电影:《私人战争》探索战地记者的内心斗争

Movie: 'A Private War' Explores War Reporter's Inner Battle

American reporter Marie Colvin told important stories about the suffering of civilians¹ in war.

Starting in the late 1980s, Colvin traveled to some of the most dangerous and horrifying² conflicts in the world. She reported on the people she met and their experiences: parents whose children were killed or missing, children silenced by trauma³, victims of rape⁴ and other atrocities⁵.

Right now, several media projects explore Colvin’s life.

Matthew Heineman's movie A Private War is based on a story published in Vanity Fair magazine following the reporter’s death in Syria in 2012.

Actor Rosamund Pike plays the fierce American reporter who gave her life while reporting on conflicts around the world.

"In war zones, parents go to bed at night not knowing if their children will see the morning. That is a measure of fear that I can never feel."

While her fear may not have been as deep, the movie shows that Colvin clearly suffered as a result of her work. She lost her eye in 2001 when Sri Lankan forces attacked in a rebel-held area. The black-cloth eye cover she wore became a sign of her bravery.

But the movie suggests Marie Colvin’s mental pain was far worse. She most surely was a victim of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder⁶. Pike, playing Colvin, tells a friend about her relationship to alcohol.

"I'm most happy with a vodka martini in my hand, but I can't stand the fact that the chatter⁷ in my head won't go quiet until there's a quart of vodka inside me.”

That is a main message expressed in A Private War. The mind continues to battle long after the person has left the war zone.

Colvin had terrible hallucinations for years. Often she would see the bloodied⁸ body of a young girl lying on Colvin’s own bed.

Rosamund Pike said understanding how Colvin moved was important in portraying⁹ her.

"I had to learn to smoke convincingly, because for Marie, everything was better with a cigarette, every conversation, every car drive. I had to see the way she gestured with her hands -- she had these wide apart fingers. I had to work out how the eye patch made her angle her head differently."

As a producer of documentaries, Heineman wanted to give this film a real-life feeling. In a scene of the discovery of a mass burial place in Iraq, Heineman used victims of war to play mourners.

"And at the end of that scene, like in any documentary that I made, something unforeseen happened. They started chanting and doing this prayer for the dead."

Rosamund Pike says she had a similar experience while filming an unwritten scene with a refugee woman. It is set in a safe house in 2012, during a Syrian government operation that was part of the three year offensive against the city of Homs.

The woman tells how she feeds her baby only sugar and water. She says her body stopped producing milk after the suffering of losing one of her children to a bomb attack.

"The woman said to me, she said, 'Please, I don't want this just to be words on paper. I want the world to know that a generation is dying here. I want the world to know my story.'"

Pike says, at that time, she felt what drove Colvin: the reporter’s responsibility to serve as a witness to people's suffering.

Filmmaker Heineman looks at the complexity¹⁰ of Colvin’s personality, her bravery and drive to get war reports out. He shows how she stood her ground in Homs even during the heavy shelling of the city by Syrian forces.

"She felt compelled to tell the story, to tell the story of a group of 28,000 civilians in Homs who were besieged¹²...and she felt, as she often did, ‘If I don't do this, then who will?’"

And that story, of the inhumanity she witnessed in Homs was her last. Marie Colvin was killed there in a government shelling attack in 2012.

“Maybe I would have liked a more normal life. Maybe I just don’t know how.”

I’m Caty Weaver¹³.

Words in This Story

trauma - n. ? a very difficult or unpleasant experience that causes someone to have mental or emotional problems usually for a long time

atrocity¹⁴ - n. a very cruel or terrible act or action

chatter - n. ? noisy talking and other sounds

gesture - n. ? a movement of your body (especially of your hands and arms) that shows or emphasizes an idea or a feeling

unforeseen - adj. ? not predicted or expected

scene - n. ?a part of a play, movie, story, etc., in which a particular action or activity occurs

besiege¹¹ - v. to surround a city, building, etc., with soldiers and try to take control of it

1 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

2 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

3 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

7 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

8 bloodied   

v.血污的( bloody的过去式和过去分词 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• His pants leg was torn and bloodied when he fell. 他跌交时裤腿破了，还染上了血。 来自辞典例句

9 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

10 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

11 besiege   

vt.包围，围攻，拥在...周围

参考例句：

• The Afghan air force was using helicopters to supply the besieged town.阿富汗空军正用直升机向被围城镇提供补给。
• She was besieged by the press and the public.她被媒体和公众纠缠不休。

12 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

13 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

14 atrocity   

n.残暴，暴行

参考例句：

• These people are guilty of acts of great atrocity.这些人犯有令人发指的暴行。
• I am shocked by the atrocity of this man's crimes.这个人行凶手段残忍狠毒使我震惊。