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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Culture -> 
Megan Leavey
    2017-06-07  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Near the beginning of “Megan Leavey,” the title character is fired from a dead-end job* with the words, “You don’t really connect with people very well.” You could say the same of the German shepherd* with whom she’ll finally forge a deep bond, first in their Marine training and then on the frontlines in Iraq. Beyond the many lives they save, Megan and Rex save each other.

Bringing their real-life story to the screen, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite has made a movie about soldiers that’s not, strictly speaking, a war film.

As Megan (Kate Mara) explains in a voiceover*, nothing is keeping her in her suburban* New York hometown. She is not in comfortable relations with her mother (Edie Falco) and stepdad (Will Patton). Things have gone worse since the death of her best friend, and she enlists* in the Marines on an impulse*.

But it isn’t until she meets Rex, a four-legged member of the Military Police K9 unit, that she finds her true purpose, focusing her every waking moment on qualifying for the position of dog handler. Rex (played in most scenes by a large, soulful-eyed German shepherd named Varco) has been a problem trainee, but he responds to Megan and proves himself more than up to the job when they’re sent to Iraq, where they make a formidable* team — until they’re injured by an IED* and separated by the Marines.

Megan’s story in the end turns into a public campaign to adopt* her war-hero partner despite daunting red tape* and the unhelpful ruling of a veterinarian* (Geraldine James). The film celebrates the heroism of Leavey, Rex and others, yet it’s far more complex than a rah-rah paean*. The appearance on a stateside TV screen showing Colin Powell’s testimony about WMDs* provides all the commentary needed about the policies that send soldiers into battle.

Megan Leavey is a portrait of military life as a working-class career. The screenplay finds nuance in every exchange, whether the moment is comic, heartbreaking or a fusion of the two.

Bradley Whitford’s understated turn as Megan’s father appears late in the film, when she’s fallen again into a depression after her war injury.

He tells her to figure out what would make it worth it. “Rex,” she says.(SD-Agencies)

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