Conflitos Internos

A deceptively simple idea lies at the heart of this complex thriller: the Hong Kong police and a triad gang both have an informer in each other's organisation: whoever's man picks the enemies' spy first wins the game for his side. Add to that the customary double-agent-doesn't-know-which-side-he-is-on-anymore subplot (doubled, of course), and you have plenty of ingredients for a plot, although it's to the movie's credit that although a little stylised, it never seems false or contrived. Fast-paced and bold, with a generous score, it never insults the viewer's intelligence either, and features just the right level of moral ambiguity. At one level, it's just another thriller, and there's little in the way of wider political or social subtext; but on the other hand, it's a textbook lesson in the art of making this sort of film.

This movie has been regarded as the cream of Hong Kong gangster and cop movie. And has won 22 awards. But we all know awards don't mean a thing sometimes. The God Father of America cinema "Martin Scorsese" himself is making a American version of the movie, titled: Departed. I'm somewhat happy to see that this movie is being recognized and acknowledged by a true master, but distraught to the possibility of disappointment.

A little history of Hong Kong film industry, being in somewhat government free state for over 100 years, Hong Kong movie industry proliferated to the state of hysteria. On one hand, everything goes as long as people get what they want for 2 hours worth. On the other hand, lack of political drama has afforded the gangster and cop drama to truly grow and mature.

Now back to the movie itself. 3 years ago, when I was still a poor student, I was loitering in the local Chinese video store as usual, looking for something exciting. The owner handed me a VHS copy of this movie, he personally recommended it and said it's new and unique. So I went home and watched it immediately. And then I said in my then dark and dingy apartment for 30 minutes, in utter silence.

There was no plot twist, and no surprise ending, no Mr. M Night's heavy handed gimmicks and Hollywood's camera tricks. But from the beginning to the end, for full 2 hours, you can cut the tension with a knife. In the end, you still don't want it to end. The story goes on in your mind, questions, bits and pieces start to put together, characters start to take shape even after the movie ended.

In my entire life, I've never seen a movie that there isn't a single excessive frame, until I saw this movie. It has forever changed my expectation on crime drama.

The story is genius and simple enough. A mole in police department working against an undercover cop in drug trafficking mafia. They don't know each other's identity, so it is like a invisible tug war between the two competing against each other's wits. I won't reveal too much of it even though like I said, there's no plot twist.

It's a fairly popular movie that has generated huge buzz when it came out, and since been talked, compared and still highly regarded as unsurpassed by countless fans worldwide. It has an all star cast in Hong Kong cinema, and of course, the screenplay, the acting, the editing, the camera work and overall directing is flawless judging by all standards.

If you are adventurous enough to try even one Hong Kong movie, try this one.

Beautifully shot, cleverly constructed, humorous, dramatic, and humane. I never felt bored or rushed for a moment. Expect to have to concentrate on who is who, especially at the beginning, who is or might be on to whom and how, and what they might decide to do about it. Others have said that the two leads are excellent and I'm sure they're right, but I especially appreciated Eric Tsang as Sam.

It's elegant without being heartless. I felt the main characters' longing for truth in their lives, and the various different virtues, flaws, loyalties and motivations of many others too.

I was interested to see that virtually all the violence happens off-camera. It reminded me of 'authentic' productions of Classical Greek plays. Their plots often included murders, but violence was not permitted to be shown directly. A character would describe what had happened, and then a tableau of corpses would be revealed, on a wheeled wheels if I remember correctly from one production. Almost the same device is used in this film, and it's very effective when it's done well, as here.

The friend I went with would have liked to the female characters given bigger roles. Personally (I'm a woman myself, if it makes a difference) I don't care about that. I did notice, though, the way the female characters were used as symbols to represent the good and truthful side of life. It struck me, in connection with this, that sex and violence were being treated as opposites, whereas in many US films they are treated almost as two aspects of the same thing and as depending on one another, hardly existing independently. How many plots are driven by the kidnapping or other ill-treatment of the hero's wife/girlfriend/squeeze, so that the violence against her - whether she resists it violently or not - is used to justify and supposedly motivate the whole towering nonsense by virtue of her sexual relationship with the hero? It often seems that the villian's real offence is thought to be less assault on a person, than theft of property. And I wonder if, when the US remake appears, this tedious plot device will have crept in? But I digress - it was just an idea that occurred to me on the way home, and it tells you little about "Infernal Affairs", except that it may be one reason why I found this film refreshing.

An absorbing experience, and has made me more inclined to seek out Asian films in general, as well as films by the same director.

Most western viewers will only know the Asian crime scene from the bleak and lyrical canvas of Takeshi Kitano's work. Here we get something that at first seems far more westernized and very close to the work of one Michael Mann. Okay, enough allusions: yes "Heat" comes heavily to mind at first. but this is no simple "Heat" in Hong Kong. This a splicing of everything Asians do best in a moody, stylish tension-based thriller. From the beautiful cinematography(reminiscent of Wong Kar-Way's films)- step forward visual consultant Christopher Doyle! - and music to the graceful ying-yang undertones (mirror-images are a key theme), the film's most heroic achievement lies in its leads and in the bold ending.

Hearing that this is being considered for a remake stateside comes as no big surprise, but how Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio could possibly compete against Andy Lau and Tony Leung evokes cynicism at best. Both leads are perfect. Lau's cold calculating intellect against Leung's anguished and tormented heart, complimentary opposites. There aren't enough words to commend this fresh, invigorating film with...

As cadets, Lau and Chan both show promise as police officers. However, Chan is removed from the training and send to be a long-term undercover in Sam's gang. However, unbeknownst to the police, Lau is also a long-term mole who is feeding information back to Sam. When Sam and police chief SP Wong both have their operations scuppered, each realises the other has a mole and sets out to uncover each. With each other's lives at risk, Lau and Chan must be the first to uncover the other.

I decided to see this after hearing good things about it but I was conscious that often foreign films can be given more leniency than Western films doing the same thing. After a slightly confusing opening few moments as characters settle down (not helped by using completely different actors for characters at late teens and late 20's - do people change that much?) the film immediately becomes gripping. The plot may well have the occasional hole and have unnecessary personal details (Lau's girlfriend and Chan's ex weren't really needed) but the central story is well written and told with such urgency that it is hard not to be totally engaged.

The film doesn't have many massive shoot outs or action scenes but it has a pretty consistent sense of tension that is enjoyable right up to a typical but impacting ending. The direction is stylish and only occasionally overuses the slow-mo jump cuts. It may owe more to American cinema than that of the Orient but it is still a very good film and I hope the inevitable remake will be as good.

The cast don't need to do that much apart from look intense and portray the tension of the story in a realistic fashion - something that they do well. At times the lead two actors are pushed out of this by the personal asides but they happily keep things on track. Both Lau and Leung play it very well - it never came down to good guy/bad guy and the audience was pretty well split. Wong is a solid officer while Tsang is good as Sam. Chen and Cheng may not have a great deal to do apart from slowing the film but they both look good doing it.

Overall this is a solidly enjoyable cop thriller, regardless of what country it comes from. It will eventually be remade I imagine and when it is I hope that it manages to retain it's consistent sense of tension, double-edged characters and a real tight hold on it's audience just as this did here.