名画紹介　Field of Dreams

2024.2.21

忘れてしまったか、または忘れようとしたかの夢をもう一度追いかける大人のおとぎ話、ファンタジームービーだ。名優ケヴィン・コスナーが野球を通して夢と希望を追う主人公を演じている。筆者はもうすでに１０回以上見ているが、色々な場面で何回見ても感動しきりである。過去の父との確執を抱えて生きる主人公・レイが、不思議な声に導かれて自分のトウモロコシ畑に球場を造り、今は亡き名選手たちと交流することで見失っていたものを見つけ出していくさまを幻想的に描く。米国では父との確執和解は映画の永遠のテーマだ。いくつかの名場面を英語学習教材として紹介する。リスニング教材として聞いて欲しい。

①Ive got a better idea. Lets put it to a vote, all right?
Whos for Eva Braun here? Who want to burn books Who wants to spit on the constitution of the united states of America? Anybody? All right. Now, Whos for the Bill of Rights?
Who thinks freedom is a pretty darn good thing?
Come on, come on! Let`s see those hands!
Who thinks we have to stand up to the kind of censorship…
That they had under stalin?
All right! There you go, America.

学校で自由主義的傾向の作家の作品を禁止しようとする米国中西部の保守的な土地柄でリベラルな主人公夫婦が米国の自由の価値を説く有名な場面。

②主人公に球場を作らせることになる作家が米国の価値観を野球と絡めて説く場面、素晴らしい野球讃歌となっている。文章中　People will come.は繰り返し使われる言葉だ。球場を作れば「人は来るんだよ」米国は変わる。時代は流れるが野球は変わらない。時を越えて私達アメリカの精神そのものだ。（意訳ですが）

People will come, Ray.
Theyll come to Iowa for reasons they cant even fathom.
Theyll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why theyre doing it.
Theyll arrive at your door as innocent as children… Longing for the past. “Of course, we wont mind if you look around,” Youll say. “Its only $20 per person.”
Theyll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they like. Then theyll walk out to the bleachers…
And sit in their shirt sleeves on a perfect afternoon.
Theyll find they have reserved seats… Somewhere along one of the base lines… Where they sat when they were children… And cheered their heroes. And theyll watch the game…
And it will be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters.
The memories will be so thick…
Theyll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray… Has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. Its been erased like a blackboard…
Rebuilt and erased again.
But baseball…
Has marked the time.
This field, this game…
Is a part of our past, Ray.
It reminds us of all that once was good…
And it could be again.

③自分が生まれる前の野球選手だった父に再会する最も感動的な場面。お互いに父と息子であるのがわかっているのに言い出せない場面、会話文だ。have a catch キャッチボールをする

You catch a good game. 　Thank you. 　It's　so beautuful here.    For me  It is like a dreams come true.   

Can I ask you something?  Is this heaven? Its Iowa. Io?  Yeah. 

I could have sworn this was heaven.  Is there heaven? Oh,yeah.   It is a place dreams come true.

Then may be this is heaven.  OK,Good night Ray.   Good night John.  

Hey, Dadd. You wanna have a catch? I would like that.