魂断奈何天

Confinement is a wildly spread scourge here on earth, so it is opportune to visit the story of the arguably most well-known Holocaust victim, Anne Frank, who, along with other 7 Jews, was cooped up in a garret in Amsterdam for more than 2 years, before fateful kismet eventually caught up with them. George Stevens’ THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK is a 3-hour long saga predicated upon Frank’s diary and a successful Pulitzer-winning play.

Shot in a black-and-white Cinemascope format, the film has to reconcile the story’s claustrophobic mise en scène with the ultra-wide screen, which Stevens is press-ganged into use by the head of studio (it was a time when the celluloid tries to lure audience back from the small screen of television). The lion’s share of the narrative is hemmed in this very peculiar, cramped “boarding house” above a spice factory, which enjoins the hiders from making absolutely any noise during working hours (horizontal shift is put into deft use on the soundstage). William C. Mellor’s Oscar-winning cinematography beauteously underlines the majesty of chiaroscuro on a dime, and composes many a gorgeous tableau vivant that anchors the emotional weight of the script, which tends to be mawkish, but ultimately sends the optimistic message “I still believe that people are really good at heart”.

Circumspectly keeping the inhuman horror off the camera (only street view are glimpsed, and hope is incarnated through the views from the skylight), THE DIARY… stands out as an overarching study of psychological stress yielded under perpetual fear and paranoid, where frailties start to tell and nervous strain crumble. It is as powerful and touching an outcry for unthinkable cruelty as a profound exploration of humanity among ordinary, huddled folks.

As an ensemble piece, THE DIARY… is a substantial showpiece for its performers, and it is happy to report the cast is optimal. As our tween protagonist, a 22-year-old Millie Perkins possesses a winsome resemblance of a young Audrey Hepburn (who was the first choice of the role), though playing a pettish 13-year-older is quite a stretch for the debutante, Perkins fares better once Anne precociously matures into adolescence, her mellifluous articulation and heartfelt connections with everyone else make for an exemplar of ingénue, even the saccharine romance between Anne and Peter Van Daan (a zitty Beymer, barely hold a candle to the rest of the cast) finds some ballast in her level-headed discretion.

Joseph Schildkraut impresses with a munificent and magnificent presence as Anne’s father Otto, the sole survivor among and a judicious leader of the posse. Schildkraut compassionately infuses dignity, composure, sagacity, intrepidity and benevolence into a father figure that is refused to become a stereotype; and Gusti Huber as Edith, Anne’s mother, also pluckily portrays a hausfrau as the suffering victim of Electra complex and blows off her explosion compellingly in the most dramatic episode; as the last member of the Frank clan, Diane Baker’s Margot, Anne’s elder sister, carries off her immanent demureness without effacing her other traits.

As for the Van Daan family, Lou Jacobi and Shelley Winters form a memorable couple as Peter’s parents, awash with peccadillos, the former is often posited in the periphery of the screen, ekes out an impression that he will be the first to crack up, while the latter swimmingly commands our attention as she pours out a self-seeking woman’s desperation in her Oscar-winning turn. Also Oscar-nominated, Ed Wynn as the dentist Albert Dussell, the latecomer, is the most singular one, quite a head-scratcher, he is fastidious, well-spoken, but also incredibly inward-looking and sometimes awfully funny, Wynn is superbly on point to engender our ambiguity and his rueful sigh is particular resounding, as he is the one who correctly augurs their undoing.

Although the movie is told in flashback, laying bare the denouement right in the beginning, still when the capper finally arrives, the pathos is tremendous, regardless of our preparedness. Anne Frank and her co.’s legacy is wistfully preserved by the dear diary she left behind, but what Stevens’ qualified adaptation really strikes home is the self-defeating feeling when all hope is dashed in one single moment, that dread is nearly insufferable.

referential entries: Stevens’ GIANT (1956, 8.3/10); A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951, 8.1/10).

盟军对战争的描述往往也会让观看者落入不同的陷阱。从一个局外人的视角来看，他们的形象经常被美化，其目的是首先服务于美国的政治宣传。纪录片《五人归来》讲述了导演史蒂文斯是如何在工作中遇到另一个问题，甚至是更深刻的遗憾。虽然他知道自己的角色从宣传者变成了证据收集者（他的影片将在纽伦堡审判中放映），但他无法接受也没有拍摄镜头凝视下的暴力场景。捕捉这些集中营内的死亡和腐烂弥漫的气息需要很高的勇气和代价。正如哈里斯指出的那样，与其他美国电影制作人相比，在这次经历之后，史蒂文斯只尝试过一次战争片拍摄：1959年的《安妮少女日记》（The Diary of Anne Frank）。该片的视角和观点，与那些关注战争或退伍老兵等其他同时期导演截然不同。尽管有瑕疵，但这部电影似乎在寻找深不可测和难以捉摸的东西：主人公看不见的命运是一种可怕的想象，而不是现实。这便引发出了另一个问题：解放类题材的电影究竟讲述了什么故事？许多争论都围绕着这些档案图像的使用问题，以及它们最终代表了什么。例如，单独的照片是为了描述大屠杀中的孤立事件还是整个大屠杀？目击者的讲述是捕捉暴力最有效的方式吗？

电影《安妮少女日记》（1959）剧照，导演：乔治·史蒂文斯。片长：3小时。

自此以后，这些档案图像在文艺作品中便不断激增——不仅仅是作为纪录片的使用对象，也出现在虚构的叙事中。苏珊·桑塔格（Susan Sontag，1933-2004，美国艺术评论家）认为，此类图片和其他暴力图像的不断复制会成为常态。虽然并不是所有人都同意这种观点。值得注意的是，雅克·朗西埃（Jacques Rancière，1940，法国哲学家）在其2010年出版的学术著作《被解放的观众》（The Emancipated Spectator）中就指出，媒体过滤了战争的实际暴行，但在过去几十年里，这些档案图片被使用的方式的确造成了一种令人不快的熟悉感，即它们被重复使用了太多次，以至于失去了某种张力。

《被解放的观众》（2010）一书中列举的一系列历史档案图片（点击可放大）。

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