真相2015

本片因新闻报道的职业设定而不可避免的陷入话唠。但在台词滔滔之中，有两场戏由于其变奏的感觉相当明显而让你不得不注意到。

一场戏发生在影片结尾。女主听证会上慷慨陈词让对方主力哑口无言之后，突然有位老者开口发问，神色慈祥，语气平缓。“你是否曾经想过有一种可能，哪怕只是可能，你口中的那些显赫家族二代中一些人，靠自己的实力才效力国民卫队？”凯特沉默片刻，坦诚摇头，“没有！” ……这在聊什么？偏见！一种也许针对本案并不明显，但的确深埋在女主潜意识之中，与新闻职业准则向背的东西。

可只是一个偏见的问题吗？让我们再回到影片中段。女主在会议室与CBS老板爆发激烈争吵。她对共和党抓着字体不放而忽视内容本身的反击方式颇为不满，而老板也对她未作求证就仓促播出颇为不满。女主辩解说那不是重点。于是老板追问，什么是重点？此刻，女主突然激动起来，大声喊道，

“他们不能只靠提那些该死的问题来打击我们！”……

这场戏与其说是一次媒体关门会议的情景展示，到不如说更像是专门演给观众的性格剖析。特别是女主情绪失控脱口而出后持续数秒的鸦雀无声，镜头扫过老板与女主管略显震惊的表情（老实说，有点假。但含义指向很明确！）……营造出一种强烈的反讽效果——女主在竭力追逐真相的过程中已不自觉地变成原本要去批判的那种人！

因为稍早前，雷德福曾在飞机上告诫同业后辈，“一旦你停止了提问，美国人民就输了。”此时此刻，凯特竟然对有人提问表示强烈愤慨？……怪哉！只许你质疑别人，不许别人质疑你？媒体监督政府，责无旁贷。可谁又来监督媒体？

其实，以唇枪舌战激烈争论中突然情绪失控下意识咆哮出真相或秘密从而让自己满盘皆输，也算是一种好莱坞叙事俗套。回想一哈叛舰凯恩中的鲍嘉船长，义海雄风中的尼科尔森将军，无不是最后关头折在了这个要命气口上。但不同的是，这两部作品中被赋予此叙事手法的角色，均非常清晰地定位于主题所要挞伐的对象（即使存在不同程度的同情与宽容），而且都是男性职场高官。换做本片，照理适用对象应是小布什总统，或至少也该是某个全权代表。然后，此公在某重大场合与女主唇枪舌剑之中突然情绪失控一声咆哮，全场瞬间肃静……

可实际情形却刚好相反，“突露峥嵘”的竟然是凯特布兰切特！于是，影片因这两场惹人注目的“片刻沉默”而陷入主题争议：莫非又是一款“黑媒产品”不成？以影片上映后的美国媒体，特别是CBS业者的激烈反应来看，确乎如此。但个人却有不同看法。

首先从逻辑上讲，好莱坞不会闲得没事翻个史实旧账出来，只为把当事双方都狠黑一遍才觉痛快。再则从叙事上说，影片在揭示凯特职业性格缺陷的同时，其对手被定位的更加不堪：总统的兵役丑闻；反击时避重就轻，揪住字体不放；听证会逼问政治倾向……只是，这些不堪大部分时段都居于画外，真人本尊只在结尾才出镜交锋，而且形象风格上也未被刻意丑化（主审还超帅），因此而与凯特这条主线揭示形成了一种立场褒贬上的均势。换言之，导演更希望让“丑闻”作为一种外部压力呈现在背景中，而避免主题失焦！

那么，这主题到底是什么呢？对此，福尔摩斯早有开示：如果一部影片之中所有你期望的点都黯淡无光，那么剩下的那唯一的点，哪怕再不起眼，也一定是真正的光明所在！本片中的这个点，正是——凯特的丈夫和儿子。

事业不顺，缺陷暴露；上司冷漠，背后拆台；对手强大，无法撼动；亲生父亲也突然蹦出来捅刀！……职场危机，环境险恶，女主最终发现，唯有自己的小家始终可以信赖，值得依靠！

就连收官台词也出来点题。“老公，想去散步吗？”

这部电影对于大多数人来说，注定没有《聚焦》看得过瘾。两部电影相似之处很多，都是新闻记者对抗强权，揭露真相，维护正义的故事。不同的是，真相没有获得真相，聚焦最后获得聚焦。

两种不同的结果注定电影带给观众的感受会不同。很大的不同！！！

《聚焦》让我们看到的是，正义得到了伸张，罪恶得到了审判，虚伪丑陋的面皮被撕破，不容置疑的宗教强权被普通人物扳倒。这样的故事架构本身就充满吸引力。更何况开头明明白白写着真实事件改编。相信每个人看到最后，胸膛里都会被强烈的正义感充溢着，并且这种正义感带给人极大的欢愉享受。

看《真相》的时候，我以为会是一样的故事，我是说真相得到揭露的故事。所以当调查很快进行完，新闻播出的时候，我还感觉奇怪，怎么就成功了呢。我以为它会和聚焦一样，以最后的成功为结局。可是它没有，它给我们讲述的是不一样的故事。某种程度上，对我来讲，它所表达出来的东西更多更丰富。

＂从现在开始，在某个地方某些人会想做一个我们是怎样做出这个新闻的新闻。＂

一语成谶，他们原本是怀着满满的责任感与正义感，为着社会的正义，去调查别人的真相，形成一个具有震撼力有价值的新闻。可是最后却反了过来，他们成了被调查人，他们成了要被了解的另一个真相。这个新闻的如何如何的错误成了又一个更具大众喜闻乐见性的新闻。他们原本是在揭露丑闻，结果他们自己变成了丑闻，变成了＂拉瑟门＂。

如果说，对待聚焦小组的成员我们的态度应该是赞赏敬佩，那么，对待深陷＂拉瑟门＂并因此断送了职业前途的那些人呢？

人们总是会被那些成功的英雄和领袖所感动，但对于失败者我们的情感会复杂的多。他们虽然并没有揭露出他们所要追求的真相，但驱动他们行为的是身为媒体人的责任感，正义感，以及为了追求真相甘冒风险的勇气。从电影所展现的来看，他们是合格的新闻工作者。

我很疑惑导演为什么会选择这个故事，展现一群揭露真相失败的新闻工作者的故事，他们远没有聚焦里的人物吸引人。但这也是我敬佩导演的地方。虽然这件事的真相也许永远不能达到，但这些人值得我们敬佩。他们具备新闻工作者最可贵最难得的品质：勇气。

真相是多么的难以企及，他们千辛万苦寻找着关乎国家社会的真相，最后却漏洞百出。而他们自己的微不足道的真相却又被各种误解偏见所掩盖。

「I know what it's like to be bullied. To feel like they're too strong, and you're small and powerless. But you're not. And doing this will show them that.」


「Asking questions, that's important. Some people are gonna say it doesn't matter. One side or the other's always gonna say you're being partisan. But you stop asking questions, that's when the people lose. Now, that may sound hokey, but I believe it.」


「Thirty minutes from now, someone somewhere is gonna be doing a story about this guy, doing a story about us.」


「We seek the truth. that's what we do. You're supposed to put yourself out, seek the truth and take what comes from it.」


「You're supposed to question everything. That's your job. We're supposed to question everything, and, what, you won't even question this?」


「Daddy? Daddy, please stop.」


「Why didn't you ask me? Because God knows everybody else did when the shit hit the fan. Why didn't you?
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Ask you what?
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Why didn't you ask me if the documents were real?
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Because I knew I didn't need to.」


「F.E.A Fuck 'em all.」


「Do you know what it would take to fake these memos?
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Mary...
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No, this is important. It would require the forger to have an in-depth knowledge of the 1971 Air Force manual, including rules and regulations and abbreviations. He would have to know Bush's official record front to back to make sure none of the memos conflicted with it. He would have to know all the players in the Texas Air National Guard at the time. Not just their names, but their attitudes, their opinions, including how they related to one another. He would have to know Colonel Killian kept personal memos like this for himself in the first place. He would have to know how Killian felt at the time particularly about his superiors and then First Lieutenant Bush. He would have to know or learn all of this in order to fool us as you assume he did. Now, do you really think that a man who takes this kind of time and precision then goes and types these up on the Microsoft Word? Our story was about whether Bush fulfilled his service. Nobody wants to talk about that. They wanna talk about fonts and forgeries and conspiracy theories. Because that's what people do these days if they don't like a story. They point and scream. They question your politics, your objectivity. Hell, your basic humanity. And they hope to God the truth gets lost in the scrum. And when it is finally over and they have kicked and shouted so loud. We can't even remember what the point was.
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But you didn't prove it. You didn't prove Ben Barnes got the president into the Guard. You didn't prove the memos are real. The burden of proof is on you.
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By that standard, the Times would never have run the Pentagon Papers. The Post wouldn't have listened to Deep Throat.
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Ben Barnes is hardly Deep Throat.
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Ben Barnes has confessed to abusing his power to keep some of the richest, and most privileged sons of Texas from getting their asses blown off in Vietnam.
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Mrs. Mapes. Don't you think it's possible, just possible that some of those fine, young privileged men, as you call them got into the National Guard on their own merit?
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No, sir. No, I do not.」


「Hey, Mary. I believe you.」


「To my fellow journalists in place where reporting the turth means risking all. And to each of you... courage.」