蘊含智慧的動作片

 ［水巷碑銘］雖然遭受布希亞方面的挫折，毋改兩位導演的決心。

也許二十多年前，尚未變性的華高斯基姊妹根本想象不到電影會大獲好評。當時兩人只一心想要搞搞新意思，做點破格的事。兩人均厭倦了荷里活千篇一律有如麥當奴生產漢堡包般的作品，遂決定拍一套蘊含智慧的動作片（intellectual action movie）：

“We just really want to see how the idea of an intellectual action movie is received by the world,” said Larry Wachowski, 33, the older half of the team of writer-directors. “Because if audiences are sort of interested in movies that are made like McDonald's hamburgers, which do have a value in the world, then we have to re-evaluate our entire career.” 

“Our main goal with The Matrix was to make an intellectual action movie,” Larry explains. “We like action movies, guns and kung fu, but we're tired of assembly-line action movies that are devoid of any intellectual content. We were determined to put as many ideas into the movie as we could, and purposefully set out to try to put images up on the screen that people haven’t ever seen before.”

在電影光碟套裝內的小冊子中，導演附上自己所寫的一篇短文（An Introduction from the Wachowski Brothers）介紹創作初衷，即提到兩人亟欲打破荷里活動作片想當然爾「嘈吵、愚笨、顯淺」的刻板印象。也許受到《紐約時報》上報到的一條問題啟發，從此世界便誕生了享譽為哲學電影的三部曲。這條問題即人類最原始的哲學疑惑：為甚麼？

When The New York Times demands that Hollywood deliver action films that are "Loud, dumb and obvious" one might be inclined to ask, with of course the proper deference that one must accord to such an esteemed and learned publication, "Why?"

為甚麼動作電影非得「嘈吵、愚笨、顯淺」不可呢？某個下午，兩人就呆在芝加哥一間狹小的寓所內，就打發時間般隨口聊聊到底為甚麼。為甚麼武打與智慧彷彿彼此絕緣、互相排斥呢？聊著聊著，血氣方剛的兩人想到一處，愈陷愈深，不能自拔。

激情逐漸澄清成計劃後，昔日中途輟學的兩人渴望仿傚古希臘的蘇格拉底，為大眾帶來點點知性上的刺激。卻偏偏選了一條蘇格拉底亦意料不到的荒途：拍荷里活動作片。 

It was our sincerest hope that our movies might inspire or perhaps provoke a little Socratic interaction, something beyond, “Remember that one part? That was cool.” 

《駭客任務》的確無愧哲學電影之名，兩位才華橫溢的導演無疑為動作片灌注了不少智慧。但對當時的電影公司華納兄弟來說， 投資落《駭客任務》無疑一場冒險。終於上畫兼大賣後，華高斯基姊妹還不夠滿足。在公司要發刊精美的電影光碟套裝前，大膽向公司提案，說想錄下數名哲學家及影評家暢談各自的觀賞心得，並收進光碟裏。而這提案竟也成事了。 

Warner Bros., again with the patience of saints, asked for clarification. “Let us get this straight. You want to get a few critics to sit in a room and kill the movies for six hours and you want us to pay for it?” Right. “And you think your fans are going to want to listen to this?” Well, we think our fans are interested in a different kind of experience and that while the critics will undoubtedly exasperate and infuriate them, we think our fans will understand what we are trying to do. “And what exactly are you trying to do?” Find an answer. “An answer to what?” An answer to “Why?” 

為甚麼要這樣做？因為想引誘更多人去問為甚麼，驅使那些在尋覓之途上迷失甚至掉頭的人繼續掙扎下去。「下定他媽的決心吧。」（待續）

We encourage the consciously curious to flip back and forth going from complexity to simplicity, from internal to external, and from somewhere between the search and the denial of meaning, we ask the curious to "Make up their own damn mind."