,’ said Gerbier. ‘Do you agree?’

‘I . . . I agree . . .’ Lemasque stammered. ‘But not that way . . . We must . . .’

‘The way it’s done, I know, I know.’

All this back and forth happens in the presence of the traitor whose death is imminent. They settle on choking as the method of execution. Lemasque again starts to panic, and Gerbier levels with him:

‘You’re an employee at the town hall, I know, and also a reserve officer. And it isn’t your job to choke a defenceless man. But Felix is a garage mechanic, and I’m an engineer. Only the truth of it is that you and Felix and I are no longer anything but members of the resistance movement. And that changes everything.’

Published in 1944 and written by Joseph Kessel, a French writer and ex-officer with the Free France Forces, Army of Shadows is a semi-autobiographical story (‘everything had to be accurate, and at the same time, nothing must be recognizable’ said Kessel in his Preface) about life in Vichy France as experienced by a small, tightly-knit group of French Resistance fighters.

French director Jean-Pierre Melville, best known for his dark, stylistic crime noir dramas starring Alain Delon, adapted Kessel’s novel into a film starring Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, and Paul Meurisse. The film was released in France in 1969 but only recently reached American audiences for the first time in 2006 when it was re-released to much critical acclaim.

電影海報

If there is a central theme to Army of Shadows -- the book and the movie -- it is the cruelty that is life during a time of conflict. When Gerbier says to Lemasque that everything ‘changes’ when one becomes a member of the resistance he means the complete obliteration of the social contract as we know it.

It is the kind of change where young boys are recruited to spy on the enemy; in the case of the novel, to keep tabs on Nazi torture chambers -- who goes in, who leaves.

It is the kind of change where the resistance fighter is forced to choose between the cause or the individual. What happens when a dear friend and key resistance fighter is captured by the Nazis and given the choice of divulging names or seeing her daughter sent to a brothel used by soldiers returning from battle? Does the integrity of the movement call for her death, even when other, less-drastic options might be available?

Above all, it is the kind of change that one sees creeping into Hong Kong, once upon a time at a trickle, but now at an accelerated pace. For the social contract here is also being rendered meaningless. Where the law is whatever the government says it is. Where obedience to authority is increasingly predicated on violence and the threat of violence. Where double-lives are becoming the norm. It is a Hong Kong that like Nazi-occupied Vichy France is becoming a shell of its former self, no longer recognizable to those who have made this city their home.

This is all to say that as much as Army of Shadows excels as a masterpiece in both its written and cinematic formats, its greatest appeal lies in the cold, hard fact that one can see a similar story being written for Hong Kong, if not now then certainly two to three years from now.