海豚——当这个名字被轻声念起的时候,大多数人的想象里会出现海洋公园里那片泛着幽蓝波光的水池,一只或者一排可爱的海豚飞跃而起,在空中划出完美而精致的弧线,惹来看台上大人小孩的欢呼雀跃,掌声伴随四溅的水花响起,久久回荡……
然而,当《海豚湾》(The Cove)这部纪录片逐渐为人所知并印记在每个人的脑海里久久挥之不去时,先前在阳光碧水的辉映下闪烁了多少次的欢快画面突然失去了所有的颜色,突然失声沉默,突然变得锐利刺眼。这便是这部纪录长片除却好莱坞式的视听愉悦外,想要带给所有观众的思考——关于生命,关于理想。
《海豚湾》将数台摄像机隐藏在岩石模具内,将镜头对准了日本一个看似风平浪静的海湾,之后它荣获了第82届奥斯卡最佳纪录片奖,并在全世界引起轩然大波。到底这部纪录片揭露了怎样的事实呢?
海豚驯兽师的觉醒
一切还要从海豚馆说起。纪录片的男主角Richard O'Barry如今已经白发苍苍,老态龙钟,对着镜头讲述时,他的眼神无比凝重。上个世纪60年代,正是他通过与五只海豚一点一滴的交流与互动,成功地驯养了这种充满灵性的海洋动物。此后他又制作并捧红了电视片Flipper,使世人都深深地为海豚的智慧聪颖与伶俐可爱着迷不已,从而掀起了全世界建造海豚馆的热潮。名利双收的Barry终日沉浸在成功所带来的愉悦之中,直到有一天,和他朝夕相伴的海豚Cathy突然死去——更确切地说,是自杀。
Barry: She was really depressed. I could feel it. I could see it. And she committed suicide in my arms. I know that's a very strong word, suicide. But you have to understand dolphins and other whales are not automatic (自动的) air breathers, like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. And so they can end their life whenever life becomes too unbearable by not taking the next breath. And it's in that context I use the word suicide. She did that. She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye and ... took a breath—and didn't take another one. I just let her go, and she sank straight down on her belly (肚皮) to the bottom of the tank.
百般呵护的海豚却在自己的臂弯中忧郁地以结束呼吸的方式自杀,这令Barry极为震惊。他这才明白,海豚嘴角天然的弯曲弧线令世人以为它们永远在微笑,但实际上,这只是一种错觉罢了。海豚馆里的海豚其实并不快乐。
Barry: But a dolphin's smile is nature's greatest deception (幻象). It creates the illusion (错觉) they're always happy. The nerve center of any dolphinarium (海豚馆) is the fish house. And if you go to any one of these fish houses, you'll see bottles of Maalox (一种抗酸剂) and Tagamet (胃泰美). And they're used, because dolphins get ulcers (胃溃疡), because they're all stressed out.... Dolphins are acoustic (声音的) creatures. That's their primary sense. The dolphin is captured and put in a concrete tank surrounded by a stadium (设有看台的露天体育场) full of screaming people. At the National Aquarium (水族馆) in Baltimore, when it first opened, dolphins were dying left and right. They couldn't keep dolphins alive, and they finally figured out it's because the filtration (过滤) system was making a lot of noise. It's the stress that kills them.
Barry如梦方醒——原来,海豚这样聪明的动物绝不属于豢养的水池,大海才是它们唯一的归宿!自己虽因驯养海豚声名显赫,却也在无意间促发了罪恶的海豚捕捞产业,给海豚带来了巨大的灾难。从Cathy死后的第二天开始,他就奔走于世界各地,不惜一切代价,竭尽全力解救那些受困和需要帮助的海豚,开始了自己一生的赎罪:他在尼加拉瓜找到军队拯救两只海豚;他偷偷游进美国海洋研究机构,剪断铁丝网释放被囚禁的海豚。因为这样的释放海豚的行动,他和同伴们无数次被捕,有时甚至还要冒着巨大的生命危险。
Barry: It can be very, very dangerous. Jane Tipson, she was murdered. She's the second colleague I've worked with that was murdered. The other one was Jenny May. We were trying to stop the traffic (交易) in Russian dolphins, and it involved a hunger strike. About the tenth day, I passed out, and I went to a hospital there, so Jenny became a target, and they followed her down the beach and strangled (勒死) her with her own belt.
太地的秘密
困难。逮捕。死亡。这一切丝毫没有吓倒Barry,反而让他更加坚定地行动着。转战世界各地几十年后,Barry的目光最终定格在了日本一个叫太地的地方。这个风景如画的宁静小镇常年阳光明媚,四处遍布海豚雕塑和海豚状游船。三千人口,一千渔民。乍看上去,海豚在这里似乎被保护有加,然而,谁又能想到这里竟然是世界上最大的海豚捕捞地和屠宰场?!
Barry: Here in Taiji, you can go to the Whale Museum and watch the dolphin show and eat a dolphin at the same time. They sell dolphin and whale meat right in the dolphinarium (海豚馆). It's the captivity industry (指圈养海豚表演业) that keeps this slaughter (屠杀) going by rewarding the fishermen for their bad behavior. They only get $600 for a dead dolphin, but they can get more than $150,000 for a live show dolphin.
在太地有一个地形险要的海湾,当地渔民会在每年海豚为了繁衍后代迁徙于此时出动十余艘渔船,在外海一字排开,用敲打金属棍的方式制造大量金属噪音,扰乱海豚的声呐系统,从而将无数只海豚驱赶到这个早已布下重重渔网的海湾里。然后来自世界各地水族馆的海豚驯兽师们会来此挑选中意的海豚供表演之用,没有被选中的海豚则被赶到邻近的一个秘密海湾里。没有人知道在那个四周密布着铁丝网、挂着“禁止入内”的红字木牌并且有专人看守的海湾里到底发生着什么。一批又一批的海豚被渔船驱赶进去,却再也没有一只能够游出来。
Barry怀疑这个海湾里存在着不可告人的秘密,海豚可能就是在此被大量屠杀,然后制成海豚肉出售。Barry试图依靠当地野生动物组织和环保协会的力量来加以干预调查,却失望而归。
Barry: There are lots of groups here in Japan—World Wildlife Fund (世界野生动物基金会), Greenpeace (绿色和平组织), International Fund for Animal Welfare (国际动物福利基金会). They all make hundreds of millions of dollars between them. This is the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world. Where are they? ... There is one organization whose sole purpose is to protect all cetaceans (鲸类动物) in the wild. That's the lWC—the lnternational Whaling Commission (国际捕鲸委员会). But for some reason, small cetaceans, dolphins and porpoises (小鲸), aren't protected.
Barry决定继续以自己的力量来拯救海豚。
勇闯海豚湾
已遭当地警方盯梢和当地海湾渔民威胁恐吓的Barry无法通过正常渠道进入“神秘海湾”探查。此时,在一次海洋哺乳动物专家座谈会上与Barry相识的电影导演Louie Psihoyos听说了太地的事情后,决定加入Barry的行列,组建一支行动小组,潜入海湾腹地秘密拍摄,一探究竟。
很快,Barry和Louie Psihoyos便找来了志同道合的各行精英:加拿大潜水女王、曾获得八次世锦赛冠军的Mandy-Rae Cruikshank和她的潜水员丈夫,他们负责在水下安装摄像机和水听器;曾在《加勒比海盗》中出演主帆手的美国演员Charles Hambleto则担任“反盯梢”的角色;一位曾担任加拿大空军技师的电学专家,制作了一架海豚式样的无人驾驶飞艇,该遥控飞艇下方隐蔽处装有陀螺稳定式的高清摄影机……
一切准备就绪。一行人佯装成一支摇滚乐队,从美国飞赴太地,开始了他们的秘密计划。
军用设备,高端仪器,夜半诡秘的行踪,手持鱼刀面目凶恶的渔民,还有便衣警察的跟踪监视,一切就像是一次颇具危险性的军事谍战。要知道,仅仅是这样的事实揭露行为,在日本也面临着巨大的危险。即便如此,本与Barry所要投身的事业无关的电影导演Louie Psihoyos还是决定勇敢地走下去。
Louie Psihoyos: To me, you're either an activist or an inactivist, and I wanted to be active. I wanted to stop this.
血色屠杀 
几经周折,他们终于成功地将伪装在岩石模型里的摄影机安置在迷雾重重的海湾那一侧。
宾馆的房间里,Barry和同伴们屏息凝视着电脑屏幕上高清摄影机所记录下的一切:
这边的海湾沙滩上,几个渔民正在生一堆篝火,谈笑风生地等待着。渔船驶来,海豚涌入。众人娴熟地跳上各自的渔船,手持倒刺鱼叉,呼啸着扑向困在海湾里密密麻麻的海豚。尖利的鱼叉一次次刺向海豚,伴随着海豚绝望的哀鸣、垂死的翻腾。喷涌的鲜血渐染了整片海面,那刺目的红色足以让所有人胆战心惊。一条条僵直了的海豚尸体被打捞入船,随后群船缓缓驶出,掌舵的渔夫们满脸堆笑。
难以想象,每年数千头海豚竟是以这种方式被残忍屠杀!
Louie Psihoyos: There was a kind of collective horror when we started to see the footage (影片的连续镜头). It was mind-boggling (令人吃惊的).They're doing it exactly like they did with the large whales. They're slaughtering everyone they can get.
Barry: Why didn't they set them free? That question has kept me awake for a long time. I've watched them give birth. I've nursed them back to health when they're sick. Had I known what I know now, I would have raised enough money to buy them away from the Seaquarium and set them free. That would have been the right thing to do. I was buying a new Porsche (保时捷跑车) every year. But I was as ignorant as I could be for as long as I could be. I didn't think about that for a long time later. 
再也按捺不住自己内心的悲愤与伤痛,Barry将滚动播放海湾屠杀画面的显示屏绑在胸前,带着它出现在了国际捕鲸委员会的核心会场,默默绕场以示抗争。他要用事实唤醒所有人的良知,唤起所有人的行动!
Barry曾经花了10年时间建立起风靡全球海洋馆的海豚表演事业,而之后的35年时间里,却又致力于摧毁它。年复一年,他背负着自己再也不曾卸下过的沉重懊悔;日复一日,他被依然发生在这个小镇里、发生在海豚身上的血腥屠戮深深折磨。他顶着满头白发,出现在海豚湾,告诉每个人说:“I have to see this in my lifetime. Right now I'm focusing on that one little body of water where that slaughter takes place. If we can't stop that, if we can fix that, forget about the bigger issues. There is no hope.”
影片的最后,Barry随身携带播放着捕杀海豚镜头的血腥画面出现在日本大都市的街头。街上车水马龙、人流汹涌,唯有他独自一人安静地站在那儿。当原本川流不息的人群被画面震惊而逐渐围拢、驻足观看时,那个时刻,相信很多人都感受到了一种力量——一种在重重困境中坚持抗争、追求理想事业的力量,一种几十年如一日的执着的精神力量,而随之产生的,是一种想要与Barry站在一起共同行动的冲动。而我们也不禁扪心自问:是否有太久太久的时间,我们已变得迟钝麻木、后知后觉,以至于对海豚馆里人类一厢情愿强加给海豚的表演司空见惯,甚至乐在其中?当我们建立各种协会和各类组织的时候,我们是否已然遗忘了自己肩上的责任,忽略了每个人参与其中的力量?
也许,这正是《海豚湾》最终所要传达给观众并促使观众去思考的问题。正如其电影海报上那句极富号召力的话所揭示的那样——“人类是海豚最大的威胁,也是它们唯一的希望。”
希望有一天,当我们再次提到“海豚”这个词的时候,脑海里闪现的不再是一座座海豚馆和海豚绝望的眼神,而是它们自由自在遨游于大海的身影……
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