"I had no choice before, now I want to choose to be a good person." After a long silence, a trembling voice pleaded.
Two people stood on the roof together, one was a gangster boy in suits and leather shoes, and the other was an undercover policeman with a shaggy beard. They faced each other, loaded with guns, and the air seemed to freeze.
Chen Yongren didn't even think about it: "I'm sorry, I am a policeman."
"Who knows?" A smile quickly slipped across Liu Jianming's face.
Chen Yongren stopped talking, took out his gun and aimed it at the opponent's forehead. He wanted to regain his identity as a policeman, avenge his superintendent, and marry his beloved girl. For some reason, a thousand threads of thought came to his mind at that moment.
"Bang!" A gunshot pierced the sky, and Chen Yongren collapsed, his eyes widened, and he refused to squint, and the blood scattered like ink. Liu Jianming couldn't believe his eyes, why? In the end, he still can't be a good person?
This is the scene with the most explosive acting and the climax of the plot in the movie "Infernal Affairs". Tow Wai Leung and Andy Lau, who played the two main protagonists, performed superbly and impeccably.
What kind of masterpiece is "Infernal Affairs"?
The audience gave it unprecedented praise, "The cow is here, he made all the actors reach the pinnacle", "The film that made the whole world admire Hong Kong movies again", "Infernal Affairs is the highest peak of Hong Kong movies, and it is the best of Hong Kong movies." Last glory".
Industry Honors It won the Grand Slam: 7 Golden Awards, 6 Golden Bauhinia Awards, 4 Chinese Film and Media Awards, 6 Golden Horse Awards, Japan Blue Ribbon Film Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Top 100 Best Chinese The 10 best movies in the history of movies and Chinese film...It can be said that the glory of the Chinese film industry in 2003 belonged to Infernal Affairs.
"Infernal Affairs"'s in-depth analysis of human nature, precise control of rhythm, and use of lens language have reached the highest level, which is an insurmountable peak in the Chinese film industry. The dislocation of identity and destiny of
tragic hero
was doomed from the beginning. Chen Yongren was originally a gangster in the police academy. Because of his background in the underworld, he was sent by the crime squad officer Huang Zhicheng to work as an undercover underworld criminal. For the next ten years, Chen Yongren became a gangster. In the next three years, he followed the drug king Han Chen and gradually obtained the opponent Trust.
At the same time, Liu Jianming, a gang member, received an order from the gang boss Han Chen to enter the police academy and become an undercover agent placed inside the police academy. Relying on the criminal information revealed by Han Chen, Liu Jianming was promoted step by step within the police station to the rank of senior inspector.
Through the intelligence provided by Chen Yongming, the police learned of the time and place of a Thai drug transaction. Unexpectedly, Liu Jianming revealed the arrest information to the gang, and the transaction failed. Both parties learned that there was an undercover agent in the team.
To ensure the personal safety of Chen Yongren, Superintendent Huang met with Chen Yongren and ordered him to end the undercover operation ahead of time. However, the secret meeting was leaked to Han Chen by Liu Jianming. Before they could meet, Supervisor Huang was dropped from the top floor by the gang and died on the spot.
Liu Jianming felt guilty for the death of Superintendent Huang and feared that Han Chen would reveal his identity, so he teamed up with Chen Yongren to solve Han Chen. In the end, Liu Jianming shot and killed Han Chen himself. During the cooperation, the two learned that the other party was an undercover agent.
Chen Yongren made an appointment with Liu Jian to meet tomorrow, preparing to arrest Liu, but unfortunately he was shot and killed by another undercover gang, Lin Guoping. Liu Jianming took the opportunity to kill Lin Guoping and blamed him on all the guilt, successfully whitening the criminal gang case.
Six months after Chen Yongren's death, psychiatrist Li Xiner accidentally learned of his police identity. Chen Yongren successfully recovered his identity and was buried next to the tombstone of Superintendent Huang Zhicheng.
In this movie on the theme of exchanging identities, the boundary between good and evil is blurred, and each character is in a moral gray area.
Although Chen Yongren is committed to justice, his ten-year gang life has emptied his soul, stealing, robbery, drug trafficking, doing all kinds of evil, and living with fear all day long, living cautiously, unable to live a normal love life. He is more like a frustrated and decadent marginal man than a stalwart policeman. The irony of
is that his purpose of doing evil is to eradicate gangs. In order to achieve the so-called bright goal, is unscrupulous is defined as good or evil? This is an unsolvable question that the director throws to the audience. Such a philosophical question of human nature adds a lot of aftertaste to the film.
In addition to the fierce battle between the good and evil, the film is also profiledThe heroes of Chen Yongren and Police Superintendent Huang cherish each other, the silly brother of the gangster brother, the love of his ex-girlfriend, and the music with his mortal enemy Liu Jianming.
Therefore, although Chen Yongren's fate and circumstances are tragic, his background is warm, and his character core is full of romance and idealism. In addition, Tony Leung's melancholy and confused temperament coincides with the character, adding a bit of tragic heroic color to Chen Yongren.
Hell on earth
Another protagonist of the film, Liu Jianming, is more complicated. He is really an undercover gang, betraying police intelligence, and collaborating with drug cartels, causing countless big mistakes.
But after many years of police life, he has become increasingly accustomed to today's senior executive titles and a safe and stable life. Until the end of the film, he was still wandering between being a good person or a bad person, anxious about his values and identity.
Liu Jianming’s mind can be summed up in the classic line, “I didn’t have a choice before, I now want to choose to be a good person.” In Liu Jianming’s view, all evil acts are forced to be helpless, but he ignores his subjectiveness in the objective environment. initiative.
In fact, he has many choices. He can choose to surrender and bear the blame in the past, or leave the police station and give up the life of a double-faced person.
He chose to stay in the police station as an undercover agent and enjoy the life of being promoted and nominated. He leaked Huang Zhicheng’s whereabouts and indirectly caused the death of Police Officer Huang. Not only was he not a righteous person, he was not even judged by the standards of the underworld. Unrighteous and loyal to speak of, hand-tough mentor Han Chen, blamed brother Lin Guoping.
deceives his master and destroys his ancestors and planted his family. For the benefit and self-protection, he can give up any bottom line and principles. From the development of the plot and the cause of death of the characters, Liu Jianming can be described as the well-deserved first villain.
From beginning to end, positive figures stick to their beliefs, abide by laws and procedural justice, and do not harm the interests or lives of others. On the other hand, Liu Jianming’s starting point for his actions is cowardice and greed. To be a good person or a bad person, in the final analysis, is determined by behavior, not by thought. The "good person" in Liu Jianming's mouth is just a fake slogan, and he can only be A bad guy under the banner of a good guy. The theme of the film
borrows from the Buddhist philosophy of "infinite hell", which is clearly stated at the beginning and at the end. "The nineteenth volume of the "Nirvana Sutra": the highest of the eight hells, called the infinite hell, is It means to suffer great suffering without interruption, hence the name.
Infinite Hell is the Hell of Abi, which is the most bitter among the eight great hells. Only the most evil people will be thrown into the Infinite Hell. In the Infinite Hell, there will never be liberation. The hope of suffering is infinite suffering, infinite body, infinite in time, infinite in form. At the end of the
film, the topic is again "Buddha said: Those who are infinite will never die, and longevity is the catastrophe of infinite hell. "Since death is not a hell, then who is the one who has fallen into the hell and will never be liberated? There is only Liu Jianming, who is surviving.
The hell is not limited to the people in the play. Looking at the Hong Kong depicted in the play, it seems that it is also a huge one. The hell on earth. The thieves, drug dealers, and underworld all earn a lot of money. All are arrogant, law-abiding, and righteous in the world, but they are as insignificant as ants, sacrifice hastily, leaving a grave alone.
Infernal Affairs was released in 2003, and Hong Kong that year was extremely troubled. First, the economic downturn, the real estate downturn, and the delay in getting out of the haze of the Asian financial turmoil, all walks of life were unable to overcome the depression.
SARS is raging and people are at risk. In just three months, there are as many as 755 cases recorded, of which 299 people have died. The number of infections and deaths is the second highest in the world. In addition, Hong Kong's entertainment industry also lost Leslie Cheung. And Anita Mui, I don’t know if "Infernal Affairs" was brewing out of these social realities.
Conclusion:
Some people commented that ""Infernal Affairs" is the last glory of Hong Kong movies". This supreme compliment sounds a bit ironic. Meaning. After
"Infernal Affairs", Hong Kong has few masterpieces that shocked the film industry. What followed is the collective decline of Hong Kong movies, the trend of Hong Kong artists going northward, and Hong Kong in that golden age has ceased to exist.
