《被解救的姜戈》突遭停映引发热议
就在昆汀•塔伦蒂诺(Quentin Tarantino)的新片《被解救的姜戈》(Django Unchained)在中国大规模公映后没几分钟,中国的影片发行管理机构紧急叫停了这部影片。在北京的一家影院,影迷原本希望看到一名获得自由的奴隶在美国南方展开血腥报复的故事,结果才看了几个镜头影院的灯就亮了。
Chinese film authorities yanked Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' from the nation's movie screens Thursday morning, just moments after the film went into wide release. In one Beijing theater, moviegoers hoping to see the tale of a 19th-century former slave wreaking bloody vengeance across the American South saw only moments of the film before the lights came back on.
塔伦蒂诺的中国粉丝、27岁的摄影师薛玉涛说,他看的是上午10点15分的那场电影。可是影片才开演了一分钟,几个穿西装的人走进来,影片就停止放映了。
'About one minute after the film began, several people in suits came in and the film stopped,' said Xue Yutao, a 27-year-old photographer and Tarantino fan who attended a 10:15 a.m. showing.
薛玉涛说,我们一开始吓了一跳,不知所措,但是后来我们都因为这件事的荒谬而笑起来。
'At first we were shocked and didn't know what to do,' Mr. Xue said. 'Then we all giggled, because it felt so ridiculous.'
据影院工作人员透露以及影院经营方在网上贴出的通知显示,受政府控制的影片发行机构中国电影集团公司(China Film Group Corp.)以“技术原因”为由叫停了影片的放映。中国电影集团公司、该片的另一位发行方华夏电影发行有限责任公司(Huaxia Film Distribution Co.)以及中国的审查机构国家新闻出版广电总局没有回应记者的置评请求。
China Film Group Corp., the state-controlled film distributor, cited 'technical reasons' for its decision to pull the film, according to theater employees and theater operators who posted notices online. The company, co-distributor Huaxia Film Distribution Co. and China's censorship office, the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television, didn't respond to requests for comment.
该片的国际发行商、索尼影视娱乐有限公司(Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.)驻洛杉矶的发言人说,我们很遗憾《被解救的姜戈》被停映,我们正在与中国有关部门合作,以确定是否重新放映这部电影。
'We regret that 'Django Unchained' has been removed from theaters and are working with the Chinese authorities to determine whether the film can be rescheduled,' said a spokesman in Los Angeles for Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., the film's international distributor.
知情人士说,为了通过中国审查机构的审批,该片导演塔伦蒂诺剪掉了片中部分最为暴力和色情的场面。
Mr. Tarantino, the movie's director, made minor cuts to some of the most violent and sexually explicit moments to win approval from Chinese censors, a person involved with the picture said.
来自片方的一位人士透露,索尼公司(Sony Corp.)旗下索尼影视娱乐公司以及该片在美国的发行商Weinstein Co.的高管意外地发现,该片已经从中国的影院下线,且中方没有告知此举的原因。Weinstein的发言人说,该公司首席执行长(CEO)温斯坦(Harvey Weinstein)对此不予置评。
Executives at Sony 6758.TO +1.63% Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp., and Weinstein Co., the movie's U.S. distributor, were surprised to find that the movie had been removed from Chinese screens and haven't been given a reason, a person within one of the studios said. A Weinstein spokesman said Chief Executive Harvey Weinstein declined to comment.
虽然电影审查在中国不算新鲜事,但这种临时禁播一部影片的做法并不常见,因为存在争议的影片很少能通过审查登陆院线。此事也在提醒我们,尽管近年来西方电影公司在中国取得了长足进展,但它们在华依然面临重重障碍。
While film censorship isn't new in China, the abrupt about-face was unusual because controversial movies rarely make it through the approval process to begin with. It also offered a reminder of the barriers Western studios face in China, despite making considerable inroads in recent years.
中国官方此举在网上引发一片热议,网友都在猜测到底是该片的极端暴力场面、短暂的裸体镜头,还是对叛乱的诙谐描述导致了广电总局做出如此决定。
The move prompted a flurry of online speculation in China over whether the film's extreme violence, brief male and female nudity or gleeful depiction of rebellion were behind the decision.
北京的影评家列文说,停映这部影片的决定非常不理性、保守和愚蠢。列文在周二看了提前放映的中国版《被解救的姜戈》,他说审查机构只是剪掉了原片结尾少数枪战镜头。
The decision was 'very unreasonable, very conservative and very foolish,' said Lie Wen, a Beijing-based film critic. Mr. Lie saw the Chinese version of the film at its premiere on Tuesday and said only a few gunfight scenes near the end had been cut from the original.
杰米•福克斯(Jamie Foxx)在片中出演一个奴隶出身的赏金猎人,为了救出妻子,他血洗美国南方的一个种植园。该片因为暴力的枪战场面以及一些评论家所说的对奴隶制耸人听闻的描绘而在美国引发争议。塔伦蒂诺凭借该片赢得了奥斯卡最佳原创剧本奖。扮演另一位赏金猎人的克里斯托弗•瓦尔兹(Christoph Waltz)则获得了最佳男配角奖。
The film stars Jamie Foxx as a slave-turned-bounty hunter who lays waste to a Southern plantation to save his wife. The film sparked controversy in the U.S. for its violent gunfights and what some critics said were lurid depictions of slavery. Mr. Tarantino won an Academy Award for best original screenplay for the film. Christoph Waltz, who plays a bounty hunter, won for best supporting actor.
业内人士表示,近年来中国的监管机构已经放松了审查,尤其是对国产影片。更多包含裸露、暴力甚至是政治敏感问题的影片被允许上映。电影研究机构艺恩咨询(EntGroup)的数据显示,国产浪漫喜剧片《北京遇上西雅图》在上映近三周的时间内获得了6,250万美元的票房。该片包括的社会问题在中国都很敏感,其中包括女同性恋、婚外恋,以及为了获得外籍身份或更好的医疗条件而到海外产子。目前正在影院上映的中港合拍片《毒战》讲述了毒枭的故事,片中出现主角吸食可卡因的画面。
People in the industry said China's regulators in recent years have relaxed censorship, particularly for domestic films, and are allowing exhibition of more movies that contain nudity, violence and even politically sensitive issues. Chinese romantic comedy 'Seeking Mr. Right,' which has taken in $62.5 million at the box office in its nearly three weeks of release, according to film research company EntGroup, features social themes that are sensitive here, including lesbianism, extramarital affairs, and traveling abroad to have babies to gain citizenship or better medical care. Chinese-Hong Kong action film 'Drug War,' in theaters now, tells the story of a drug lord and shows characters using cocaine.
艺恩咨询的一位发言人说,放宽审查是一个渐进的过程。这位发言人说,中国和美国不同,后者几乎所有影片都能上映,但过去几年中国在这方面还是取得了很大进展。
Easing censorship has been a gradual process, an EntGroup spokeswoman said. 'This isn't the U.S., where nearly everything is allowed, but there has been much progress over the past few years,' the spokeswoman said.
好莱坞制片人一直渴望将他们的影片引入中国。政府数据显示,去年中国电影票房收入激增30%,至27.4亿美元。中美两国去年达成的一项协议允许每年引进中国的影片数量从目前的20部上升至34部,前提是这些影片必须是3D或巨幕格式。
Hollywood filmmakers have been eager to get their films into China, where box-office sales surged 30% to $2.74 billion last year, according to the government. China in a deal with the U.S. last year agreed to allow an additional 14 foreign movies a year into China, up from 20, as long as they are in 3-D or jumbo form.
《被解救的姜戈》并非首部在中国遇阻的影片。今年1月,在发现审查机构将最新一部邦德影片《天幕危机》(Skyfall)中的几个场景剪掉之后,中国网民在各大社交网站上对此发表了大量负面评论。业内人士认为,类似华纳兄弟(Warner Bros.)发行的最新一部蝙蝠侠影片《黑暗骑士崛起》(The Dark Knight Rises)以及索尼影视娱乐发行的《超凡蜘蛛侠》(The Amazing Spider-Man)等好莱坞冒险影片在去年同一天上映的情况是官方为了限制进口影片票房收入而做出的举措。
'Django' isn't the first film to face difficulties in China. Chinese citizens flooded social-media sites in January with negative comments after discovering that Beijing watchdogs snipped scenes from the James Bond movie Skyfall.'And some other Hollywood adventure movies─such as Warner Bros.' latest Batman installment, 'The Dark Knight Rises,' and Sony Pictures' 'The Amazing Spider-Man'─were released on the same dates last year in what some people in the industry said they believed was an effort by Beijing to limit box-office grosses.