看电视剧《叶落长安》(w English)

我想，我是一个很"土"的人，来美这么多年了，喝了这么多洋墨水，骨子里喜欢的还是带着浓郁乡土气息的作品，比如几年前看过的电视剧《白鹿原》(这里极力推荐一下电视剧《白鹿原》。电视剧《白鹿原》是在刚刚读完美国作家John Steinbeck的小说East of Eden后看的，因此不经意间比较了中西两大名著，觉得Steinbeck的小说无法与《白》相比，其力度、深度、代表性都不及《白》，当然我没有读小说，是从电视剧的角度而言。不过也只是个人观点)，后来看的《大江大河》，《山海情》和最近看的《叶落长安》。如果说《白鹿原》将人性刻画得淋漓尽致，那么后面三部作品更多的是反映了中国这些年来普通老百姓生活的变化,从不同角度,不同人群,不同地域来折射时代的变迁, 交织其中的是发生在各个家庭的故事以及他们的爱恨情愁。

 

《叶落长安》是一部40集的电视剧，讲述的是当年(1942年)因大饥荒，一批河南人离乡背井逃荒去了陕西长安(西安)从此扎根下来的故事(据说西安有10%河南人)。故事横跨60年，从解放前到解放后，从二十世纪中叶到新世纪二十一世纪，整整两代人的生活。它像早年拍的《闯关东》，只是它的关注点是一群河南人闯西安这样一段历史，人们把这部电视剧定义为"历史情感剧"，它把这群外乡人放入历史长河中, 述说他们为生存立足，为融入，挣扎、打拼的艰辛过程。剧中的故事情节或许没有太多的大起大落或跌宕起伏，但是扣人心弦的故事中有上一代人的顽强执着，有朴素的伦理观念，有浓浓的乡情，也有说不尽的无奈和伤感-- 那种因为生活的艰辛，父母为了一家人的温饱奔波而无暇顾及孩子的情感，伤及年幼孩子的心灵，照成孩子长期生活在阴影下，长时间无法抹平的伤痛，让人看后潸然泪下。

 

一直以来，我以为一部作品要成功首先要真实要打动人心。这部电视剧改编于吴文莉的同名小说。作者吴文莉是一个土生土长的西安国画艺术家，她用了八年时间倾心创作，通过大量采访，四易其稿，力求人物的真实。她写的是生活在西安的河南人，描绘的却是一代平民百姓在历史长河中留下的足迹和身影。电视剧中主人公郝玉兰的扮演者陈小艺的精湛演技更是让作品如虎添翼，她演活了一位邻家大婶，一位负重前行的妻子、母亲，一位历尽沧桑却仍然从容不迫的中国女子。

 

这是继《大江大河》，《山海情》后另一部值得一看的电视剧. ( 它比《山海情》拍得早, 当然也没有《山海情》这么引人入胜, 评价那么高, 但是个人觉得还是很不错的)。

 

The great famine in 1942 witnessed many catastrophic deaths in Henan, precipitating an exodus of those who struggled to survive. With meagre belongings on one side of a pole over the shoulder, and little kids in a basket on the other, people fled on foot to the destination almost five hundred miles away. In hunger, against frosty winter wind, they trudged on harrowingly. Among them was a Bai family, who stealthily left the village without taking the daughter along. The mom, who only valued boys, legitimized her act as having one less mouth to feed.

The girl was ten years old. Urged by her kind grandma, she ran desperately to catch up with the parents. She did, but that was not the end of her misery. The whole family, along with other immigrants, first holed up in caves in Xian, living from hand to mouth. When the hand was empty, they even had to beg on the street. By the time the girl was sixteen, she was sold at fifty dollars (大洋) to be wedded to a man twenty years older. But life went on, after all. She became a mom of five children, one died and one adopted. Years of hardship bonded them together, tiding them through thick and thin. In the ensuing decades, those who were uprooted from Henan finally took root in Xian. They prospered in the land they called it home.

The TV Series Take Root in Chang’an is a heart-wrenching drama revisiting the history of mid-twentieth century in China, chronicled all the important occurrences before and after New China – wars in Old China, land reform and societal class reclassification and asset redistributions in 1950s, Cultural Revolution in 1960s, stagnant economy and death of Mao in 1970s, economic revival and reform in 1980s, and the advent of a new century. Woven into the gripping stories were people’s optimism in the face of adversity and the inner strength that brought them out of the poverty. A family as ordinary as Bai’s is an epitome of our tribe’s resilience.  As a viewer, who is familiar with the history and lived through part of it, I echoed in their love, sadness and joys. Tears swelled, so did the memories of the past as I watched one episode after another, till the end.