庞然大物

如果说《鲸》（the whale）有什么隐喻，那就是在美国，这对儿同性情侣先后殉情。Alan死于宗教带来的不能承受的精神之重，Charlie死于故意吃垃圾食品带来的肉体之重。他俩一个是绝食而饿死的，一个是暴饮暴食垃圾食品胖死的。

护士Liz有句对白：宗教就像癌症。一旦传染你总挥之不去，这是她总结的哥哥Alan的死因。她目睹了Alan投河自杀后泡的浮肿的身体，也经历了Charlie死前三百磅的肉身。她痛恨新生教会，但却又看着一个年轻的善良的灵魂投入教会的怀抱。

这部电影有别于批量生产的政治正确电影之处在于它的隐忍不发，编剧惜墨如金，导演更是一格都不愿多拍，对于Alan，甚至只拍了一张小小的相框里他和Charlie的合影，其它的借助充满张力的对白，由观众自己想象，补充。这是二十一世纪的纽约，两人的悲剧与其说是制度的悲剧，不如说是个人的悲剧。正因为如此，这悲剧是普世的，不管你是不是同性情侣。“没人能够被救赎，没人能救赎别人，没人能救赎自己“，这种灰色是导演的底色，我还记得他在《梦之安魂曲》里让厄运自然演进到灭亡的从容。

这是部来自话剧的电影，场景简单至极，靠的是语言和冲突，各个人物纷纷上场，像在舞台上一样，从话剧到电影，不变的是它的核心，穿过同性情侣，肥胖，宗教，这些表象，核心是人和世界的关系，人和人之间的误会与和解，心灵的沟通。Charlie的女儿Ellie是他唯一多活几天的理由，他加大工作量做在线课程，批改作业，吃最便宜的垃圾食品，攒了十几万留给Ellie。甚至在他心绞痛时只要读一遍Ellie八年级时写的Moby Dick的读后感就能缓解疼痛，安静下来。

Ellie拍了Thomas，录了他讲述自己在教会的遭遇，偷钱的经历发给他父母，并不是为了害他，而是为了救他，没人比她更清楚父母对孩子的感受，所以她联络Thomas父母时应该是确信父母会接纳他的，只是，Ellie也许不知道，把他送回新生教会的怀抱是不是真的救他。

那段Moby Dick的书评写的真好，说明她真的读了，也真的读懂了。人和人之间的心意相通是最难的事，她和Mob Dick的作者心意相通了，也理解了她的父亲Charlie。她只有十七岁，这非常不简单。不必多言，这肯定是编剧对《白鲸记》的感受，也许是他十几岁时的感想，这颗种子埋在心里，在他成年后长成了这部让他久负盛名的剧作。

Ellie的读后感里写道：

In the amazing book Moby Dick by the author Herman Melville, the author recounts his story of being at sea. In the first part of his book, the author, calling himself Ishmael, is in a small sea-side town and he is sharing a bed with a man named Queequeg.”

“The author and Queequeg go to church and later set out on a ship captained by the pirate named Ahab, who is missing a leg, and very much wants to kill the whale which is named Moby Dick, and which is white.”

“In the course of the book, the pirate Ahab encounters many hardships. His entire life is set around trying to kill a certain whale.”

“I think this is sad because this whale doesn’t have any emotions, and doesn’t know how bad Ahab wants to kill him.”

“He’s just a poor big animal. And I feel bad for Ahab as well, because he thinks that his life will be better if he can kill this whale, but in reality it won’t help him at all.”

“I was very saddened by this book, and I felt many emotions for the characters.”

在这本书中，海盗Ahab经历了许多困难，终其一生，只为杀了那只大白鲸。我觉得这真令人悲哀，因为白鲸没有情感，不知道海盗如此渴望杀死它。它只是个可怜的庞然大物。我为Ahab感到悲哀，因为他觉得只要他杀了Moby dick他的生活就会变好，但其实他的生活一点儿也不会改变。

“And I felt saddest of all when I read the boring chapters that were only descriptions of whales, because I knew that the author was just trying to save us from his own sad story, just for a little while.”

（读这些不厌其烦的描述鲸鱼的枯燥章节是我最感到悲伤的，因为我理解作者只是试图让我们从他那悲伤的故事中出来透口气。）

“This book made me think about my own life, and then it made me feel glad for my--”