谁能杀死孩子？

The question in the title of this Spanish horror made by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (his second and final feature, who was relegated to the TV department thenceforth), is not so much “who can” as “who dare to” kill a child? Opening with harrowing reportage of children’s mortality during modern warfares, in hindsight, this tale of manic, homicidal children is dished up as a cynical retribution, for those numberless young lives gone too soon solely due to adult’s crimes and utter inanity (even Fellini courts sideswipe as a Fascist). From this perspective, it might sugar the pill of the film’s perversity.

Tom and Evelyn (Fiander and Ransome), an English couple comes to a small Spanish coastal island for vacation, where Tom has been several years ago. They are more than happy to escape from the jollification and ruckus in the mainland tourist town (fireworks, parades and piñatas), as Evelyn is pregnant with their third child. Upon arrival, weirdly, they find the village is practically deserted, no adults in sight, only kids, sprawled randomly over the place, some boisterous, some coy, but uniformly stiffing their gestures of communication.

What follows is the unthinkable violence exacted upon any adults who are still breathing, at the hands of the villages’ children. Without divulging any explication of the children’s abrupt, unnatural cruelty, the film dutifully if unremarkably grinds out threadbare set pieces counter to common sense (for instance, Tom, albeit witnessing horror in first hand, under the pretext of her gravid state, uncharacteristically keeps a lid on the 411 from Evelyn, who cannot understand a word of Spanish, so that they just stay put in lieu of scarpering on the spot), both also dreams up a sort of telepathic contagion that is chilling enough to jolt any woman who has a bun in the oven out of her philoprogenitive inclination. Ransome gives an excellence impression in the standard terrified mode, whereas Fiander’s Tom has to become a child murderer to ward off elements of children menacingly inching en masse.

Admittedly, the timing of WHO CAN KILL… also entices viewers to speculate its political connotation. released after Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, and with a new generation literally and indiscriminatingly slaughtering any member of the old one, spreading from their insular original to the continent, Serrador is smart enough to capture the zeitgeist and rouse the younger generation to feel a sense of justification and empowerment in themselves. No long a lamb of sacrifice, behave well, grown-ups, it only takes one night to transmute innocence into apathy with a sinister intent.

referential entries: James Watkins’ EDEN LAKE (2008, 7.5/10); Sam Peckinpah’s STRAY DOGS (1971, 7,6/10); Robin Hardy’s THE WICKER MAN (1973, 7.4/10).

引入孩子被杀害的历史，叙述岛上无人的故事，结束于来岛大人被杀、孩子入侵世界。

杀人总有很多理由，当然，有时候并不需要。有的人见到古怪、怪异的事情会一探究竟，有的人会马上远离。俗话说好奇心害死猫，这句话一点都不假。还有一句：心软的人死得快，这也是真理。

看到老人第一反应不是跑过去，而是在乱棍打死之后收尸，颇有外国警察的作风。有很多老人不喜欢孩子，恶语加打人，这一刻似乎在报复。

人可以心软，但不能过分。心软的人成不了大事。

女主扭动方向盘的那一刻，就预示了她既死的命运。孩子肆无忌惮是因为没人会动手打孩子，男主向孩子开的第一枪，可以让他们短暂地活着；男主弃枪的那一刻，只能为他悲哀。

认为孩子无辜？认为孩子无害？好吧，地狱见。

因为海警的刻板印象，一个无辜的生命逝去。自己也被搭了进去。我想说，人真的可以把自己蠢死，这话不骗人。

看到结局真是大快人心。岛上不安全了，不管是对大人还是孩子。孩子开始向岛外进军，我只想说，去吧。

迟钝会惹来极大的祸端。世界上总是需要死一些愚蠢迟钝的人，过分心软，要死（女主）；过分邪恶，要死（孩子）；刻板印象，要死（三个海警），迟钝，要死（岛外的人）

这世界变化无穷，谁死还真不一定。果然，这电影可以教会我们很多东西。

地狱见……

看了这部电影之后，感受太多了！就谈其中的一点吧。总觉得是很有反战意义的，片头故意花了八分多钟的时间来讲述战争的施暴者带给无辜孩子的伤害，不是随随便便的。那么电影中其实是将现实中的两者倒了过来，导演巧妙的运用岛上孩子们对成人的种种暴行来比喻战争施暴者对孩子们的种种伤害，这其中就有许多的象征性。我们不难想象男女主人公在岛上的惊慌失措、处处求生、随时想着逃离就是战争中受害孩子们的生活常态，而岛上孩子们如魔鬼般的残杀活动就象征了残酷的施暴者。我认为这是将影片的前后呼应和节奏把握的最好的导演，致敬！