和在牛津的朋友說起the Riot club (原型為Bullingdon Club)，不少人都有所耳聞，還有人表示頗有興趣。 電影普通，有消遣性；因為是戲劇改編，可以看出明顯舞台痕跡，對大學區的時代變遷缺乏細緻的描繪。但還是推薦，因為它涉及的問題本身直指人心。Bullingdon Club是牛津著名的貴族俱樂部，以大肆破壞聚會地點而聞名（當然，近幾年因為倫敦市長Boris Johnson及其好基友英國首相DavidCameron同在，及Johnson在合照中那一縷銷魂的金髮而更為人所知）。Laura Wade的原著激化了其中的階層矛盾：新生入學，畢業於公立中學的自動和傳統寄宿制私校分化；而和普通人家女孩約會的“Westminster boy”（英國古老私校之一）迫於同伴壓力，在俱樂部聚會時說他們不過露水之情，導致女伴被玩弄、調戲、險些被在場的九名俱樂部成員強暴。企圖管教他們的酒館老闆被痛打，倒在血泊中。而最先動手的那位，被召入倫敦某間紳士俱樂部，知道自己依然會前途無量，成為保守黨的新血脈。 “When the Labours fuck things up, they vote us back in”，莞爾；另一番歇斯底裡的怒吼也耐人尋味：“憑什麼如今我們（保守黨）要夾緊尾巴做人，四處小心翼翼唯恐傷害大眾？我們生就高人一等，憑何為我們所是而致歉？”這一段，簡直是對希區柯克（Alfred Hitchcock）的老片Rope（奪魂索）的回應。在《奪命索》中，希區柯克假James Stewart之口訓斥製造完美謀殺的學弟：
“Brandon, until this very moment, the world and the people in it have always been dark and incomprehensible to me, and I’ve tried to clear my way with logic and superior intellect, and you’ve thrown by own words right back in my face; you’ve given my words a meaning that I never dreamed of, and you tried to twist them into a cold logical excuse for your ugly murder! Tonight you’ve made me ashamed of every concept I’ve ever had, of superior or inferior beings, but I thank you for that shame, because now I know that we’re each of us a separate human being, Brandon, with the right to live and work and think as individuals, but with an obligation to the society that we live in. By what right do you dare say that there’s a superior few to which you belong? By what right did you dare decide that that boy in there [he’s referencing the dead body of “David,” lying in a trunk in the middle of the room] was inferior and therefore could be killed? Did you think you were God Brandon? Is that what you thought when you choked the life out of him? Is that what you thought when you served food from his grave! I don’t know what you thought or what you are, but I know what you’ve done—YOU’VE MURDERED! You’ve strangled the life of a fellow human being who could live and love as you never could… and never will again!”
不錯，英國社會也是階層固化的典型。好友說起50年代的老牌私校裡，教師公然對學生道：”你們都是國家的未來，是社會的上流分子”。這個概念在公眾話語中自然隱去，但類似的認識私下依然存在。因為大家都覺得既有秩序無法被挑戰，因而政治冷感，再正常不過。但政治冷感與道德冷感是兩回事。Riot Club中的少年，用社會身份抵消了道德責任，無視他人（另一種社會構成）作為人類個體的存在意義。兩週前看的片子，現在寫起來還是會搖頭，因為它挑戰了我的底線。而究竟有哪些事，會挑戰你的底線？ 依然是那句，是否有心力改變現實是一回事，謹守底線是另一回事。個人的無力感，不意味著放低底線，直到我們失去同理心、對「他者」的尊重和認識、對世界和道德原則的好奇和敬意。
Creative Evolution 