-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
How far you'd go to help a friend is one of those classic existential dilemmas1. And that question is at the heart of a new film called "Crown Heights," which is out this weekend. As NPR's Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi reports, the film tells the true story of a man imprisoned2 for more than 20 years for a murder he did not commit and the friend who finally got him out.
ALEXI HOROWITZ-GHAZI, BYLINE3: "Crown Heights" begins in the spring of 1980, with a single gunshot ringing out on a Brooklyn street corner. But the film is less a whodunit4 than a chronicle of the personal nightmare that murder set in motion.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CROWN HEIGHTS")
LAKEITH STANFIELD: (As Colin Warner) When the police arrested me that night, that was it. I haven't been back home since. My life ended right there. Most of these prisoners, they know deep down they put themselves here. But I don't have that comfort.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: That's Lakeith Stanfield playing Colin Warner, an 18-year-old immigrant from Trinidad wrongfully convicted of the murder. Warner's case happened against the backdrop of a crime wave in New York City and a tough, often indiscriminate, response from law enforcement. And his conviction was based on coerced5 false testimony6. The film also follows Warner's childhood friend, Carl KC King, who spent years fighting for justice even in the moments when Warner himself lost hope.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CROWN HEIGHTS")
STANFIELD: (As Colin Warner) Why are you still at this, man? You got your family. You got your job. You got your life. Why you keep wasting your time on me?
NNAMDI ASOMUGHA: (As Carl KC King) It's not just about you. It could be me in here.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: King spent more than two decades raising money for lawyers, tracking down witnesses, filing appeals. In 2001, his friend, Colin Warner, was finally exonerated7 and released from prison. A few years later, their saga8 was featured on This American Life. That's how the story ended up in the ear of "Crown Heights" director Matt Ruskin on his drive home.
MATT RUSKIN: Really, I couldn't get their voices out of my head after I heard their piece.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Ruskin knew the story had the makings of a feature film. And after convincing Warner and King that he would do their story justice, he set to work on a script that drew heavily from primary sources.
RUSKIN: Carl had become sort of the chief archivist of this case in the process of putting his appeals together. So when I started, he just handed me this binder9 of basically everything, which was court transcripts10, depositions11 from witnesses, police reports, autopsy12 reports.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Ruskin chose up-and-comer Lakeith Stanfield to play Colin Warner. And he says that Stanfield's dedication13 to the role was clear throughout.
RUSKIN: Usually in between scenes, actors will be taken off to somewhere comfortable. And Keith asked to be held in another prison cell.
STANFIELD: This one cell in particular, I don't know why, I was like, I want this to be my trailer. And in between takes, I would just sit in there. I just kept telling myself, this is nothing compared to what he had to experience. So if I wanted to embody14 the character, I had to feel a little bit uncomfortable sometimes.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: This story also resonated with former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha, who plays Carl King.
ASOMUGHA: It was written really artfully. It wasn't saying that all cops are bad, and it wasn't destroying everyone in the legal system. It was saying that there was a criminal justice system at that moment that was more interested in conviction than in truth.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Asomugha says that beyond the film's critique of American criminal justice, the story of Carl King's perseverance15 and Colin Warner's dignity spoke16 to something more universal.
ASOMUGHA: Fifteen minutes after he gets out of prison, he's got a microphone in his hand and cameras on him. And the first thing he says is, I'm not mad at anybody. I forgive everyone that put me in this position. The first thing that struck me, I'm like, that's what it means to be human.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Sixteen years to the day after Carl King submitted his final appeal to win Warner's freedom, "Crown Heights" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: And the real Colin Warner and Carl King were in the audience with their families. Warner says it was tough watching his own story play out on the big screen.
COLIN WARNER: A lot of the feelings came back. It's feelings I don't want no more. I'm trying to lessen17 their impact on me even though those experiences make me the man I am today. It's time to move on. And this is what I'm trying to do now, move on with my life, create a family and just watch my family grow up.
HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Still, Warner says, he hopes his story can offer strength to prisoners who wrongfully sit behind bars today, fighting for the vindication18 that he finally found. Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, NPR News.
1 dilemmas | |
n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 );窘境,困境 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 whodunit | |
n.侦探小说(或剧本、影片等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 coerced | |
v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 );强迫;(以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段)控制;支配 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 exonerated | |
v.使免罪,免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 saga | |
n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事,英雄传奇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 binder | |
n.包扎物,包扎工具;[法]临时契约;粘合剂;装订工 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 transcripts | |
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 depositions | |
沉积(物)( deposition的名词复数 ); (在法庭上的)宣誓作证; 处置; 罢免 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 autopsy | |
n.尸体解剖;尸检 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 dedication | |
n.奉献,献身,致力,题献,献辞 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 embody | |
vt.具体表达,使具体化;包含,收录 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 perseverance | |
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 lessen | |
vt.减少,减轻;缩小 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 vindication | |
n.洗冤,证实 | |
参考例句: |
|
|