美国国家公共电台 NPR--CNN's 'No Ordinary Life' highlights the lives of 5 women war videographers

CNN's 'No Ordinary Life' highlights the lives of 5 women war videographers

Transcript¹

A new documentary follows the unique experience of women videographers covering war. "No Ordinary Life" makes its television debut² on CNN.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Before smartphones or social media, the only way to see images of war zones from around the world was through someone else's camera. In a new CNN documentary airing tonight, we meet five women who forged careers behind the video camera starting in the late 1980s.

HEATHER O'NEILL: It was literally³ walking through decades of history from the fall of the Berlin Wall, early Gulf⁴ War, Lebanon, Sarajevo, I mean, to the Arab Spring uprising. But the reason I did the film was because I didn't think that people actually knew that it was these women behind the camera.

MARTIN: That's Heather O'Neill. She's the director of the film "No Ordinary Life." It reveals how these brave women carved out careers in a male-dominated profession all while on the frontlines of war zones.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NO ORDINARY LIFE")

JANE EVANS: I had to be twice as good and twice as fast just to be on the equal playing ground as a guy. I had to work harder. I had to be better to be seen as an equal.

MARTIN: That's the voice of Jane Evans, one of the camerawomen profiled in the film. She's joined by Mary Rogers, Cynde Strand⁵, Margaret Moth⁶ and Maria Fleet. I asked Maria about the sexism she faced on the job.

MARIA FLEET: Many times, people would look at me and say, that camera's bigger than you are. And it's a very aggressive business, too - a very competitive business. So we had to prove ourselves in the field and make sure that the guys took us seriously.

MARTIN: There's a sort of duality in being among the first to do something, right? I mean, as women in this field, you and your female colleagues wanted to be treated equally to your male counterparts. But at the same time, the film points out that you brought something different to the work. What was that?

FLEET: You know, as women, I think we have a particular different experience going through the world, and so that gives us a different perspective. We didn't focus as much on the hardware and the strategy, but what was happening to the people who, through no fault of their own, were displaced and uprooted⁷ by these conflicts. And we felt like that actually could maybe capture the viewer's attention more readily and help them understand what was happening in this conflict.

MARTIN: You and the other women in the film each kind of nod to the toll⁸ that this kind of work takes on anyone who does it. But these stories in particular, especially the coverage⁹ of the genocide in Rwanda - it is hard to imagine how difficult it was to shoot those images. How did you learn to compartmentalize that trauma¹⁰? - because no doubt, it had - it - now we call it that. Back when you were covering these stories, we didn't really talk about PTSD, especially not for journalists.

FLEET: No. That's true. And you used the word compartmentalize. And that's exactly what you have to do when you're in the middle of something unfolding like that that is really horrific. So you have a million things going through your mind. You're thinking about, where is this going? Where might I need to move? What might be happening around me that is unsafe? And, you know, I think it does take a toll later because you - you know, those images - as visual people, those images float around in our brains afterwards. And, I mean, it's nothing compared to the trauma that the people we've witnessed have gone through. But there is a residue¹¹ of this information and these horrible images that rest with us.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: With each new assignment came new risks. And while covering the Iraq war in 2003, Maria Fleet found herself in a situation that would change the rest of her life. A warning to listeners - you're about to hear the sound of gunshots.

You recount one reporting trip to Iraq when the vehicle you were traveling in came under attack. Can you tell us about that moment and how it then changed how you assessed your own risk out in the field?

FLEET: So we were coming down from the north and investigating Tikrit, which was Saddam Hussein's hometown, and it was thought that if he were to make a last stand, he would make a last stand there. And we deemed it safe enough to go into the town. But once we got in there, we were almost surrounded by a couple of pickup¹² trucks with guys with AK-47s in the back.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NO ORDINARY LIFE")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: We're going to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK. All right. They're saying don't film.

FLEET: And we decided¹³ to leave. But they chased us and shot into our cars.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK. That's gunfire. OK. We've just come under attack, under attack.

(SOUNDBITE OF OBJECTS SHATTERING)

FLEET: There were, like, 12 rounds that came into my car.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Got to go.

FLEET: Stop. Stop - so Will (ph) can catch up to us, please.

One hit my flak jacket and thankfully shattered. And so I only got a scrape on my head. Salam (ph) is bleeding, and I've got - I don't know. I was hit with shrapnel in the head or something. Both of us are bleeding in the head.

But, I mean, I really - at the moment that all of that was unfolding, I just thought, we made a mistake. We took a risk that way, but we - know, we miscalculated. And this is how it ends.

MARTIN: You ended up turning down your next assignment to Iraq, right?

FLEET: I did. It was very unusual for me to turn down an assignment, but I had had two very, very close calls in Iraq. And I just thought - I'm a little bit superstitious¹⁴. And I just thought, no; I have to pass on this one.

MARTIN: I think it was Cynde Strand in the film who talks about the responsibility of filming people in their most vulnerable moments. And she says that she makes peace with that by promising¹⁵ herself to continue to do the work. Did that resonate with you?

FLEET: Oh, absolutely - because being in situations where you're often meeting them in the very, very worst moment of their lives, and you are covering the story for a couple of weeks, and then you go home to your nice and comfortable life. There's a certain guilt¹⁶ associated with that. Like, you feel like you want to do more, and why couldn't you do more? But I felt like my offering was my witnessing. I was the witness to what was happening for the world, and that gave me some peace. I felt like that was my offering to the people I was meeting.

MARTIN: Maria Fleet, former CNN camerawoman. She is one of five videographers featured in the new documentary "No Ordinary Life." It debuts¹⁷ tonight on CNN.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

6 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

7 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

11 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

12 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

15 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

16 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

17 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。