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    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
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  • Walter's Blog.
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • About Walter
    • 1980 Joining Up - Grafton Street >
      • Arrival and First Impressions
      • First Week
      • Training
      • Passing Out
    • Yaumati Cowboy >
      • Getting on the Streets
      • Jumpers, pill poppers and the indoor BBQ
      • Tempo of the City
      • Into a Minefield.
    • Why Tango in Paris, when you can Foxtrot in Kowloon? >
      • Baptism By Fire
      • Kai Tak with Mrs Thatcher.
      • Home; The Boy Returns
  • 1984 - 1986
    • PTU Instructor & Getting Hitched
    • Having a go: SDU
    • Starting a Chernobyl family
    • EOD - Don't touch anything
    • Semen Stains and the rules
  • 1987 to 1992 - Should I Stay or Go?
    • Blue Lights, Sirens & Grenades
    • Drugs, Broken Kids & A Plane Crash
    • 600 Happy Meals Please!
    • Hong Kong's Best Insurance
    • Riding the Iron Horse
  • Crime in Hong Kong
    • Falling Crime Rates - Why?
    • Triads
    • The Saga That Rocked Hong Kong's Legal Fraternity
  • History of Hong Kong Policing
    • History 1841 to 1941
    • History 1945 to 1967
    • Anatomy of the 50 cent Riot - 1966
    • The Fall of a Commissioner.
    • History 1967 to 1980
    • Three Wise Men from the West
    • The Blue Berets.
    • The African Korps and other tribes.
    • Getting About - Transport.
    • A Pub in every station
    • Bullshit Bingo & Meetings
    • Godber - The one who nearly got away.
    • Uncle Ho
  • Top 20 Films
    • 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
    • The Godfather.
    • Blade Runner
    • Kes
    • Star Wars
    • Aliens
    • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    • The Life of Brian
    • Dr Strangelove.
    • Infernal Affairs
    • Bridge on the River Kwai.
    • This Is Spinal Tap.
    • Chung King Express
    • An Officer and a Gentleman
    • PTU
    • Contact
    • Saving Private Ryan
    • Family Guy Star Wars
    • Zulu
    • Hard Day's Night
  • The Long Read
    • The Big Game
    • The Hidden Leader
    • How The Walls Come Down
    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
    • New World Order - Something is going on!
    • British Policing - What's to be done?
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Infernal Affairs

Picture
The first Hong Kong film on the list. Sometimes confused as ‘Internal Affairs’ this 2002 spawned the Hollywood copy. ‘The Departed’ directed by Martin Scorsese is less ambiguous. Thus for me, the original is superior.  It exploits better cinematography, builds the tensions and is obscure in its ending. Scorsese dumbs down the whole thing drawing clear black and white lines. Jack Nicholson's turn as the gangster also detracts. His performance is comical, reminiscent of 'Batman's' Joker. Having said that, for the China market the ending was less imprecise. 

Both the Hong Kong Police and a triad gang place moles in the organisation of the other. Inspector Lau is the mole in the police, whilst Chen is a police mole in the triad. Over a 10-year period, the work of these two plays out in a series of raids, arrests and dark deceptions. The twists and turns are too elaborate to cover here. Except to say each side realises they have a mole with the race on to identify the person. Chen suffers terrible stress from his undercover role. He starts to exhibit signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Meanwhile, over time Lau decides to end his career as a mole. He seeks to eliminate his triad boss and cover his tracks by deleting records. The question remains is he turning over a new leaf or is some other plot unfolding. He succeeds only to have Chen discover his true identity. 

There is a subplot involving romantic interests plus a fair amount of heartbreak. Besides a few minor errors, the settings and police procedural elements are accurate. Although the timings and pace are accelerated for dramatic purposes. 

I won’t tell you the ending. It’s dramatic. Right up to the last seconds the convolutions play out with tight editing adding to the impact. I had to go back for several viewing before all the links fell into place. 


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