故事发生在纽约，一个专业棒球队里两个球员的故事。Henry是明星投手，Bruce Pearson是普通投手，Bruce和其他球员十分友好，但与Henry投手却十分隔漠，这甚至开始影响球队的命运…… ◎简 介 Henry Wiggen是纽约长毛象队( New York Mammoths based on NYY)的明星投手。 (那是自由球员制还未施行的年代，球员的薪水并不高，即使像Henry Wiggen这种明星球员，还得兼营一些副业。在电影中，可看出他还是保险经纪人，而且对理财颇有一套，另外，他还是曾出过书的作家——这就是他 Author 这个绰号的由来。) 而他的室友——也是他保险的客户—— Bruce Pearson，则和他刚好相反。他球技普通，生活习惯又差，平时一副蠢样，在队上根本没人理他。(Henry 本身也很讨厌他，有一次，Henry 逮到Bruce在洗手檯便溺，气得向总教练Dutch投诉。) 但，就在这一年春训之前，一切都改变了。 因不幸而变成好友 Bruce感到身体不适，经医师诊断是何杰金氏淋巴瘤(Hodgkin's disease, or Hodgkin's lymphoma)，这在当时是绝症。Bruce的保险是向Henry投保的，在Henry 的陪伴之下，他们一起到专门的医院做进一步诊疗，并得到医院的确认。 Henry听从Bruce的要求，保守著这个秘密。两人回到春训集训地，当时 Henry 和球团的谈薪陷入僵局，Henry 正在「罢训」。但不久他得到消息，球团打算要释出Bruce，於是他接受球团提议的薪资，只不过要加入一条附加条款——他的命运必须和Bruce绑在一起，球团不管要交易还是释出Bruce，都得连他一块送走。 球团答应这个条件。但总教练觉得事有蹊蹺，如之前所述，Henry曾向他抱怨Bruce的不良生活习惯，但怎么突然间，又像是情人一样不可分离呢？总教练私下想尽办法要查个水落石出。 总教练一直找线索，想要知道之前Henry和Bruce到了什么地方、做了什么事，而 Henry就不断扯谎，想出各种理由来掩饰他和Bruce去过医院。 脱胎换骨的表现 Henry还以他的理财知识当条件，和一位老爱奚落Bruce的队友达成协议，希望他不要对Bruce那么刻薄。Henry告诉这位队友Bruce罹患绝症的秘密，并要他守口如瓶。 但这种「秘密」，很快就在队友之间秘密流传，没多久，大多数球员都知道了。忽然间，大家对 Bruce 都特别包容，人人都愿意与他交友。原本这支球队，充满了球技一流的球星，但人人各自为政，谁也不服谁，现在因为Bruce的不幸，球队的向心力竟因而凝聚了起来，此后球队连战连胜。 Bruce原本只是替补捕手，上场机会不多，表现也不理想；因为队友的接纳，他开始有了自信，各项表现都创下生涯新高，到了七月，他已是主战捕手了。 球队最终拿下第一，季后赛一路横扫，夺得世界大赛冠军。而Bruce在球季结束前，就因病重离队，於不久后便病逝了。 电影在Henry的旁白中结束。Bruce的丧礼，球队只有送花，没有代表到场。 ◎幕 后 Bang the Drum Slowly ，中译名为「战鼓轻敲」。不过首先要说明的，这个Drum，并不是战鼓，而是送丧时的哀鼓；Slowly，也非「轻」敲，而是「慢」敲。这个鼓声，就像是丧鐘，沉重地、缓慢地敲击著，像是死神逐渐走近的脚步…… 本片改编自 Mark Harris 的同名小说 Bang the Drum Slowly 。Mark Harris 总共写了四本棒球小说，这「四部曲」分别是：The Southpaw (1953)、 Bang the Drum Slowly (1956)、A Ticket for a Seamstitch (1957)，和 It Looked Like For Ever (1979)，书中的主角，都是投手 Henry Author Wiggen。 Bang the Drum Slowly 这个书名，是从一首美国的传统牛仔歌曲 Streets of Laredo （或称为「牛仔悲歌」 Cowboy's Lament ）中的歌词改编而来，这首歌，唱的是一位垂死牛仔的临终遗言，原先的歌词，有些用语比较古老一点，而在电影里，歌词有小小的更动，以下是和书名有关的副歌部分： O bang the drum slowly and play the fife lowly, Play the dead march as they carry me on, Put bunches of roses all over my coffin, Roses to deaden the clods as they fall 啊，哀鼓慢慢击，横笛低声奏， 当他们抬我灵柩时，演奏那送丧曲， 在我棺木上，覆满成束玫瑰， 让那玫瑰，舒缓落下的土块。
A satirical comedy that pokes fun at Spanish social and political stereotypes, featuring parodies of real events and special guest appearances from the political sphere.
7th century Arabia. A time of feuding tribes vying for power and supremacy. Courageous Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart) refuses to serve as concubine to the merciless Sassanid Emperor Kisra (Sir Ben Kingsley). Escaping with her father King Numan into the vast and unforgiving desert, Hind is pursued by Kisra’s mercenary and his bloodthirsty troops. Father and daughter are forced to trust a mysterious bandit (Anthony Mackie). Against all odds, Hind unites the fractious tribes against the powerful invading military of the Sassanid Empire. In an epic showdown, the Battle of Ze Qar will forever change the Arabian Peninsula and echo throughout history.
Fleeing from their violent father, siblings Lucía and Adrián take refuge in a remote mansion. With the help of a hidden micro-camera on a cat, Lucía uncovers a terrifying secret: their neighbors are part of a criminal network that kidnaps teenage girls to make snuff films, and they intend to get rid of the siblings. As Lucía fights to protect her brother, she must face a dark family curse that follows them into their newfound sanctuary.
In 2013, an Australian man a few months shy of turning 60 decided to walk the Camino de Santiago – an 800km pilgrimage trail across the top of Spain. He had no known religion, and absolutely no idea why he felt so deeply compelled to do this torturous walk. But compelled, he was. He completed the walk, battling a “triumvirate of pain” - a knee that he later discovered lacked an...
Calvin Trask lives in a dead end Arctic town on the fringes of society, until mysterious stranger Lucas Wade arrives, turning his solitary life upside down. Calvin's curiosity gets the better of him and is quickly pulled into Lucas' dangerous world. As secrets slowly unravel, Calvin realises just what kind of jeopardy he's put himself in, a place where murder and betrayal are a...
In 2013, an Australian man a few months shy of turning 60 decided to walk the Camino de Santiago – an 800km pilgrimage trail across the top of Spain. He had no known religion, and absolutely no idea why he felt so deeply compelled to do this torturous walk.
But compelled, he was.
He completed the walk, battling a “triumvirate of pain” - a knee that he later discovered lacked any meaningful cartilage, a blister the sight of which would make a grown man weep, and shin-soreness that felt like his lower limb had been split with a mountain axe wielded by a demented troll.
Arriving at the end of the Camino, the majestic cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, he expected an epiphany – an answer to the question he’d been asking himself every day: Why am I doing this?
But no answer came.
So when he got home he wrote a book, hoping the answer would reveal itself in his scribblings. The result was The Way, My Way, a humourous and self-deprecating book that many consider the best memoir ever written on walking the Camino.
The book has now been made into a film, and it’s an extraordinary account of a man at a pivotal point in his life, searching for meaning and finding himself undergoing a fundamental transformation so profound that he now divides his life into “Before the Camino” and “After the Camino.”
It’s a story particular to one man, yet of appeal to anyone seeking a greater meaning from life.
