忠勇之家

透过老百姓的平民生活反映二战。人物角色真实生动，将不同阶层和不同角色刻画得很出色，不论是顺境还是逆境，热爱生活，勇敢面对，让人感受到每个人的可爱之处。Mrs Miniver优雅善良，无论是作为妻子、母亲、婆婆或是其它角色，比如对待劳工波勒、德国士兵，都表现出心底的温暖，闪耀着特殊的魅力～

The first inductee of William Wyler’s Oscar BEST PICTURE triumvirate, MRS. MINIVER is an undisguisedpropaganda weepy that emphatically packs a punch what that particular time needs, in 1942 when our world was enveloped under the pall of WWII, and the United States freshly took a hard blow from the Pearl Harbor attack.

A burgher family living in the suburb of London, Clem Miniver (an agreeable Pidgeon as ever) is a successful architect, he and his wife Kay (Garson) has three children, a snug domicile and the film opens with the couple respectively splurging out on luxury items, darting back to the millinery for a with-it headwear or spoiling for a new automobile, and the day is rounded out by a mutual reconciliation that perfectly explains the allure of middle-class content, which significantly pales in comparison with what will soon ensue. The next day, their eldest son Vincent (a spiffy Richard Ney, whose acting days would be put paid to by the disintegration of the marriage with his screen-mother Ms. Garson, 12 years of his senior, in 1947), an undergraduate of Oxford returns home and over a spat with Carol Beldon (Wright, a delighted ingénue in earnest yoked with sublime outpourings of pathos when the crunch hits), the granddaughter of the old money Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty, loses her Oscar to her co-star Wright notwithstanding, her wits-within-fierceness impression is a force to be reckoned with), he is an idealist and she is more a realist, the two actually are caught by a coup-de-foudre, and before soon Vincent proposes in a home dinner and Carol says yes.

With the war looming toward the isle from the embattled Continent, Vincent enlists in the RAF as a fighter pilot and the announcement of wedding has to be parked. Clem pitches in the mission to rescue British soldiers from Dunkirk evacuation with his motorboat, whereas Kay must come face to face under duress with a wounded German pilot (Dantine) right inside their home, and for the first and only time, she loses her temper with a slap across the aggressor’s face when the latter blusters with unrepentant zeal of extirpation, Greer Garson won her Oscar fairly and gracefully with this dignified portrayal.

The pulsating dread of losing beloved ones who are engaged in the warfare pervades through the story albeit the family collectively musters a can-do attitude in the face of adversity (a magnificent shelter-hiding episode speaks volumes of the horror of bombing relying inclusively on the upsetting close-ups and juddering sound effects), after tactfully convincing Lady Beldon that Vincent and Carol are a blissful union, Kay has a heartfelt tête-à-tête with Carol when the pair returns from their honeymoon in Scotland, Carol expresses her understanding of the stake she is taking by becoming a Mrs. Miniver, but in the climax, Wyler and his script-smiths forcefully overturns the casualties to those unarmed folks caught by strafing and potshots, it is this“everyone is in danger of perdition” gravity that potentially actuates the film's“pro-Britain, anti-Germany”impact in the states, beautifully bookended by the vicar’s (Wilcoxon) stirring speech in the half-ruined Anglican church.

Under Wyler’s well-adjusted administration, MRS. MINIVER - its title, apart from denoting the two women (Kay and Carol), is also the moniker of the rose cultivated by the station master Mr. Ballard (Travers, providentially chalking up a coattail Oscar-nomination), coined after Kay, and is awarded the first prize in the annual village flower show over the perennial winner Lady Beldon, which can be justly symbolized as the undimmed spirit of faith in humanity -, is a considerate homespun melodrama skillfully eschewing the direct war-zone spectacles and exacting an immense emotional weight in its story, potently attests how movie as a media can effectually spur the mass to the exact ideology of its behind-the-camera masterminds.

referential points: Wyler’s BEN-HUR (1959, 8.0/10), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939, 7.9/10).

第六届奥斯卡最佳影片《乱世春秋》讲述的是英国一战时家国一心团结抗敌的故事，九年后，英国二战时期的抗战家族再一次获得了奥斯卡最佳影片的青睐。两部影片异曲同工皆是赞美战争时期的家族忠勇爱国之行动，《忠勇之家》的结尾甚至利用女配角的死让神父来了一段慷慨激昂的赴战演说。虽然现在看来这种主旋律影片早已过时，但对于战争年代时，这种通过影像传播积极抗战情绪感染群众的方式还是值得赞同的。毕竟反思是留在战后的事，战争之时，就让普通百姓团结一心默默祈祷和平到来吧。

影片一开场极有意思，我在看片之前并没有看简介，但看片名感觉应该是抗战片，而片头焦虑的女儿和神秘的男人言语闪烁行动诡秘的目的居然只有一个——那就是购物！人们说女人的心情三分天注定七分靠shopping，但男人也跑不出这个怪圈，只不过妻子的开销用在了衣物、丈夫的开销用来烧豪车而已。这种奇妙的对话几乎让人以为这部片子会发展成《浮生如梦》那种家庭喜剧，然而一个简单的动作标志着和平的背后是战争的阴影——灯禁，到点必须关灯，避免天上的飞机找到轰炸目标。

影片走势几乎全在意料之中：伯爵夫人最终放弃阶级观念允许平民在玫瑰大赛上获胜、开始针尖对麦芒的两个年轻人坠入爱河、中产阶级家庭从享受生活到积极对抗敌方帮助我方后援、群众团结一心在战火中依然维持欣欣向荣的乐观生活态度。对待战争的态度上，导演也夹杂了大量鲜明的对敌态度：德国兵都是恋战渴望统治全球的恐怖分子，而己方即便怒火冲天也要用正义的手段制裁敌人施以援手帮助他们走上正途。感觉在美国主旋律影片里的英国家庭快要成为全世界战争家族中的典范了，人物塑造如此死板，大概只有战乱时的人们会迫切渴望这种正面情绪吧。

第15届奥斯卡最佳影片，因为这部电影喜欢上葛丽亚·嘉逊，好美丽优雅的女人！她和老公都热爱生活，会为了自己喜爱的东西而花费巨资，但面临战争，他们全家都会为国而战。影片中有一段敦刻尔克战役，想起了前段时间看的敦刻尔克电影，两部影片都讲到一位有飞行员儿子的船长。原来今年新上映的电影有些是为了纪念这部奥斯卡最佳影片吧……