美国国家公共电台 NPR--A historic event in Argentina is now a courtroom drama that's up for an Oscar

A historic event in Argentina is now a courtroom drama that's up for an Oscar

Transcript¹

The actor who stars in Argentina, 1985, which is nominated for an Academy Award, says the historical courtroom drama resonates in many countries — including those struggling to preserve democracy.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

One of Argentina's defining historic events is now a gripping courtroom drama that's up for an Oscar this year. The film looks back on how a civilian² court in the 1980s put the country's former military dictators on trial, something that the world had never seen before. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE³: As the trailer for "Argentina, 1985" points out, no other country in the world had ever tried its own former genocidal leaders.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ARGENTINA, 1985")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Spanish).

KAHN: And what's also remarkable⁴, says Argentine director Santiago Mitre - the trial took place less than two years after the toppling of the military dictatorship.

SANTIAGO MITRE: It was a very brave decision and a risky⁵ one but also very important for building a better democracy at that time.

KAHN: Not to mention, Mitre tells me from Los Angeles, the courtroom drama with its underdogs fight-the-power plot was ripe for a movie script, especially, he adds, now as democracies worldwide are under threat.

MITRE: So to bring a story about justice that really happened and that accountability was something important to bring to these days.

KAHN: Mitre was a young kid in 1985, but veteran Argentine actor Ricardo Darin was in his 30s. He plays the reluctant hero prosecutor⁶ in the film and remembers the trial well. But he tells me from his home in Buenos Aires he was hesitant to take the part. He doesn't like portraying⁷ real people.

RICARDO DARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: But in this case, he says he felt that the objective outweighed⁸ all.

DARIN: (Through interpreter) What we did was show that there is a point when regular citizens can band together with a common objective and come out ahead.

KAHN: And he says the lead prosecutor, Julio Cesar Strassera, was such a great, complex character - quirky, a prankster yet in the end heroic, like the rest of the young prosecutors⁹ that joined his team.

DARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "They all had so much courage, such bravery," he says. "Every day, they were threatened and intimidated¹⁰." Some critics have complained the film glossed¹¹ over such details or gave short shrift to the horrors related in the courtroom.

EMILIO FISZMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "Oh, no. It reflected what it was like," says Emilio Fiszman. Now 79, the lifelong human rights advocate was at the real trial. His younger sister was one of the tens of thousands disappeared during the dictatorship. Fiszman also played an extra in the movie trial, which was shot in the same courtroom where it took place nearly four decades ago.

FISZMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: "Many people ask me, is this real? Did this really happen like this? And it was," he says, "verbatim." Especially the closing argument, taken straight from archival videos.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JULIO CESAR STRASSERA: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: Actor Ricardo Darin says unlike the real-life Strassera, he choked up as he read the powerful ending, which he repeated for me in our interview and is heard here in the English version of the film.

DARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ARGENTINA, 1985")

RICARDO DARIN: (As Julio Cesar Strassera) I want to use a phrase that does not belong to me because it belongs to all the people of Argentina.

DARIN: (Speaking Spanish).

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ARGENTINA, 1985")

DARIN: (As Julio Cesar Strassera) Never again.

DARIN: Darin says regardless of what happens at the Oscars, he's proud of the film and Argentina's uninterrupted democracy of the last 40 years.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAHN: Carrie Kahn, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

6 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

7 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 outweighed   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• This boxer outweighed by his opponent 20 pounds. 这个拳击选手体重比他的对手重20磅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She outweighed me by ten pounds, and sometimes she knocked me down. 她的体重超过我十磅，有时竟把我撞倒。 来自百科语句

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 glossed   

v.注解( gloss的过去式和过去分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去

参考例句：

• The manager glossed over the team's recent defeat. 经理对这个队最近的失败闪烁其词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He glossed over his selfishness with a display of generosity. 他以慷慨大方的假象掩饰他的自私。 来自互联网