‘Sniper’ Book Ends and Story Begins
美國狙擊手 曲終人未散
By Robert Ito

In “American Sniper,” Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) peers through the scope of a high-powered rifle, preparing to shoot a young boy. A Navy SEAL on his first tour of duty in Iraq, he has been assigned to protect the lives of the Marines under his watch, and the boy is running at a convoy of them, his hands wrapped around an enormous Russian-made grenade.
電影「美國狙擊手」（American Sniper）中，布萊德利．庫柏飾演的克里斯．凱爾透過強力步槍的瞄準鏡凝視一個男孩，準備開槍。海軍海豹部隊隊員凱爾當時首度派駐伊拉克，任務是保護他警戒範圍內陸戰隊員的安全，男孩正跑向陸戰隊員護衛的車隊，手裡環抱著大顆的俄製手榴彈。

Any reasonably intuitive moviegoer has a fair idea how this is going to end. Mr. Kyle shoots the boy, and when a woman grabs the grenade and tries to finish the job, he shoots her, too. Both die.
任何有理性的電影觀眾憑直覺都知道下場如何。凱爾對男孩開槍，一名女性攫取手榴彈，企圖完成任務時，凱爾又開槍。兩人都遭射殺。

The scene is crucial to the film, but you won’t find any mention of a boy being killed in the book “American Sniper,” the autobiography upon which the film is based. After Mr. Kyle submitted the work to the Department of Defense for review, that part was removed. “Things were redacted from the book,” said Jason Hall, the film’s screenwriter.
這是電影關鍵的一幕戲，但是在電影取材的同名自傳裡，卻沒有一處提及被射殺的男孩。凱爾當時將自傳呈交國防部審閱，這部分遭到刪除。電影編劇傑森．霍爾說：「書的內容被刪節了。」

And that’s not the only way that the Clint Eastwood-directed film version of “American Sniper” differs from the 2012 best seller. Much about Mr. Kyle’s life is already the stuff of armed forces lore: He once shot a man from an incredible 1,920 meters out.
而且這還不是克林．伊斯威特執導的電影版「美國狙擊手」，與同名的2012年暢銷書唯一不同的地方。凱爾的生平事蹟許多已成為美軍的傳說：某次他從不可思議的1,920公尺外狙殺一男。

But the Chris Kyle viewers encounter in the film is a much more complicated figure than the one readers find in the book.
但是觀眾在電影中看到的凱爾，遠比在書中的角色複雜。

Mr. Kyle began work on his memoir in 2010, a year after serving four tours of duty in Iraq. In the book, he refers to the enemy as “savages” and describes the “despicable evil” he encountered in Iraq.
凱爾從2010年起開始寫回憶錄，是他四度派駐伊拉克後返美的一年後。在書中，他用「野蠻人」和「卑劣的惡魔」描述在伊拉克遭遇的敵人。

“What you’re getting is a glimpse of a man at a particular moment in time,” Mr. Hall said. “He had been at war or training for war for a decade. In places, he sounds downright nasty, but that’s what we created. This is what these people have to be.”
「你瞥見的是某個特定時刻的一個男人，」霍爾說：「他打仗或受訓作戰已有十年。在某些地方，他講話聽起來非常刺耳，但那是我們造就的。這些人必須如此。」

On February 1, 2013, Mr. Hall handed in the first draft of his screenplay. The next day, Mr. Kyle was killed by a former Marine he had been trying to help. Mr. Cooper, who was producing the film and set to star in it, had only had a five-minute chat with Mr. Kyle.
2013年2月1日，霍爾交出劇本的初稿。隔天，凱爾遭到他試圖協助的一個退伍陸戰隊員殺害。身兼電影製片和主角的庫柏，只和凱爾聊過五分鐘。

Mr. Kyle’s widow, Taya, provided access to home movies, letters and a decade’s worth of emails. “Jason and I spent hours on the phone,” Ms. Kyle said. “He would catch me at any time of the day or night, at times where I just needed to cry or vent or go through something.”
凱爾的遺孀塔雅提供家庭錄影帶、信函與十年間的電子郵件。「傑森和我通電話的時間很長，」凱爾太太說：「有時候我想哭或發洩情緒或討論事情，無論白天還是黑夜，任何時候傑森都會接我的電話。」

Then, the screenplay changed “immensely,” Mr. Hall said. “The draft that I had written under the tutelage and watchful eye of Chris was much more of a war film.” The focus of the film began to shift more toward the relationship between Chris and Taya, and the struggles that Chris had had in readjusting to civilian life.
然後，劇本出現「巨大」改變。霍爾說：「我在凱爾指導監督下寫的劇本，差不多是戰爭片。」電影的焦點開始更轉向克里斯與塔雅的關係，以及克里斯重新適應老百姓生活的掙扎。

Also in the book, Mustafa, an Iraqi sniper who becomes a larger figure in the film, registers as little more than a blip. “I really got on Chris about that, and he said that he felt that it was really possible that this guy shot his friend, and he didn’t want to memorialize him in the book,” Mr. Hall said.
在書中幾乎是一閃即過的伊拉克狙擊手穆斯塔法，在電影的分量變重。「我真的有提醒凱爾這點，他說他覺得這傢伙真的有可能射殺他的朋友，所以他不想在書中紀念穆斯塔法。」

The film also depicts Mr. Kyle’s brother Jeff, a Marine, complaining about the war. “In real life, Jeff did not have that moment,” Ms. Kyle said. But millions of other veterans have. “Jeff understands that there was a need for that in the movie,” she added. “But for him to wear, it is going to be hard.”
電影也描述了凱爾的弟弟傑夫，一名抱怨戰爭的陸戰隊員。「真實人生中，傑夫並未如此，」凱爾太太說，但是數百萬的退伍軍人都抱怨過，「傑夫了解電影需要這樣的安排，但是要他接受，必然艱難。」

Politicians, pundits and others have argued over the film’s meaning and intentions even as it has drew Oscar nominations for, among other things, its screenplay and lead performance.
電影雖已獲得奧斯卡最佳劇本和男主角提名和其他肯定，政客、名嘴和一些其他人對電影的意義和意圖卻始終爭論不已。

“It’s very easy to say, this movie’s this and that, and then write it off and say it’s propaganda, which is so insane,” Mr. Cooper said. “To me, Chris was utterly human. I never had to go from icon to human. I was studying a man, and I was trying to inhabit the man.”
「要對這部電影說三道四很容易，再一筆勾銷，斥為宣傳，這真是瘋了，」庫柏說：「對我而言，克里斯是不折不扣的人。我從來就不需要從偶像轉換到平常人。我研究的是一個人，我也試圖進入這個人的世界。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/movies/american-sniper-script-looks-for-the-human-behind-the-hero.html

2015-02-10聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 張佑生譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版下