化為六月息

-----【譯文初稿】-----

在今年度的威尼斯電影節上，有兩部來自日本的動畫片，格外受到大家矚目。其中一部是〝懸崖上的金魚公主 (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea)〞，出自日本動畫大師宮崎駿(Hayao Miyazaki)之手；而另一部則是〝空中殺手(The Sky Crawlers)〞，由日本另一位動畫巨匠押井守(Mamoru Oshii)監製。

動畫電影〝空中殺手〞，故事的主人翁是一群稱為〝Kildren〞的少年飛行員，他們被基因改造成不會自然衰老，卻必須持續進行空戰，直到戰死為止，同時他們還要面對自己沉重的憂鬱，或是考慮以自殺來終結悲慘的宿命。而這些少年所進行的空戰，會在稱為〝reality TV〞的電視上播出，是由幾間國際公司所主導，目地僅僅是為了娛樂一般大眾。

今年57歲的押井守，從人性的黑暗面來詮釋動畫〝空中殺手〞，他在解釋這部動畫時表示，除非有戰爭存在，否則人類無法體會出承平時代的美好，而且由於人類本性使然、無法改變，戰爭將永遠不會消失。

至於這部動畫的畫面設定上，地上的場景主要採用2D手繪技術，而炫麗的空戰場面則採用電腦3D製圖。有興趣的觀眾朋友，可以找來好好欣賞一下。

※ 正式定稿與影像：「 新唐人電視台 ─ 娛樂新幹線 206 」

※ The original article was taken from Reuters Website.  ( 原文取自路透社網站 )




-----【原文對照】-----

INTRO: Bleak Japanese animation film brings war to screen.  Japanese director Mamoru Oshii presents his dark animated film Sky Crawlers at the 65th Venice Film Festival. His film tells the tail in which genetically designed children destined to live forever battle for their lives for the entertainment of adults.

STORY: The presence of two Japanese animation movies in competition at the Venice film festival this year has created a contest within a contest, and brought to the big screen two strikingly different pictures.

The revered Hayao Miyazaki(宮崎駿) is among the favourites for the top prize at Saturday's awards ceremony with "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea(懸崖上的金魚公主)", his uplifting, colourful take on "The Little Mermaid" that has already stormed the box office in Japan.

Up against him in the 21-film competition is Mamoru Oshii(押井守), whose bleak yet spectacular "The Sky Crawlers(空中殺手)" has received mixed reviews and, according to trade press, fallen well behind Miyazaki in domestic ticket sales over the summer.

In "The Sky Crawlers", humanoids are genetically designed to live forever as teenaged pilots until they are shot dead in fierce air battles. The "reality TV" wars fought by so-called "Kildren" are between global corporations and are staged purely for the entertainment of the general population which tracks the battles, advances and retreats on television.

Oshii was quick to draw comparisons between himself and his more famous competitor, who won an Oscar for "Spirited Away" and has a sizeable following overseas.  In production notes for "The Sky Crawlers", 57-year-old Oshii says that with stunning air battle scenes, "I am confident I can beat Miyazaki. Of course he is known to argue he is the best."

In Oshii's dark vision of humanity in "The Sky Crawlers", "Kildren" fight for their lives for the sake of entertainment. The point, the director explained, is that people cannot appreciate peace time and reality itself unless there is war.

"As long as men are as they are, war will never disappear," he told a press briefing in Venice. "It's unfortunately something that we can't eliminate from our very nature. We'll never achieve a state of perfect peace, and from my point of view this is just linked to human nature and is something we can't free ourselves from."

"The Sky Crawlers" is a combination of hand drawn, 2-D animation, used mainly for the scenes on land, and computer-generated 3-D graphics used for the air battle scenes. The recreations of World War Two dog fights, featuring propeller aircraft and a "retro" look, contrast with the boredom and listlessness of life back on the ground.

One "Kildren" questions the point of flying sorties that go on forever, or at least until she is killed in battle, and she and others suffer acute depression and contemplate suicide as an alternative to their fate.