单挑

Wow, Ray Allen on the spot. I enjoy the last part when son took his father on the court. Reminds me of my good old days ...

   最近看的几部电影都和篮球有那么点关系，《单挑》直接就是讲篮球的，不过那只是外衣，斯派克·李旨在表现美国非裔人士的内核，当然，在表现黑人世界的写实性和细节上，没有哪个导演能出其右，所以，那些肤浅的篮球迷们别想在《单挑》里看到《空中大灌篮》和《乔丹传人》那样俗套里开不出花的剧情，李的电影世界是很肮脏很丑恶的，就像纽约，就像纽约皇后区，那才是你追寻他电影的精髓所在，你想在麦迪逊花园广场看到又干净又华丽的东西？见鬼去吧！纽约客叫你滚到西海岸的斯台普斯菊爆菲尔杰克逊的ass！

    你知道我从哪段开始对整部电影大跌眼镜又肃然起敬吗？是丹泽尔·华盛顿饰演的父亲因为蹲了太久的牢子，出来了必须得解决一下按捺许久的生理欲望，所以他要钱去fuck隔壁老被皮条客施虐的白人妓女。这种情节你在体育励志题材里看得到吗，看看《光荣之路》和《卡特教练》这样的励志佳作，确实够励志，但是他们有多懂黑人，水准有多高？不错，他们确实浅尝即止地勾勒出了几幅黑鬼众生相，但是这类电影的真正高楼是谁建造的？是斯派克·李！是他在秀“纹身”，而别人只能秀宽松的嘻哈服饰：是他在秀硬核饶舌，而别人只能秀一句“what's up man”！

杰西·沙特尔斯沃思（雷·阿伦 Ray Allen饰），全国有名的高中篮球明星。杰西一心希望在职业篮球生涯中闯出一片天下，然而却因为有一个身为囚犯的父亲杰克·沙特尔斯沃思（丹泽尔·华盛顿 Denzel Washington饰）而蒙上了一层阴影。当年父亲在一次家庭暴力中错手杀死了母亲，锒铛入狱的杰克因为拥有一个明星儿子而面对了一次交易，只要说服杰西加入州政府指定的大学，事成之后便可得到减刑的机会。
美国知名导演斯派克·李执导的影片《单挑》，由好莱坞最具号召力的黑人影星丹泽尔·华盛顿饰演父亲一角，本片也是他与导演斯派克·李的第三次合作。德艺双馨的NBA名将雷·阿伦饰演儿子杰西，雷·阿伦则凭借本片荣获1999年第8届MTV电影奖MTV电影奖-最具突破男演员提名。

Jesus is a promising high school basketball player who is about to go to college. His decision about which school to choose could cause totally different outcomes. Jesus’s father Jake is a prisoner who is guilty of accidentally killing his wife. The governor is a basketball fan who wants Jake to convince Jesus to go to the state university, which for Jesus is also a perfect idea. Jake has to face many difficulties because his son can’t forgive him for what he did to his wife and son. But finally Jake persuades his son to make the right choice, which is to go to the state university.
        This movie is all about an immature boy becoming a man. How he changes is by learning how to make right choices. Although this movie’s plot focuses on portraying basketball, all this does is to support the story about choice-making. In this movie, Jesus’ choice affects not only his father’s life, but also changes his life forever. Jake has been pushing so hard on his son for all of Jesus’ life, all because Jake wants his son to make the right choice in his life and not to waste his talent. There are many temptations on one’s way to success. For Jesus, what Big Time and the manager offer money, and the party school offers sex and drugs which could eventually ruin his career and life. However, Jesus has a good father knows what is right, and the most important thing his father has taught him is how to make the right choice. Finally Jesus overcomes those temptations and chooses the state university. By doing this, Jesus proves that he is a mature man.
Another theme of this movie is redemption. This theme is expressed metaphorically in this movie. Jake names his son Jesus, who later becomes his savior spiritually, although the governor doesn’t set Jake free at last. However, the last scene in this movie, in which Jake through the ball over the wall and it ends up at the gym where Jesus is playing, is absolutely symbolizing that Jake is spiritually free from his sins. Going back to the name Jesus, I see more in it than just Jake’s redemption. I see a spiritual guidance of African Americans in this movie. This movie shows the dark side of African Americans’ lives in lower classes. For example at the last Jake is still in prison, and the governor’s promise hasn’t come true. In addition, when some African Americans are reading the newspaper about Jake, one of them is clearly illiterate; and Big Time makes his racist speech, African Americans in this scene are doing all kinds of drugs. All these scenes are showing that African Americans need a savior, who in this movie is Jesus. This is extremely obvious when so many people are saying his name “Jesus”. He suddenly becomes a religious symbol. How Jesus saves them is by doing his work decently and ignoring temptation. This is a metaphor for the redemption of African Americans.
        In conclusion, this movie is really not about basketball. Although this movie begins with many people from different races and places all over the country playing basketball, it still is a movie about growing up and race issues. On the other hand, basketball only plays a supporting role in this movie.

也就只有斯派克李能拍出这样的黑人篮球电影，你能从电影里读出纯粹的黑人思想。他不像卡特教练那样一直谆谆教诲，不像太空大灌篮那样童趣，而是处处显露着现实，人性的恶，对利益的追逐。电影里，在jesus面临抉择的时候，口口声声说待他如孩子的教练，抚养他多年的姨夫，一直说爱他的女友。。。形形色色的各种人仿佛都爱着jesus，都挖空心思想知道jesus的决定，想帮他做决定，而实际上都是Green on the eyes。当听到妹妹的话，jesus愤怒，当知道父亲为了尽早出狱都想利用他的时候，他那句，原来你也一样，都透露着他的不安与失望。他不知道相信谁，但自己同时也无法作出选择。Jesus自己心里有过答案吗？对于那些生活在贫民窟里的黑人来说，clothes hoes bankroll才是硬通货。 对于他们来说，keep it real 就是 count this money 。所以当jesus将要成为大明星的时候，每个人都渴望分一杯羹，而年轻的jesus将要面对的是形形色色的诱惑，女人，毒品，金钱，任何一样都足以毁掉他。斯派克李意在拍出一个将要从布鲁克林走出去的黑人的迷茫，而他的父亲对他最后的教诲把让他走上了正轨。

然而这部电影主题并不完全就是篮球，就是亲情，所以想看渲染亲情的恐怕要失望了。这部片更多是斯派克李在拍他心里的布鲁克林街头，黑人的处境。你成为了篮球明星又怎样？你成为千万富翁又怎样？你曾经的好友会翻脸向你要钱，毒品，女人任何一样都会毁掉你，就算离开了布鲁克林，但你布鲁克林的烙印依旧在那里。

很喜欢这部电影的故事题材。可惜拍的不够深刻，很多不必要的桥段，剪接稍显混乱，作为一部布鲁克林电影，色调还不够灰暗。这样模式的电影和同样运动题材的美国主旋律电影《弱点》又有什么很大的不同呢？（ps：弱点真的让人恶心）没能拍出到肉的街头，说实话还是挺失望的。但同时作为一部商业片很难要求斯派克李深刻起来。如果把斯派克李心中的布鲁克林街头搬出来，描写Jesus为了生计不得不贩卖快克，来几段血腥的街头的火拼，票房估计卖不动了。那不符合大众的审美。大众还是喜欢篮球（HC上的神电影），喜欢酷炫的音乐，喜欢渲染亲情。可惜斯派克本身并不擅长这个，他的根扎在布鲁克林。



PS：
1：对于电影开头的不合理，州长怎么会有这么大的权利给死刑犯减刑的质疑。比较合理的解释是，典狱长收钱了，父亲被骗了。根本就没有州长什么事，一个州长球迷不会疯到做毁掉自己政治生涯的事。
2：最后父亲有没有被射死？我相信他是死了。典狱长做了这样的事，最后一定会杀人灭口的。哪里来的这个灵感？想想肖申克的救赎，知道真相的那位仁兄，怎么挂的就知猜到了。
3.里面关于高中就堕胎，黑人的礼仪，在地上扔骰子赌钱等各种画面实在是太带感了。推荐看看匪帮说唱传奇，也是黑人电影。
4：推荐听听Jay-z早期的歌，mobb deep的the infamous，Nas 的illmatic，有助于理解这部电影的背景，特别带感。
5：关于这部电影，还有很多想说的，时间不够了，欢迎讨论。