INFERNAL AFFAIRS
Hong Kong, 2002, 98 minutes, Colour.
Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong.
Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.
A huge success in its native Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs has so impressed audiences around the world that the Hollywood version went immediately into pre-production. It also led to two sequels.
Over the years, the Hong Kong film industry has shown great flair in making police thrillers. They have usually involved sinister dealings with the triads and drug smuggling, police going undercover, gang warfare on the streets, unmaskings and violent confrontations. Quentin Tarantino acknowledges his debt to films like City on Fire for his take on Reservoir Dogs. Infernal Affairs will bolster Hong Kong's reputation for developing this genre.
It is very stylishly photographed creating an impressive difference between the shadowy world of the gangs and the bright, crisp world of the police precincts. It is a much less violent film than its predecessors, concentrating, often in powerful close-ups, on its character portraits. The structure is interestingly symmetrical creating its own contrasting parallels leading to a sense of audience anticipation as to how the plot can resolve itself.
Two young men are asked by their bosses to infiltrate organisations. One is a police cadet who is publicly dismissed but who goes undercover for ten years. He is weary of such a life and wants to get out. The other is a triad member who infiltrates the police force, is continually in contact with his boss and is commissioned to find out who the mole is amongst the gang members. Cat and mouse is the phrase usually trotted out to describe the interactions - and it is as good as any other to describe the action and the tension leading to what was, for me, a surprising ending.
Andy Lau as the mole in the police force is suavely believable, but it is Tony Leung who has the better part and performance as the earnest but weary cop trapped in the hell of ten years of undercover life.
1. Hong Kong's reputation for police thrillers? Portraits of gangsters? Undercover police? This film in the tradition? Moving beyond it?
2. The Hong Kong settings, the modern city, the landscapes, the buildings, the precincts? The water and the island? The importance of the city as a context for the action? The dramatic musical score?
3. The title, the reference to Hell, Buddhist interpretations of the continuous hell? The play on Internal Affairs and the investigations of the police?
4. The opening, the black and white flashbacks, Sam and his exhorting his new young men to work as brothers for his gang, to infiltrate the police? The contrast with the police cadets, their training, the suspending of Yan and his being sent away? Ming and his becoming the undercover cadet? Yan and his becoming the undercover triad member? The setting up of parallels with the characters, a symmetry in the action?
5. Yan, his character, appearance, world-weariness? Working for ten years in the triads? Three years for Sam? His meetings with Superintendent Wong, their secrecy? His working in the equipment shop, the irony of his selling equipment to Ming? His wanting to get out? His psychological examination, the sessions, his going to sleep? His attraction towards Dr Lee, dreaming of her? His being trusted by Sam, his being commissioned to find out who was the police informant? His following him to the cinema, seeing the mannerisms but not the face? His continued work, information about the drug haul? His going to the masseur, being absent from the shootout, his shock at the death of Superintendent Wong, his being driven away by Keung, giving the information? His covering his tracks, getting in touch with Ming, the irony of his giving the information, its being used by Ming for his advancement? His going to Ming's office, discovering the folder, the truth? The phone call, the meeting, the irony of the other undercover policeman and the surprise shooting of Yan in the elevator? The formality of his funeral, his rehabilitation? Ming and his saluting him at the end? Portrait of a loner, a man given a very difficult job, the glimpse of his relationship with his girlfriend, the child being his or not? His losing all this, the girl and the child being at his funeral?
6. Ming, his work as a policeman, his being the contact, phoning Sam, meeting him, in the cinema, knowing he was being followed? His promotion by Wong, to find out who was the informant? The contacts with Sam, sending the police to follow Wong, being responsible for his murder? His being shunned by Internal Affairs? His decision to use the information from Yan, the raid, the drug haul, his chasing Sam and shooting him in cold blood, remembering Sam's words about people having to die so that Caesar could be head? The discovery that Yan was the mole, their discussion? His realising that Yan knew his identity, the meeting, his discovery of the other member of the police force, the shooting of Yan, his shooting the policeman? His being applauded by the fellow officers? His hypocrisy at the funeral, fulfilment of ambitions?
7. Superintendent Wong, the difficulty of undercover police, the contacts, the passing of the years? His being killed?
8. Sam, his confidence, his clubs, their gaudiness, his gangs and their brotherhood, knowing that there was a mole, the contacts with Ming? The final haul, his fear, pursued and killed by Ming?
9. The women: the young woman, her love for Yan, the child? Their meeting and his meeting the child? Her bringing him to the funeral? Mary, writing her novel, engaged to Ming? Dr Lee, the sessions, her rescuing Yan, her love for him?
10. The style of the film, visuals, close-ups, panoramas, action sequences and editing?
11. Police themes, the Hong Kong situation, triads, gangsters, undercover police work, moles in the police force? The pessimistic ending?
