传说中的Monty Python and the Holy Grail


有一次在看电视的时候听说这部电影的大名,就一直想看,今天终于如愿以偿。
我觉得这绝对是一部必看的电影。这部1975年的电影也是唯一一部进入IMDB前50排名的“无厘头”电影,绝对是无厘头电影的始祖。如果你喜欢无厘头的话,你绝对不应该错过这部片子。
我想在中国知道它的人不多的原因应该是语言的问题,一定要看懂英文字幕你才能体会到它搞笑的地方。就像外国人如果不对中文和文化非常了解的话不可能觉得周星驰的电影好笑。
这个电影也是很多典故的来源,比如玩儿过Worms(百战天虫,这也是个英国游戏)的人都应该知道里面的Holy Hand Grenade(圣手雷),就出于这里。

从片头字幕开始就开始搞笑,第一个出场的亚瑟王出场的时候应该是骑着一匹马,但是并没有马,他只是在比划着骑马的动作前进,而马匹的声音是跟在后面的仆人用两块椰子壳敲出来的。但是英国怎么会有椰子呢?由此才有亚瑟王和城堡守卫下面的对话:

SOLDIER Where did you get the coconuts?

ARTHUR Through … We found them.

SOLDIER Found them? In Mercea. The coconut’s tropical!

ARTHUR What do you mean?

SOLDIER Well, this is a temperate zone.

ARTHUR The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin or the plover seek warmer hot lands in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land.

SOLDIER Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

ARTHUR Not at all. They could be carried.

SOLDIER What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

ARTHUR Why not?

SOLDIER I’ll tell you why not … because a swallow is about eight inches long and weighs five ounces, and you’d be lucky to find a coconut under a pound.

ARTHUR It could grip it by the husk …

SOLDIER It’s not a question of where he grips it, It’s a simple matter of weight – ratios … A five-ounce bird could not hold a a one pound coconut.

ARTHUR Well, it doesn’t matter. Go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here.

SOLDIER Look! To maintain Velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings four hundred and ninety three times every second. right?

ARTHUR (irritated)Please!

SOLDIER Am I right?

ARTHUR I’m not interested.

SECOND SOLDIER (who has loomed up on the battlements)It could be carried by an African swallow!

FIRST SOLDIER Oh yes! An African swallow maybe … but not a European swallow. that’s my point.

SECOND SOLDIER Oh yes, I agree there …

ARTHUR (losing patience)Will you ask your master if he wants to join the Knights of Camelot?!

FIRST SOLDIER But then of course African swallows are non-migratory.

SECOND SOLDIER Oh yes.

FIRST SOLDIER So they wouldn’t be able to bring a coconut back anyway.

SECOND SOLDIER Wait a minute! Suppose two swallows carried it together?

FIRST SOLDIER No, they’d have to have it on a line.

其中还有一段用动画展示亚瑟王和圆桌骑士被一个怪物追杀,束手无策之时动画师突然心脏病发作而死,不能继续画下去了,怪物就消失了。另外在介绍圆桌骑士的时候有一个“Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film”。后来到了一个洞口,据说有很可怕的怪物,结果出来一只小白兔……
搞笑的地方数不胜数。

这个电影的预告片也很搞笑,预告片开始还是介绍电影,最后却变成了中餐馆的广告,而且全部是中文旁白,很无敌。

其实这部片子就是一个用无厘头、无逻辑来解构我们的传统的固有的思维的典型例子。任何一个“正常”的场景在里面都不会太长,也不可能太长,无论如何也要把这种所谓“正常”的东西(固定在人们脑袋里对于电影的印象)给消解掉。这很像一些现代音乐(不是指“通俗音乐”),任何一个旋律在其中不可能存活太久,总要用各种手段来消解掉传统音乐的理念。
无厘头电影就是要摒弃逻辑,而现代音乐则就是要摒弃优美的旋律。