美国国家公共电台 NPR An Iraqi Sniper Traps Two U.S. Soldiers In 'The Wall'

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

War movies don't get much smaller than "The Wall." It's from the director who made the first "Bourne" movie, and this new film is stripped to absolute essentials - men, guns, desert. Critic Bob Mondello says as small as it is, "The Wall" will loom¹ large in your memory.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE²: Two American soldiers have been staring for 20 hours at a scene of carnage in the desert, flat on their bellies³, hidden behind some brush. Isaac and Matthews can see eight corpses⁴ - an oil pipeline⁵ crew apparently⁶ picked off by an Iraqi sniper.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

JOHN CENA: (As Matthews) Hit and run - whoever he is, he's gone.

AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) Unless he's a pro⁷.

CENA: (As Matthews) We've got no movement, not a sign of a shadow. I'm going down there, and that's it.

MONDELLO: Matthews takes a breath and stands up. Nothing, so he works his way down to the bodies a few hundred feet away.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

CENA: (As Matthews) Something's not right.

MONDELLO: There's a garbage pile on one side, excavation⁸ equipment, a shed.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) What? Talk to me, man. Talk to me. What's going on down there?

MONDELLO: Also a low stone wall on the left.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) You know what? Get the hell out of there, bro.

CENA: (As Matthews) Hey, Ise (ph), just check that the - oh.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)

MONDELLO: Matthews falls, and Isaac tears down the hill toward him.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

CENA: (As Matthews) I'm hit.

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) Coming, man.

MONDELLO: And then Isaac's hit. One leg useless, he scrambles⁹ for cover, dragging himself behind that crumbling¹⁰ stone wall, not really sure if that exposes or hides him. Apparently, it hides him. The shots stop. But now what? In the first "Bourne" movie, director Doug Liman had a budget for stars and stunts¹¹. Here, he's working lighter¹² - just two actors and a wall. But with Dwain Worrell's screenplay ratcheting tension tighter than the tourniquet¹³ Isaac has to fashion for his leg, two actors and a wall is plenty.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) Two, three, four, five. I know where you are now.

MONDELLO: Worrell's script had been on what's called the black list, which is a good thing in Hollywood these days. It's a list of the best unproduced screenplays that are up for option each year. But it made the list the year that Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" hit screens, and two movies centering on snipers apparently seemed a bit much.

Happily, this one attracted Liman not for its pyrotechnics but as a psychological thriller¹⁴, and he sure piles on the psych-outs - Aaron Taylor-Johnson's wounded Isaac huddling¹⁵ by that crumbling wall, struggling with shot-up communications gear.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WALL")

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) We got a sniper, high-caliber weapon. Requesting extraction.

LAITH NAKLI: (As Juba) Sergeant¹⁶, I need your exact location.

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) Say that again.

NAKLI: (As Juba, unintelligible).

TAYLOR-JOHNSON: (As Isaac) You've got an accent - not American.

MONDELLO: Minimalist the way a Samuel Beckett play is minimalist, "The Wall" is 81 minutes of bare-bones strategy and questions. Where is the sniper? Who is the sniper? Will Isaac's training pull him through? What is the endgame? The filmmakers keep you guessing right up to the final credits. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF JULIA KENT SONG, "INTENT")

1 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

2 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。

3 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

4 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

8 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

9 scrambles   

n.抢夺( scramble的名词复数 )v.快速爬行( scramble的第三人称单数 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• The breaking of symmetry scrambles the underlying order of nature. 对称性的破坏会打乱自然界的根本秩序。 来自互联网
• The move comes as Japan scrambles for ways to persuade women to have more babies. 这一行动的出现正值日本政府想尽各种办法鼓励妇女多生育孩子。 来自互联网

10 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

11 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

13 tourniquet   

n.止血器，绞压器，驱血带

参考例句：

• Twist the tourniquet tighter.把止血带扎紧点。
• The tourniquet should occlude venous and lymphatic return.止血带应阻断静脉及淋巴回流。

14 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

15 huddling   

n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事

参考例句：

• Twenty or thirty monkeys are huddling along the thick branch. 三十只猴子挤在粗大的树枝上。
• The defenders are huddling down for cover. 捍卫者为了掩护缩成一团。

16 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？