O Caminho para Casa

Do pequeno romance "Wo de fu qin mu qin" de Shi Bao, em inglês "Remembrance", saiu um filme delicioso (1999) realizado por Zhang Yimou, que só muito recentemente tive a oportunidade de ver. Vale a pena!

Sobre o filme:

Yusheng (Sun) regressa a casa, na aldeia de Sanhetun, junto às montanhas, para o funeral do seu pai. A mãe, Di (Zhao), insiste para que se cumpra a tradição local de carregar o caixão desde uma cidade próxima, onde o marido faleceu, até à pequena aldeia, para que ele não se esqueça do caminho até ao local onde deu aulas durante 40 anos. Enquanto Di tenta persuadir o filho, embarcamos numa viagem pelas suas memórias, até 1958, quando Luo Changyu (Zheng), com 20 anos, chega à aldeia para assumir o posto de professor da pequena escola primária e conhece Zhao Di (Zhang), dois anos mais nova, a sua futura mulher.
A simplicidade da história deste filme de Zhang Yimou é inversamente proporcional à sua eficácia dramática. Com menos de 90 minutos, consegue contar uma história em dois tempos diversos, passado e presente, sem pretensões épicas. Aqui não há lugar a surpresas: somos apresentados às personagens principais, Di, em redor de quem tudo se desenrola, e Yusheng, o filho, o elemento estranho de fora, que transporta, afinal, o nosso olhar. Somos confrontados com a morte do pai, no primeiro minuto do filme.

Sobre o livro (nota de um tradutor para língua inglesa online - parcial):

I'm happy to provide all Ziyi fans out there with a translated portion of the book "My Father & Mother," written by the mainland Chinese writer, Bao Shi (full text in Chinese, located here).One thing that you guys may have noticed is that, well, the translation is not complete (approximately one quarter of the novel [9 out of 41 sections] was translated).This is something I will address later, but for now, I think the best way is to think of the text as a supplement for those that already watched the movie.It is NOT meant to be a substitute for the script or novel.With translations, one thing that you must keep in mind is that the words are coming through the voice another person.So ultimately, what I present here is only one of many interpretations.

I tried to the best of my ability to preserve the structure and content of Bao Shi.He is mainly a very descriptive writer, and it's really hard to portray the vocabulary he uses.Most of his words in Chinese are fairly straightforward (and thus, translated simply), but sometimes I'd use some big words for the sake of word choice.The paragraph format is copied directly from the Chinese text, and it's not unusual for some paragraphs to be a single sentence.The style of dialogue is also put in a form that most English readers would be familiar with.For example: "He ran away," she said; when in the novel, there'd usually just be an exchange of dialogue, without benefit of describing who said it in the first place.All in all, the text was written in an informal narrative style, which actually didn't exist in China until early in the 20th century.

I think that the novel gives a pretty good impression of the characters, the settings, and in particular, a feel for the country. There were many terms that I was not familiar with, and I actually ended up just making up my own appropriate words. For terms that had no English equivalent (example: kang), I would leave the Chinese word in pinyin. As for the characters and the story, I think Zhang Yimou made the best out of the material in the movie adaptation The Road Home, and this is actually one of those few cases in which the movie succeeds on more levels than the book itself.The book seems to have a more prolonged beginning and ending, but aside from that, the material remains mostly the same.Zhao Di's bowl and hairpin still play prominent roles in the book.The son is also still involved in the ending, much to my surprise.



Um excerto:
"Chapter 1

Part 1

As I neared San He Tun, my heart tightened in anticipation. Without one word, the driver cautiously navigated the car around the twisting mountain road. It was not a comfortable drive, and the rocky ground caused the car to jump -- making my heart skip a beat, while giving a sensation of weightlessness.

This morning at 6 'o clock, the village head, Da Ye, called me at the dormitory. For a short period of time, I didn't even recognize who he was. Once I realized it was him, I knew immediately that my father had passed away. Mr. Luo had died. Heart disease. And that was it. In a rough voice, Da Ye told me that I should return home.

I heard Da Ye's words, and felt suddenly disheveled. When I saw my father at this year's Spring Festival, he was still... still in good health. So, how could of this come to pass? Actually, I can't believe that I'm saying this. This wasn't true at all.

I lost no time in giving my friend a phone call. In due time, I borrowed his car and went off to to go to San He Tun that very morning.

As we came in front of San He Tun, I could see the simple rural homes of the village approach through the windshield. We were quickly drawing close, so I told the driver to stop.

"We're here." I told the driver.
"I'll take you to the gate." he replied.
"No need." I said. "This far is enough."
"Alright, then take care."

I opened the car door and stepped out. The driver added: "Tell your village chief that when I come back, I'll have to thank him again."

And then the car drove off. With long strides, I entered the village and walked towards my home.

I approached the entrance of the courtyard. My heart pounded heavily, and it felt as if I had been shot in the chest. I then thought about my mother. How was she? How would she get through all of this? I paused slightly before I walked through the trees of the small courtyard.

Fontes:

Terra Cinema

Cinedie Asia

IMDB

Remembrance