爱丽丝城市漫游记

參考了IMDB跟豆瓣上許多資料寫出來的....大大們不妨看看
Alice in the Cities Movie Review

From the title of the film, it seems that Alice is the main focus of the plot but in fact the film is about a man's search for one's lost self in a strange and alienating environment. Alice plays however a key role in the man's self-realization during their journey across New York and Amsterdam. The American society at the time was indeed a strange place even to people who were born and raised in it due to many historical, political and cultural events that happened around the time era. To get lost in a world of chaos is a terrible thing because it makes you become lonely, unable to see and communicate and most importantly unable to get a sense of realism and existence.

The Plot

As a road movie, the plot of this film quite simple and straightforward. Philip Phil Winter, a West-German journalist, has to write an article about America. He drives across California and writes nothing except he takes photos of random things. His publisher in New York is not pleased and Winter decides to return to Munich. At the airport he is told that all available flights are cancelled and in the same situation are a German woman named Lisa and her daughter Alice. They decide to wait and take a flight next afternoon to Amsterdam and go from there. Meanwhile, Winter goes to see his friend Angela and reveals his troubles of work. Despite Winter's unspoken intention to stay, Angela refuses to lay with him.

After staying for the night at Lisa and Alice's hotel room, Winter awakes only to find out that Lisa is gone to take care of her distressed boyfriend, leaving Alice with him. Following Lisa's plan, Winter and Alice fly to Amsterdam to wait for her there but she is late for the appointment. As a result, they start journeying across Amsterdam in hope of finding Alice's grandmother. During their search, Winter and Alice develop a complicated relationship in which Winter feels both burdened by and attached to Alice.

Feeling no longer concerned, Winter drops Alice off at a police station and goes to attend a rock concert only to return and picks her up again. Luckily, Alice discovers the address of her grandmother while in the police station and they decide to try their luck only to find out that Alice's grandmother does not live there anymore.

At this point a police officer approaches Winter and tells him of Lisa's whereabouts. Alice needs to take a train to Munich to her mother and she asks Winter to accompany her. The film ends with them riding the train back to Munich.
The Search for the Lost Self
As an European Winter arrives in America only to come to realize that The America he sees is a chaotic, alienating and maddening place, contrary to early immigrant tales, in which America is a land of freedom, opportunities and fortune. He loses his grip of reality and understanding; He sees things but knows not how to interpret; He listens to radio and watches TV only to become aggravated by the numbing commercials and news stories; He doubts his ability to write and resorts to photography as a better way to better capture the reality.

Even then, he is highly skeptical as he says to Angela "Waiting for a picture to develop, I often feel strangely ill at ease. I could hardly compare the finished picture with reality." It is apparent that all of Winter's symptoms are not strange to Winter as he tells Angela "...I lost touch with the world." and Angela replies "You did that long ago. You don't have to travel across America for that. You lose touch when you lose your sense of identity." This refers to the identity loss most German felt when the former Germany was divided between Capitalist and Communist rules. Seeing the America so different from what was expected resembles the shock Winter must have felt when the old Germany was molded into another model of Capitalism or Communism. The result: lost in understanding and interpretation.
Sometimes being lonely and isolated from the real world does not lead to the urge to socialize and look for company or sympathy. Sometimes you just isolate yourself even more and become even much lonelier. "Loneliness has followed me my whole life...I am God's lonely man." says Travis Bickle in the movie "Taxi Driver". He and Winter have much in common; Both are lost in the America in the 70s and both meet a girl that help them unleash their anxiety. Luckily for Winter, during his time spent with Alice, though he often times feels annoyed and burdened by her presence and requests, he pulls himself back from an objective observer of this whole absurdity to a human being that actually cares and feels. After he goes back for her at the police station, he finally realizes it is not the search but the time he spends with Alice that matters to him.

During the later part of the film, Winter is seen picking up his pen and notebook again and scribbling. The bed-time story he tells Alice reveals his transformation. A little boy(Winter himself) runs off from mother (everything he is similar with) to chase a horseman (a German knight - a symbol of virtue and truth that Winter is cultured in) on a modern highway (America). The horseman disappears but a truck driver comes along (Alice) and the boy journeys happily with her until they reach the seashore at which moment the boy thinks of his mother again (regains his lost self).
Therefore, it is difficult to say the connection between Winter and Alice is anything similar to romantic love or attachment. It is different from "Leon" where Leon and Mathilda both love each other for the other's loss and things they can provide. Alice to Winter is more of a beacon that shows him way to reality while Winter to Alice is no more than a father-like figure to depend on in absence of her mother, just like the woman from the beach says "You(Winter) act like you really were her father."

America in the 70s

The reason why Winter feels so clueless, alienated and strange about the America society is a result of various events that took place around that time era. The war against Vietnam drew to a close with the US sacrificing the lives of many young men and a substantial amount of money but earning hardly a victory of a seemingly doubtful cause. In spite of Nixon's effort, crime rate increased. With the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1965, previously European-favored immigration policies were altered and in came a influx of people from Third World. at the same time, the Feminist movement was pushing the government for more legal equalities and privileges. Sex was on the loose and homosexuality was also voicing for its interests.
The Apollo program had only started to prove capitalism's superiority before Nixon shook his hand with Chairman Mao in 1972.
All of these events created an aura of illusion, distrust and pessimism in the air of the 70s US. These element were often seen in the screenplays at the time such as "Taxi Driver", "Dog day Afternoon", "The Deer Hunter" and etc. Many people were confused and some refused to follow like the Hippies. Others, like Winter and Travis, simply became lost, alienated, isolated and mad. Fortunately for Winter, he regains his lost self with the help from Alice and homecoming but Travis' way out on the other end is not quite peaceful. Either way, the distressful and depressant vibe of the 70s US is always a mirror that can reflect the newer eras ahead of us, in which computer science, biotechnology and information-network are advancing exponentially. There will be thousands of people just like Winter, Sonny and Travis repeating the same old histories.

溫德斯公路電影的原型，與十年後的《巴黎，德州》同樣好看。

美國夢、拍立得SX-70、搖滾樂、公路旅行、金髮小孩、點唱機，以及粗顆粒的黑白電影。溫德斯自己在片頭還充當點唱機旁的路人甲。

當你喪失自我認同感，你就與世界失去了聯繫。你拼命拍照，是想藉由照片對照真實的世界；你想證明存在的意義，你漫漫在重複再重複無止盡的公路上。

有時你也會想，是否也該去當個什麼人呢？是否也該去證明自身存在的價值呢？（就算沒有一件事是特別有意義的）

为了这部片我把公路三部曲买了，其他两部早就看过了，所以有想要歧路或者公路之王碟的朋友我可以送给他。看完这部，貌似除了他早期的短片还有毕业论文片《城市里的夏天》我就看全了，坚持每一部都等碟出来看的，因为下载总是有迫切的情感在里面，那是我不喜欢的看电影方式，尤其是看文德斯的电影。
     这部是关于恢复与世界的接触和认同感的片子，故事主体很简单，记者Winter为了写关于美国的书穿越了整个美国，可是他回到纽约时却写不出文字，他只把沿路所见都用宝丽莱拍下来，反复的看，最后Winter打算回德国，正巧赶上工人罢工没有办法回去，于是和在机场遇到的一对打算回德国的母女（Alice和她妈妈）一同订了去阿姆斯特丹的机票，中途母亲为了安慰男友把Alice留给了Winter，母亲也没有赶去阿姆斯特丹接Alice，于是Winter带着Alice一同踏上了寻找她祖母的旅途......
    但是，故事主体从来不是文德斯电影的重点，Winter通过跟Alice的接触和回到家乡重新找回了自我的一种认同，他最后接受了带着Alice回鲁尔区那一幕就是找回自我很好的体现。Alice并不是主角，却是Winter能再度回到自我的重点，也就成了影片的名字。正巧之前刚看过文德斯的纪录片，文德斯本人最喜欢这部电影，我想是他那时去美国不久，失去了自我的确定，而把自己注入主人公里的原因，他在接受采访时也说过去美国是他很大的改变，这改变当然也包含在他的电影里。《爱丽丝漫游城市》应该是他去美国之后的第一部长片，他在学习电影的时候曾经很迷茫，他说自找不到自己独特的风格和方向，我想从这部电影后他的风格也渐渐明确了。之后的《大路之王》和《歧路》是这部电影的延续，主人公逐渐成熟，也都是Rüdiger Vogler所主演的，文德斯称他为自己的知己。文德斯对电影的再度迷茫出现在拍摄《里斯本物语》的时候，大家都能看出来，那里的导演就是他本人的代表。那之后的电影和早期的相比就有所不同了。
     Winter对女友说过，“当我等照片显影时。觉得一样的不安，我等不及把拍好的照片和真实情景做对照。但是，即使如此也不能令我心安，因为照片赶上真是，并且压倒它。”对于他来讲宝丽莱是他对于世界的视觉工具，它不够真实，因为并非他的眼睛所见，他在接受时了解了其中的误差却没办法融合。这让我想到了自己，我手里拿的相机也是一种工具么？只是因为我没办法得到自我认同，所以把拍到的当作看到的，而忽略了真实？
当照片和真实出现不同认同时，我确实也感到困惑，而我还没有像Winter或者Wenders那样重新的确定了自我。
     另，如果你仔细看，在开头Winter在会纽约的路上时，在一个咖啡馆里，文德斯本人出现在了点唱机旁，他曾说，摇滚乐维系了他的一部分自我认同感，他去美国之后最喜欢的就是点唱机。