內(nèi)爾·米諾
Four years ago, Nadia Murad Basee Taha was a teenager living in a Yazidi farm community in the Sinjar district of Iraq when ISIL1 took over the town, murdered 600 people, and captured the women and girls as sex slaves. She escaped three months later and has spent most of the time since speaking out on what happened to her and her people. In October 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Sundance ?award-winning documentary On Her Shoulders2 tells her story.
Director Alexandria Bombach understands that there are two stories here. First there is the inspiring story of a young woman who had no ambitions of becoming a world figure but who overcame unthinkable loss and trauma by devoting herself to helping others. Then there is the story of a young woman who is forced to relive her most painful experience over and over and who is constantly bombarded by the overwhelming needs of others, from the photo-op3 sympathy of politicians and journalists to the heartbreak of her surviving community, most still living in refugee camps, who sob in her arms and beg her to get them some help.
Mostly, Bombach just lets the camera sit quietly as Murad goes through her exhausting schedule of meetings, media appearances, and book signings. She captures some telling images: a refugee lowering his fishing line into the ocean through a cracked panel in the fence around the camp, Murad touching a heavy chain around a locked gate, Murad’s comment on seeing a school marching band practice, “If this were in Iraq, someone would blow himself up.” She gazes into a beauty salon mirror as her hair is wrapped around a curling iron. In one of her appearances before a UN assembly, we will learn something about what her long hair means to her.
Murad wants to be on the agenda of the meeting of world leaders in New York, to ask them to declare what happened to her people an official genocide4 and to give them justice. The process for getting the opportunity to speak to the assembly of Presidents and Prime Ministers is a daunting one. Early in the film she is preparing for what amounts to an audition.
The film’s most affecting moments are when Murad speaks directly to the camera. She says that the only way she can deal with what she has suffered is to devote herself to helping the other girls who suffered, too, but do not have the opportunity to bring their stories to the world. She says she feels worthless, and will always feel that way until her people get justice.
She was content in her home in Sinjar, she tells us, doing chores, tending sheep, spending time with family, and hoping she could become a hairdresser, a place “where women and girls would see themselves as special.” She wishes that people would know her as an excellent seamstress or athlete, not as a victim of ISIS terrorism.
It is at best bittersweet when she is named a goodwill ambassador by the UN. Her title carries as much tragedy as honor: Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. As Murad makes clear in her three minutes, there is no dignity without justice. There is only one border, she tells the presidents and prime ministers, “the border of humanity.” We see this movie to learn who the young Nobel Peace Prize winner is, but in the end, it is about her challenging us to learn who we are.
十幾歲的少女納迪婭·穆拉德·巴西·塔哈生活在伊拉克北部小鎮(zhèn)辛賈爾,這里是雅茲迪教徒聚居區(qū)。4年前,伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯蘭國攻占了此地,屠殺了600人,并將婦女和女孩擄作性奴。3個月后,穆拉德終于逃脫魔掌,此后一直致力于講述她與族人的悲慘遭遇。2018年10月,穆拉德被授予諾貝爾和平獎。圣丹斯電影節(jié)獲獎紀錄片《她的使命》講述了她的故事。
亞歷山德里婭·邦巴赫導演從兩個角度來呈現(xiàn)影片主題,就像講述了兩個故事。首先,這是一個勵志的故事,與世無爭的女孩陡然間世界矚目,為全力助人而克服了常人無法想象的痛楚和折磨。另一個故事就是女孩被迫一遍遍地重溫噩夢,各色人等接二連三提出種種需求希望她予以滿足,令她難以招架——政客和記者希望與她合影,以示同情;她的族人同胞大多依然身處難民營,悲痛不已,在她懷里哭訴,乞求幫助。
影片中,邦巴赫導演多數(shù)情況下只是架置好攝像機,安靜地記錄著穆拉德令人疲憊的日程:穿梭于大小會議、在媒體上露面、出席新書簽售會。她還捕捉到一幕幕觸動人心的畫面:一個難民將魚線穿過營地周圍的木板柵欄裂口放到海里;穆拉德佇立在緊鎖的大門前,撫摸著沉重的鐵鏈;而在她看到學校的游行樂隊訓練時,穆拉德說道:“這要是在伊拉克,很可能會有人引爆人體炸彈。”在美容院做頭發(fā),長發(fā)卷在燙發(fā)鉗上時,她凝視著鏡中的自己。而在聯(lián)合國大會的一次露面中,我們將會了解長發(fā)對她的意義。
穆拉德希望自己能在紐約召開的聯(lián)合國安理會上發(fā)言,請求將同胞所遭受的迫害正式定義為種族滅絕行為,并為他們討回公道。爭取在各國首腦面前的發(fā)言機會絕非易事,電影的開頭記錄了準備試講的過程。
這部影片最觸動人心的莫過于穆拉德直面鏡頭的那一段演講。她說對于自己所遭受的一切,唯一能做的就是全力幫助那些與她有著同樣遭遇的女孩,她們沒有機會將自己的遭遇告訴世人。如果不能為她的同胞伸張正義,她會永遠覺得自己一無是處。
穆拉德告訴我們,在辛賈爾的時候,她每天忙于家務、照料羊群、陪伴家人,日子過得很愜意。她想成為一位美發(fā)師,開一間美發(fā)店,讓“女性都發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的獨特之美”。她真希望在世人眼中是一名出色的裁縫或運動員,而不是被ISIS蹂躪的受害者。
穆拉德被聯(lián)合國任命為親善大使,這至多算是悲喜交集。這一頭銜包含多少榮譽就代表多少不幸:人口販運幸存者尊嚴親善大使。正如穆拉德在她的三分鐘講話中闡明的一樣,沒有公正何談尊嚴。她告訴各國首腦,世界上只有一種邊界,那就是人性的邊界。我們觀看這部電影,本是為了認識這位年輕的諾貝爾獎獲得者,但到最后,她卻引發(fā)我們認識我們自己。
(譯者單位:中南大學)