鲍比

虽然不是什么新电影了，应该说是我落伍了。
但是我还是深深的被电影感动了。Bobby / 鲍比。

觉得是很好的片子，从开头就很紧凑的叙事，用若干人的短暂几日描画一个事件和一个时代的方方面面，而不是一两个人的片面。我只是搞不懂为什么片子在douban得到如此低的评价，49%四星。我觉得这个片子简直太棒了。

我试图将最后一大段的台词自己打下来。
结果开始打之后发现竟有这么多，工程浩大，打了好久。
最后一段非常感人，至少对一个国际主义者来说是这样。
而且最后一段在死亡之后用生前音轨插入的方式，更加彰显效果。
电影JFK最后，同样也是一段长长长长的动人的演说。
以及，电影最后的音乐，the sound of silence，歌词贴在后面了
发现写了好长好长……

现在大概很少有人给一个政治人物这样高的评价了。
那个时代过去了罢。

同时发于xiaonei和douban。
P.B

What I think is quite clear,
有些事情我认为是显而易见的
is that we can work together, in the last analysis,
我们大家最后总会团结起来
and that what has been going on within the United States
无论合众国发生了什么变化
over the period of the last three years..
在这过去的三年
the divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society,
包括那些分歧、暴动 以及社会的觉醒
the divisions, whether it’s between blacks and whites,
无论分歧来自黑人和白人，
between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups
穷人和夫人、不同年龄层的人
or on the war in Vietnam...that we can start to work together.
还是我们对于越战的态度 我们都可以重新团结在一起
We are a great country, an unselfish country,
我们的国家是伟大的、无私的
and a compassionate country.
充满激情的And I intend to make that my basis for running, over the period of the next few months.
这些都是我在接下去的几个月竞选的基础


It is not a day for politics.
今天不谈政治
I have saved this one opportunity...
我利用这次机会
...my only event of today...
同时也是我今天唯一的活动
...to speak briefly to you
来和你们简要的谈一谈
about this mindless menace of violence in America,
目前国内无知的暴力活动所带来的威胁
which again stains our land
这种威胁又一次玷污了我们的土地
and every one of our lives.
以及我们每个人的生命
It is not the concern of any one race.
它不仅仅威胁到一个单一的种族
The victims of the violence
暴力活动的受害者
are black and white, rich and poor,
囊括了白人和黑人，富人和穷人
young and old, famous and unknown.
老人和孩子、百姓和显贵
They are, most important of all, human beings
最重要的是，他们同样都是人
whom other human beings loved and needed.
被别人深爱着、牵挂着的人
No one, no matter where he lives
任何人，无论他住在哪里
or what he does...
为何而生
...can be certain who will suffer
都不知道自己会不会成为…
from some senseless act of bloodshed.
这种毫无意义的流血行为的下一个受害者
And yet it goes on and on in this country of ours.
但就是这样的惨剧，在我们的土地上仍然不断的发生
Why?
为什么
What has violence ever accomplished?
施暴者目的何在？
What has it ever created?
暴力到底给我们带来了什么？


Whenever any American' s life
每当一个美国人的生命
is taken by another American unnecessarily...
莫名地被另一个美国人所夺去…
...whether it is done in the name of the law
无论这种行为是以法律的名义
 or in the defiance of law, by one man or a gang,
还是以法律的名义进行的；不论是由个人还是帮派进行的
in cold blood or in passion...
无论他是冷血杀手还是热血青年…
...in an attack of violence
也无论是暴力行为
or in response to violence,
还是以暴制暴
whenever we tear at the fabric of life
这样的行为，彻底破灭了…
which another man has painfully and clumsily
一个人呕心沥血…
woven for himself and his children,
为他和他的家人编织的美国梦
whenever we do this, then the whole nation is degraded.
这样的行为，让我们整个民族为之蒙羞


Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence
我们却似乎一直在听任…
that ignores our common humanity
这种泯灭人性…
and our claims to civilization alike.
公然对抗我们所宣称的文明的暴力行为不断升级


Too often we honor swagger
我们往往予以认同…
and bluster and the wielders of force.
崇尚武力和狂妄自大的人
Too often we excuse those
我们却往往给予宽容…
who are willing to build their own lives
那些将自己的幸福…
on the shattered dreams of other human beings.
建立在别人破碎的梦想之上的人


But this much is clear:
但是事实显而易见
violence breeds violence,
暴力滋生更多暴力
repression brings retaliation,
镇压导致报复
and only a cleaning of our whole society
只有净化我们整个社会
can remove this sickness from our soul.
才能治愈我们的灵魂


For When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother,
当你让别人对自己的兄弟滋生怨恨
when you teach that he is a lesser man
当你让别人…
because of his color or his beliefs
因为自己的肤色、信仰
or the policies he pursues...
或者认同的理念而自觉卑微…
...when you teach that those who differ from you
当你让别人仅仅因为不同己见…
threaten your freedom or your job
就随意威胁他人的自由和工作…
or your home or your family,
或者家人生命的时候
then you also learn to confront others,
你就已经学会了视他人…
not as fellow citizens
不为同胞
but as enemies.
而是敌人
To be met not with cooperation but with conquest.
不以相互合作为念
To be subjugated and mastered.
反以暴力征服为乐


We learn, at the last, to look at our bothers as aliens.
最终，我们学会了将同胞视为异己
Alien men with whom we share a city, but not a community.
分享的是同一个城市的资源，却不是同一个社区的感情
Men bound to us in common dwelling,
生活在同一个屋檐下
but not in common effort.
却相互敌视
We learn to share only a common fear,
我们所共有的，只是心中的恐惧
only a common desire to retreat from each other.
相互逃避的欲望
only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.
以及以暴力解决分歧的冲动


Our lives on this planet
我们这一生
are too short.
是如此短暂
The work to be done
而我们的事业
is too great to let this spirit flourish
却是如此伟大 我们不能让这样的情绪…
any longer in this land of ours.
在我们的土地上恣意滋长
Of course we cannot vanish it with a program,
当然，这是无法用一项政策
nor with a resolution.
或是一次革命来解决的…


...but we can perhaps remember, if only for a time,
但有些事情我们也许可以记住 即便将来也许会忘却
that those who live with us are our brothers,
那就是跟我们一起生活的人是我们的兄弟
that they share with us the same short movement of life,
他们和我们一起度过这短暂的人生
that they seek, as do we,
他们也像我们一样
nothing but the chance to live out their lives
只求有机会使自己的生活…
in purpose and happiness,
过得幸福而充实
winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
同时赢得属于自己的快乐和成就


Surely this bond of common faith,
这些信念的结合
surely, this bond of common goal,
以及这些共同目标的结合
can begin to teach us something.
毫无疑问会使我们开始学到一些东西
Surely we can learn, at least,
至少，我们毫无疑问会学会
to look around at those around us, of our fellow men,
将身边的人视为同胞
and surely we can begin to work a little harder
我们会开始
to bind up the wounds among us and to become, in our hearts,
为了缝合我们的伤口
brothers and countrymen once again.
为了再一次真正的成为兄弟同胞而努力奋斗


结尾配乐：The sound of silence

hello darkness my old friend.
你好，黑暗，我的老朋友
i've come to talk with u again.
我又来和你交谈
because a vision softly creeping.
因为梦幻缓缓涌现
left its seeds while i was sleeping.
在我熟睡时播下种子
and the vision that was planted in my brain.
在我脑海中生根
still remains.
在寂静之声中留存
within the sound of silence
在寂静之声中留存

in restless dreams i walk alone.
在无休止的梦境中，我独自
narrow streets of cobble stone.
走在狭窄的石道上
'neath the halo of a street lamp.
在街灯的光晕下
i turned my collar to the cold damp.
寒冷和潮湿让我竖起衣领
when my eyes were stabbled by the flash of a neon light.
当霓虹灯光刺痛我的双眼
that split the night.
划破黑夜
and touched the sound of silence.
触动了寂静之声

and in the naked night i saw.
在刺眼的灯光下
ten thousand people maybe more.
我看见成千上万人，也许更多
people talking without speaking.
他们交谈无需言语
people hearing without listening.
他们领悟无需倾听
people writing songs that voices never share.
他们写歌但歌声永难抒发
and no one dare.
无人敢去
disturb the sound of silence.
打破寂静之声

"fool" said i "you do not know.
我说：“傻瓜，难道你们不知道”
"silence like a cancer grows.
“寂静同肿瘤一样滋长”
"hear my words that i might teach you.
“听我的话我会教你们如何做”
"take my arms that i might reach you.
“抓紧我的手我会拯救你们”
but my words like silent rain-drops fell.
但是我的话如雨滴无声落下…
and echoed in the wells of silence.
回荡在寂静的深井里

And the people bowed and prayed
看人们朝着象征神圣的氖灯低头祈祷
To the neon god they made.
而霓红灯广告牌却在讽刺地一闪一闪
And the sign flashed out its warning,
发出这样的警告：
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
“先哲的预言就在地道下的墙上”
And tenement halls.
“就写在贫民们的住房里”
And whisper’d in the sounds of silence.
还依旧在一片祷告的寂静中喃喃地低语

当罗伯特•F•肯尼迪的话出现在《Bobby》开头时，我忽然羡慕起了美国人。
我很想了解，这个仅仅通过语言，就让我这样一个陌生的，与他完全生活在不同环境不同背景不同时代的人感受到了力量，鼓舞与振奋的，到底是怎样的一个人。
这个世界上存在着这样一种人，他只需一个眼神，一句简单的话，就可以让你为他奉献出一切，哪怕是性命。

当Nick Cannon目光闪耀，满是憧憬的讲述着发生在Bobby身上的事情时，我的泪水无法抑制。他讲述的，是他所有的希望与梦想所在。
我们已经失去了金，只剩下了他了。Nick Cannon道。
会是怎样的一个人，可以成为别人生命存在的价值？

1968年6月5日，这个夜晚的国宾大酒店让很多人无法忘记。
那一夜，Jack扫平了Samantha心中最后一丝不安。
那一夜，Miguel，Jose和Timmons坐在一起听了唐·德莱斯戴尔的比赛。
那一夜，Paul与Angela终于分手，却还是被Miriam知道了这个自己一直隐瞒的秘密。
那一夜，Robinson坐在球场，见证了唐·德莱斯戴尔打破了尘封了64年的历史，连续6场全封对手，为道奇队狂欢喝彩。
那一夜，年迈的Kathy再一次站在了国宾大酒店门口，与KENNEDY握手，欢迎他的到来。
那一夜，Tim终于选择了离开Virginia Fallon，选择了终结这段婚姻。
那一夜，Shia LaBeouf刚从迷幻剂中清醒，他们像做错了事的孩子一样看着候选结果，害怕因为自己的小小疏忽导致Bobby的加州失守。
那一夜，William和Diane才真正像一对恋人一样站在一起。
那一夜，Joshua Jackson和Nick Cannon在酒店宣布了Bobby的大获全胜。这些佩戴着肯尼迪头像的年轻人，梦想才刚刚开始，他们将和他们卓越的领袖一起去实现他们胸中的抱负和理想。
那一夜，罗伯特•F•肯尼迪甩开了所有的对手，拿下了加州，然后再次以肯尼迪家族一员的身份站在了尼克松面前。
那一夜，死神也再次光临了他们这个的家族。
在Tim离开酒店大门的一瞬间，噩梦，走进了这里。

他就那样出现，简单的好像生活中的一道剪影，在所有人呼喊着“我们要Bobby”时，在所有的崇拜者争相与他握手时，那个年轻人就这样出现，然后用他手中的枪，指向了罗伯特•F•肯尼迪。
那一枪后，之前的所有，统统被打碎。天真，美好，友爱，希望，梦与理想，真诚，爱。那22个没有任何联系的小人物代表的生活，在这一枪之后，不复存在。
也许KENNEDY们真的可以创造出一个理想国，所以上帝派遣了恶魔，杀死了人们的领袖，父亲，杀死了他们生存的意义，杀死了所有人的希望和美好梦想。

我无法忘记Nick Cannon走出Bobby房间时的画面和他脸上幸福的表情，灯光直上直下的打在他的身上，他看着写有“KENNEDY”字样的胸针，脸上写满了尊崇与神圣。

“我们已经失去了金，只剩下了Bobby了。”Nick Cannon像是捧着最后一丝摇曳不定却能温暖众生的火种一样说道。
现在，我们连Bobby也失去了。
“没有人了。”说这话时，Nick Cannon的表情，那样黯淡。

罗伯特·弗朗西斯·肯尼迪（Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy，1925年11月20日－1968年6月6日），通常被称作罗伯·肯尼迪（Robert Kennedy）、巴比·肯尼迪（Bobby Kennedy），也常以他的英文缩写RFK称呼他。第35任美国总统约翰·肯尼迪的弟弟，1948年以优异的成绩自哈佛大学毕业，并于同年进入维吉尼亚大学法学院，1951毕业，并于同年考取麻州律师执照。在约翰·肯尼迪总统任内担任美国司法部长，直到肯尼迪总统被刺杀身亡，他仍在继任的林登·约翰逊总统任内留任至1964年。1965年他当选美国纽约州参议员，旋即宣布投入1968年美国总统选举民主党党内初选。1968年6月5日，他在民主党加州党内初选结束后，在洛杉矶国宾饭店举行记者会，在会后离场时遭一名阿拉伯裔的回教激进主义者瑟罕·瑟罕枪击重伤，一天之后伤重死亡。
 
暗杀前
 
　　1968年的今天，罗伯特·肯尼迪被击中两枪，当场死亡。“暗杀从不曾改变过历史的进程，”罗伯特·肯尼迪在他哥哥死于达拉斯后曾经说过，但这话并不确实。他哥哥的死，以及他本人的死，都改变了历史的进程。他在印度安纳州预选中击败了尤金·麦卡锡，得票比数是42％对27％；在内布拉斯加州比数则是51％对31％。在1968年6月4日（星期二）他死的那天，他在汉弗莱的故乡南达科他州击败了汉弗莱；并在最大的加利福尼亚州预选中击败了麦卡锡。那一天，肯尼迪同他10个孩子中的6个和妻子艾塞尔（正怀着第11个孩子）一起在洛杉矶附近的海滩上消磨了一个早晨。随后在城里大使饭店的第512号套缚，收听选举消息。夜半时候，他乘电梯下到他自己设在饭店使馆厅里的总部去，同欢欣鼓舞的自动前来帮忙的人谈了一会儿话。末了，他说：“我谢谢诸位，下一步是到芝加哥去，咱们在那里取胜吧。”朋友和他最接近的随从们都学着他的腔调说：“下一步是到‘工厂’去。”这是一家热闹的夜总会，他们打算和他一起去欢庆胜利的地方。但是，他还得先到记者室去说几句话。
 
过程
 
　　从讲台到使馆厅大门人挤得水泄不通，因此有个参加晚会的人建议他们从后面通道出去。肯尼迪的保镖、前联邦调查局特工人员比尔·巴里表示反对，他不赞成这个主意。但是，参议员说：“没有棍系。”于是他们迈步走进一条闷热的、有气味的走廊。肯尼迪停下来同一位17岁的餐厅小服务员杰塞斯·佩雷握手，回答了一个有关汉弗莱的问题：“这要追溯到那次斗争，因为……”他再不能说完这句话。帕萨迪纳地方的一个记者看到有一只手臂和一 支手枪从一群旁观者中间伸了出来。刺客是把右手肘部支在柜台上，向肯尼迪开枪的，距离只有4英尺远。他把装在塌鼻子艾弗·约翰逊式左轮枪里的八颗子弹全射出来以后，肯尼迪的朋友，奥林匹克冠军雷夫·约翰逊才把他手里的枪打掉。艾塞尔跪在他身旁。鲍勃要喝水。他随后问道：“大家都平安吗？”那个服务员给了他蚧个十字架，鲍勃用手指捏住念珠，艾塞尔祷告。这时，体重三百磅的洛杉矶橄榄球公羊队前锋罗斯福·格里尔抱住了那个瘦小的、黑发的刺客。“你为什么干这个？”有个人对他吼道。刺客尖叫着：“我有理由，让我说明理由！”加利福尼亚州民主党领袖杰西·昂鲁高声问他：“为什么杀他？为什么杀他！”行刺的歹徒回答说：“我是为了我的国家才这样干的。”这话听起来很荒谬，但接着慢慢弄清了真相。从他那精神不正常的想法看来，他确实相信自己是出于爱国。
 
On the Mindless Menace of Violence
City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
April 5, 1968
 
This is a time of shame and sorrow. It is not a day for politics. I have saved this one opportunity, my only event of today, to speak briefly to you about the mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.
 
It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one - no matter where he lives or what he does - can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
 
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
 
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.
 
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence - whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
 
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
 
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.
 
Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violenceabroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
 
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.
 
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
 
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
 
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.
 
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.
 
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
 
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
 
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution.
 
But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
 
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
（那是最美好的时代，那是最糟糕的时代；那是智慧的年头，那是愚昧的年头；那是信仰的时期，那是怀疑的时期；那是光明的季节，那是黑暗的季节；那是希望的春天，那是失望的冬天；我们全都在直奔天堂，我们全都在直奔相反的方向。）
——查尔斯•狄肯斯《双城记》


罗伯特•F•肯尼迪（RFK）在1968年初宣布竞选美国总统。那一年距离他的兄长约翰•F•肯尼迪（JFK）遇刺身亡已经有四年多时间。那一年越战还在继续。美国国会虽然已经通过了反种族隔离以及反种族歧视的法案，民权斗争依然激烈。年轻一代精神苦闷，在天堂和地狱之间彷徨。
如果Bobby（RFK的另一个称呼）赢得大选，他的热情、才干和政治理想或许能够带领美国人民走出混乱、失望和愤怒的困境。我们永远无从得知如果Bobby成为了这个超级大国的领袖，美国的历史是不是会变得更好。
1968年4月4日，美国黑人民权运动领袖马丁•路德•金被刺杀，盍然长辞。两个月之后，1968年6月4日，曾经是1963年非裔美国人民权运动的领袖之一的RFK获得了民主党党内加州初选的胜利。这意味他将可能顺利地赢得党内初选的最终胜利，成为民主党推选的候选人，参加总统大选。
就在这个消息宣布的不久之后，RFK在竞选总部大使酒店被人群中一位名叫Sirhan B. Sirhan的24岁巴勒斯坦青年开枪近距离击中头部。那是6月5日的凌晨。次日，RFK在医院伤重不治，结束了42岁的生命。

这部电影讲述的便是1968年6月4日到5日凌晨之间，大使酒店里发生的故事。二十二位人物依次出场，在毫无准备的情况下见证了美国历史上又一个黑暗的时刻。
他们中有墨西哥移民，黑人老厨师，年轻的酒店电话接线员，歧视有色人种的白人主管，酗酒的女歌手和她的丈夫，竞选总部的年轻人，想成为明星的美女服务生，来自上层社会的有钱人，厌恶和恐惧越南战事的大学生等等。他们都怀抱着各自的烦恼和忧伤。
光是看着这串演员名单，我就激动得不得了：Anthony Hopkins, William H. Macy, Freddy Rodríguez, Harry Belafonte, Heather Graham, Laurence Fishburne, Christian Slater, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Sharon Stone , Elijah Wood, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore,以及集本片编剧、导演、演员于一身的Emilio Estevez。
真正亮闪闪的演技派加偶像派阵容，一起演绎美国梦的死亡。
这种多线索、多角色的叙事方式往往会遇到重点模糊、布局繁冗的难题。演员阵容的庞大和华丽也让故事变得难以驾驭。导演很明显地限制每一个角色的戏份，以免喧宾夺主。其中，Sharon Stone, Demi Moore以及Martin Sheen的表演给我的印象特别深刻。
Sharon Stone在剧中饰演酒店美容院的造型师。她嫁给了酒店的主管保罗，婚姻平静而幸福。但是这一天她却发现保罗与年轻美丽的接线员发生不轨的关系，幸福的表象突然崩溃。Demi Moore则饰演一位风情万种的歌手。严重的酗酒、狂躁的脾气以及日渐衰老的身体是她无法摆脱的阴影。她的丈夫是曾经很有名气的鼓手，可是现在却变成一个唯唯诺诺看起来萎靡懦弱的中年人。Sharon Stone和Demi Moore对角色的把握无可挑剔，令人赏心悦目。
至于Martin Sheen的台词和眼神依然是无懈可击。看着电影里面两鬓霜白的他，我老是会想起已经去世的马兰•白兰度。他们当年合演《现代启示录》（1979年出品），距今已经是二十七年了。
这二十二个角色虽然是个体命运的主角，但他们都是历史的过客，唯有间杂影片中的大量历史影像记录片断所反映的时代主题才是电影的真正聚焦点。
昨日重现。我们看到年轻的Michael Wallace（美国著名的新闻记者）在电视里面报道新闻，游行中的学生们用身体去阻挡警察的警棍和步枪，愤怒的黑人们跳上汽车，Dortor King在华盛顿广场发表演讲，还有RFK在贫民区、学校、荒置的旧工业城市走访。黑白的片断一再地出现，提醒我们那个年代的故事。当那首熟悉的《The Sound of Silence》响起的时候，我坐在黑暗的电影大厅中唏嘘不已。
最坏的时代也是最好的时代。梦想和阴谋，热情和迷惘，战争和反抗，迷幻剂和子弹……当时间跨入七十年代，美国人突然从不完美的斗士变成了庸俗的大叔或颓废的逃匿者。
光明和黑暗的对立止于六十年代。只有在那个时代，美国人才当得起RFK演讲中的那段话：
We are a great country.
We are a selfless country.
We are a passionate country.
当美国政府陷入伊战的沼泽潭中的今天，我们不妨和美国人一起回顾上个世纪六十年代的美国，缅怀一个黄金时代的消逝。
或者，也开始见证一个大国的衰败。

I've heard that in America when strangers meet, sometimes they would ask one another a question about Kennedy - "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?"

Of course, the Kennedy in the question ususally refers to Bobby's big brother, JFK. At first, I did not understand. I don't see how people could use someone else's death as a topic to socialize with each other. As I grew older and had some life stories of my own, things began to dawn on me. I think that the reason people ask this question is to reminisce. On that day, the day that Kennedy was shot, an era ended. People ask the question because they want to remember the time when they were young, the time when they still believed, and the time when they still had the courage to dream of a world different from the one they were told to live in and accept without question. That was when a nation vibrated with the energy of youth and oozed with the confidence and resolution that they could and would build a better life, a better country, and a better world. That was the time when the nation was in motion. That was before the gun shot and killed in cold blood the best the nation has to offer .

If they thought that the people would be subdued by an assassination and that the movement would die down once JFK was gone, they were wrong. Robert Kennedy carried on the fight. The people followed. But just when the people were ready to rise up again and stand with the man who would lead them to the promised land, the gun shot was heard again. This time, the bullet not only killed the messiah of the nation but also broke the spirit of a generation. The zeitgeist of the 60s, the daring to change and the audacity to challenge the establishment, had disappeared since and is yet to be seen again.

You may have a different agenda than what the people want. It may be right and it may be wrong. However, if the price you paid for the people to take your agenda was to terrorize the nation into silence with violence and to subject the nation to oppression and fear, then it was never the right price to pay. Never. The people could only be cheated so many times. They could only be failed so many times. They could only place their faith in you so many times. Once that limit is reached, you would never make them believe again, and that is when a nation is robbed of her belief. That is when you would discover that a nation without belief is a nation going nowhere.

The movie pieced together various people's lives at that fateful day. Divergent their lives are, at that moment, they converged and became one. No matter how different they look, behave, or think, deep in their heart, they share a common longing. Deep in their heart, they share a common set of values. Deep in their heart, they share a common faith. When they saw Kennedy, all of their faces lighted up. It was just like the effect Jesus had on the suffering, the poor, and the oppressed, when he traveled the land of Palenstine.

Just when the elation peaked, the shots were fired and people were sent into turmoil, panic, disbelief, anger, grief, and dispair. Then Bobby's voice rose. It was a speech he recorded months before his death. He spoke, in his usual composure, of why violence could have been used by man against his own brothers, so calmly as if he had already forgiven his own killer, and of how man should try to see himself in each other and tear down the walls of hate, prejudice, intolerance, and fear, and be brothers and countrymen again, so surely as if he had seen the future and tried to tell us - "Have faith, and you will be one people again." . He had given his testimony of the heritage that he left us. Hopefully, one day, people will find the conviction, the courage, and the strength in themselves to dare to dream again, to dare to hope again, to dare to act again, and to dare to fight again, for the world that the ones went before us envisioned and sacrificed their lives for.

Next time, when someone asks you about where you were when Kennedy was shot, you would know what the real meaning of that question is. Let us hope that the question would not be taken away along with them, when the generation, who had so many dreams, so many triumphs, so many defeats, and so many stories to tell, should've faded away in the theater of time. Let us hope that the question would live on and that the torch be passed to a new generation of men from all lands. Let us hope that, one day, we would make the world that had been dreamed for, fought for, and died for, by the giants like Robert Francis Kennedy, come true.

Finally, I quote Edward M. Kennedy's tribute to his beloved brother:

 "My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

 "As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

      " 'Some men see things as they are and say why.
       I dream things that never were and say why not.' "

奥斯卡提名影片《鲍比》，好片，并不一定好玩，现在很少有那些煽情成分的好片了，我挺需要的！这片也是平淡得很，是个很好的电影，可是并不一定所有人都很喜欢，怎么说，就象毕加索的东西，不是随时都是能喜欢得来的。

言归正传：故事围绕1968年6月6日美国参议员罗伯特·F·肯尼迪的遇刺展开，那颗致命的子弹不但要了鲍比的性命，也令当时身处"大使酒店"的22个人的命运发生了转变，更进一步说，这颗子弹消灭了整个美国的纯真…… 在由埃米里奥·埃丝泰威兹导演并担纲主演的这部戏中，22个人成为了二十世纪六十年代悲剧性、决定性的一幕的不知情的见证人。推荐30以上的男人看看！