禁片导演执导《狼图腾》令人意外

BEIJING — Ten years ago, when producers at the state-run Beijing Forbidden City Film Corporation began searching for a director for the movie adaptation of the Chinese novel “Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong, they had no plans to look beyond China’s homegrown stable. It was a Chinese story, after all, written by a Chinese author, and had sold more than a million copies in the country in the year since its publication in 2004. (It has sold four million more there since.)

北京——十年前，国营的北京紫禁城影业公司的制片人们决定将姜戎的小说《狼图腾》搬上银幕，寻找导演时，他们并没考虑在中国电影圈之外找人。毕竟这是一个中国的故事，由中国作家所创作，2004年出版时在中国卖出了100万本以上（其后又卖出了400万多本）。

But almost every big-name Chinese director the producers approached, including Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee, turned them down, some citing their reluctance to work with wolves. It probably didn’t help that the novel, a not-so-thinly-veiled critique of Chinese civilization, dealt with topics deemed sensitive by the government, such as ethnic relations in China and the environmental costs of the country’s breakneck industrialization.

但是制片人们接触的所有著名华人导演都令他们大失所望（其中也包括张艺谋和李安），其中有人不大愿意和狼一起工作。况且，这本书对于中国文明有些较为露骨的批评，涉及一些对政府来说比较敏感的题材，诸如中国的民族关系，以及中国的快速工业化带来的环境代价。

After several years of searching, producers finally found their man: Jean-Jacques Annaud. The choice was an unexpected one, since it was widely reported that the French director had been banned from China for his 1997 film “Seven Years in Tibet.”

历时数年，制片人们终于找到了合适的人选：让-雅克·阿诺(Jean-Jacques Annaud)。这个选择非常出人意料，因为这位法国导演因其1997年的《西藏七年》(Seven Years in Tibet)在中国遭禁，这件事曾被广泛报道过。

The movie “Wolf Totem” finally arrived in theaters in China on Thursday, the first day of the Chinese New Year, and will open in France on Wednesday. (Sony’s Columbia Pictures has acquired its North America distribution rights.)

星期四，即春节的大年初一，电影《狼图腾》在中国上映，下周三亦将于法国上映（索尼哥伦比亚电影公司获得了该片的北美发行权）。

The book — reported to be the best-selling contemporary novel of all time in China — tells the story of a you.g Han Chinese student named Chen Zhen (played in the movie by Feng Shaofeng), who goes to live among nomadic herdsman in Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution. There he learns about nomadic culture and becomes fascinated with wolves, even capturing and raising a cub.

据报道，这本书是中国最畅销的当代小说，它讲述了汉族青年学生陈阵（由冯绍峰饰演）在“文化大革命”期间，下放到内蒙古与牧民生活在一起，在那里学习了游牧民族的文化，并且迷上了狼，甚至捕获并抚养了一只小狼崽。

Both the film and the book depict the encroachment of the Han Chinese population on the Mongol plains, which leads to the killing off of the wolves and the gradual destruction of the grasslands.

影片和书中都描写了汉族人口对蒙古平原的侵入，导致狼群被杀，草原逐渐遭到破坏。

“There has without question been no one single novel in China with as great of an impact before or since ‘Wolf Totem,”’ said Jo Lusby, managing director of Penguin China, which published the book in English.

“毫无疑问，在中国，无论是之前还是之后，都没有一本小说有着《狼图腾》这样的影响，”这本书英文版的出版者、企鹅中国的总经理周海伦说。

The book, which is semi-autobiographical, quickly resonated across the demographic spectrum in China. Political dissenters found in it anti-Communist Party messages, for example, while corporations gave it to employees to encourage them to work together like wolves. The book has also been translated into 39 languages for 110 countries. “It was one of those black swan events in publishing,” Ms. Lusby said.

这本书带有半自传性质，很快在中国的各种人群中激起了反响。比如，政治异见者们在其中找到了反对中国共产党的信息，与此同时，公企业也把这本书发给雇员们，鼓励他们像狼群一样合作。这本书被翻译成39种语言，在110个国家发行。“这是出版界的黑天鹅现象之一，”周海伦说。

Despite the book’s political undertones, the process of making the $45 million Chinese-French co-production was a relatively smooth one by most accounts — somewhat unexpected, some said, given Mr. Annaud’s unflattering portrayal of the People’s Liberation Army’s 1949 invasion of the region in “Seven Years in Tibet.”

尽管书中蕴含着政治的弦外之音，这部斥资4500万美元的中法合拍片的拍摄过程堪称顺利。鉴于阿诺在《西藏七年》中曾经坦率地展示了中国人民解放军1949年入侵西藏的过程，这样的结果不免令人意外。

“The idea that a story many viewed as critical of the Chinese government would be directed by a foreigner who had previously made a film that criticized China’s policies is rather astonishing,” Rob Cain, who runs , a blog about China’s film industry, wrote in an e-mail. But in this case, Mr. Cain said, Mr. Annaud’s directorial experience and technical expertise may have superseded his past actions. “China’s film industry is awash in cash, hungry for success, and eager to partner with people who possess know-how and international access,” Mr. Cain added.

“一本很多人都觉得是在批评中国政府的书，由一个曾经批评中国政策的外国人执导，这本身就很令人吃惊了，”网站的甘敏中(Rob Cain)在接受记者的电子邮件采访时说道；该网站是一个关于中国电影工业的博客。不过，甘敏中说，中方可能看中阿诺的导演经验与技术技巧，因此才无视他过去的行为。“中国电影业金元泛滥，渴望成功，他们希望能和懂行、有国际声望的人合作，”甘敏中说。

In an interview, Mr. Annaud acknowledged that he, too, was taken aback when representatives of the Beijing Forbidden City production company approached him at his office in Paris. He said the producers told him: “China has changed and we are practical people. We don’t know how to do what you do and we need you.”

在采访中，阿诺说，当北京紫禁城影业的代表到他巴黎的办公室和他进行接触时，他也大吃一惊。他记得那些制片人们告诉他，“中国已经变了，我们是实干家。我们不知道该怎么做你的工作，我们需要你。”

La Peikang, chairman of the state-owned China Film Group, which took over the film’s production duties from Beijing Forbidden City, said that while “Seven Years in Tibet” had indeed “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” only the film — and not the director himself — had been banned in China. “It was important to us to find someone who could make this movie well and tame the wolves,” said Mr. La, citing Mr. Annaud’s previous experience working with animals. “With regard to films that he made in the past, I don’t think this is very important.”

国有的中国电影公司总裁喇培康从北京紫禁城影业手中接下了拍摄这部片子的职责，他说，《西藏七年》这部影片确实“伤害了中国人民的感情”，在中国遭禁的是电影，而非导演本人。“我们应该找能拍好电影、又能驯服狼群的人来，这非常重要，”喇说。他引述阿诺之前拍摄动物的片子，“看过他之前拍的那些电影，我觉得这没什么大不了。”

Mr. Annaud said he was given “carte blanche” throughout the process. He also insisted on making the movie in Mandarin and Mongol (not English, as the film’s producers had suggested) and cast both Chinese and Mongol actors.

阿诺说，他在工作中得到了“全权委任”。他坚持影片要在东北和蒙古拍摄（而不是像影片制片人们建议的那样，在英国拍摄），而演员必须既有中国人，也有蒙古人。

And just as many have expressed surprise that Mr. Jiang’s original book was able to escape the red pens of censors, Mr. Annaud said he was surprised at the apparent leniency of China’s censors. “The film went through censorship with no problem at all,” he said. “I enjoyed a level of freedom that is almost inexplicable.” Throughout the creative process, Mr. Annaud said he sought input from Jiang Rong, the pen name of Lü Jiamin, a 78-year-old retired professor at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing who spent time in prison for participating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

姜戎的原作竟然能够通过审查，这令很多人都表示惊讶；阿诺也说，当前中国审查制度表面上的宽松也让他震惊。“影片过审完全没有问题，”他说。“我享受的自由程度几乎是令人费解的。”在创作过程中，阿诺说，他从作者姜戎处求教。“姜戎”是78岁的退休教授吕嘉民的笔名，他曾在北京的中国劳动关系学院任教，曾因参加1989年天安门广场民主抗议活动入狱。

A French beret worn by one of the Han Chinese characters in the film, for example, was nixed by Mr. Jiang. (“Are you kidding me?” he said. “During the Cultural Revolution if you were seen wearing a beret you would be subject to criticism.”) Mr. Jiang said he also signed off on major changes to the plot, such as the inclusion of a love story between the main character, Chen Zhen, and a Mongol woman, played by Ankhnyam Ragchaa, as well as a reworking of the film’s ending to make it more uplifting.

比如说，姜戎不许电影中的汉族人物戴法式贝雷帽。“你开玩笑？”他说，“在‘文革’期间，被人看见戴贝雷帽肯定要遭到批判的。”姜戎说，他也同意了电影中重大的情节变化，比如片中两个主角——陈阵和由昂哈玛尼饰演的蒙古女人——之间的爱情故事，此外还有影片的新结局，它令故事变得更加振奋人心。

“The book is the book and the film is the film,” said Mr. Jiang, who won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007 for the English translation of the book.

“书是书，电影是电影，”姜戎说，2007年，他曾因此书的英译本获得英仕曼亚洲文学奖。

Shot on location in Inner Mongolia, the 3-D film is packed with stunning vistas and action scenes featuring real Mongol wolves that were trained over three years — making the film’s message about the ecological perils of modern China’s development all the more vivid.

影片采取3-D形式，在内蒙古拍摄，充满壮丽的奇景和动作场面，使用了经驯化三年的蒙古狼群，令片中关于现代中国发展造成的生态危机问题更加鲜明生动。

“My fear was it was just going to end up being a pretty film about animals,” said Ms. Lusby of Penguin China. “But it was a lot more blunt than I’d expected it to be on the environmental side of it. I was really quite shocked.”

“我原本担心它最后拍出来只是一部关于动物的漂亮影片，”企鹅中国的周海伦说，“但它在反映环境问题方面，比我原本想像得要直率得多。我感到非常震惊。”