Compared with He Si's review of "Infernal Affairs" from the general direction of Hong Kong police and gangster films!
Du Xianghai, who is known as Li Yi's royal film critic,'s film review is a more direct and in-depth interpretation of the film's content.
Of course, this is also because for a movie like "Infernal Affairs", you are not afraid of spoilers, because the real excitement of such a movie can only be deeply experienced when you actually watch the movie.
"How are you? Police!"
This is the title of Du Xianghai’s film review.
"Hong Kong Island police and gangster movies have become a genre. Over the years, the characteristics of Hong Kong Island police and gangster movies are that they have gangsterism and righteousness, and good and evil are at war, but good and evil are often indistinguishable!
"Infernal Affairs" undoubtedly inherits and further sublimates this feature of Hong Kong police and gangster films.
The beginning of the film quotes the 19th volume of the Nirvana Sutra: "The best of the eight hells is called the endless hell. It means suffering great suffering without interruption.
Hence the name! "
On the surface, it introduces the origin of the movie's title, and also implies that the protagonist of the movie walks between black and white, and is constantly undercover and tortured in life.
In fact, the title "Infernal Affairs" obviously has a profound meaning. Both identities should not belong to them. They almost live in an environment similar to endless hell, and they are afraid that others will reveal their identities in their dreams. In this world, what is the principle of life and the principle of being a human being?
There is no reincarnation in the endless hell, only eternal suffering, but the two protagonists in the film are seeking reincarnation.
To paraphrase a lyric from the film’s theme song: We are all constantly rushing and forgetting the way out!
Yes, they are all seeking reincarnation and liberation, but they don’t know that the more they seek, the deeper they fall!
Only death can provide relief, but in the face of death, who can be calm?
There are actually four people at the core of this story: Liu Jianming, Chen Yongren, Huang Zhicheng, and Han Chen.
Let’s look at them one by one. Each of them is a person suffering in eternal purgatory.
First of all, Liu Jianming, he can be said to be the person who embodies the core contradiction in the movie. He is the undercover agent arranged by Han Chen in the police force.
"I didn't have a choice before, now I want to be a good person!"
This line that left the deepest impression on me was what he said to Chen Yongren on the rooftop. I think it must have been what he said to himself countless times in his heart.
Liu Jianming has the moral dilemma at the heart of this movie. Liu Jianming doesn’t know what a good person is and what a bad person is. He is a person who wants to be a good person in his heart, but is forced to do bad things. So is he a good person?
Should we bear moral judgment for things we do when we have no choice in fate, things we are forced to do? The question of ethical dilemma, the conflict between "fate" and "choice", neither of which he could answer.
On the other hand, his inner struggle process also reflects the dilemma of his self-perception. "Unruly people, like him, get out of here. Does anyone want to change with him?" This sentence appears twice, He always answered "I want to switch with him" in his heart. Whether it was in the police academy or at the end of Chen Yongren's grave, it can be seen that his inner struggle has never been relieved. He wanted to become a "good person" from the beginning. ", broke away from the dilemma of self-awareness, even if he was buried in the building in the end, but the funny thing is that he didn't even get the chance to bear the punishment. In the end, he became the one who lived to the end. The movie ended with black screen subtitles: "Buddha said: Those who receive the Infinite Body will never die, and long life is the great calamity in the Infinite Hell."
Longevity is a catastrophe in the endless hell, and Liu Jianming has to endure the catastrophe of endless inner suffering every day he lives.
Let’s talk about Chen Yongren.
He is actually the purest person in the movie. He is a policeman. Even until his death, he still insists on finding his identity as a policeman.
"It was clearly agreed upon for three years, and three years later, another three years, and three years later, another three years. It's almost ten years, boss."
In most people's minds, Chen Yongren is a more impressive character than Liu Jianming.
In his words, he has almost forgotten whether he is a policeman or a young and Dangerous boy. He has been wearing a mask and playing the role of Young and Dangerous for nearly ten years. He cannot even tell the truth while sleeping. He can only tell the truth in Li Xin'er's psychological clinic. Only then did he dare to say to her with a little pride: "Actually, I am a policeman."
This policeman who couldn't sleep kept saying that I almost forgot whether he was a policeman or not. But when he pointed a gun at Liu Jianming on the rooftop, he said without hesitation: "I'm sorry, I'm a policeman." .”
But ever since he embarked on the path of undercover, he has no way back. Every day he can only worry about his identity being discovered and how to better obtain information for the police. The pressure is unimaginable. If he is not careful, he will... Life will be lost.
Sorry, I have no choice. I have been a young and Dangerous boy for nine years, but I still haven't forgotten that I am a policeman.
"Obviously I have walked all the way day and night, why haven't I arrived at the other side of my dream?" The most sympathetic person in the endless purgatory is this policeman who has never been a policeman for a day. He thinks he is a policeman, and he is real police.
Huang Zhicheng, this is a very special policeman.
I believe this is a controversial figure. He seems to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals!
On the surface, only Inspector Huang and a deceased principal know Chen Yongren's identity. Therefore, only Huang can decide whether Chen Yongren will be an undercover agent and when his identity will be restored. Regarding Chen Yongren, he exerted pressure, such as threatening to withdraw his files, while also playing tenderness cards, such as giving Chen a birthday gift-a watch to comfort him, which seemed to be calculated.
But in my opinion, this man is a righteous person, and he arranged the undercover agent just because a person in his position has no choice but to do it. Only when the gang disappears will society be peaceful. Maybe the method is not very bright, but the starting point is good. , this is an undeniable fact. As for giving Chen gifts, I don’t want to make malicious speculations. What he did was to win people’s hearts. As an undercover agent and a policeman, Chen Yongren’s identity is only known to Huang Zhicheng, so in this society, everyone When everyone thought that Chen Yongren was a bad person, only he could constantly remind Chen Yongren of his own identity. Only he could remember Chen Yongren's past. He watched him grow up little by little, and gradually became a gangster from a young gangster to a powerful subordinate of the gangster, so Huang Zhicheng's care for him was a kind of love from the heart of an elder, not a scheming.
He felt sorry for Chen Yongren and knew the pain he was suffering, but his identity and persistence made him have to do this.
"That policeman was tough. They arrested him and beat him for ten minutes. Ten minutes."
When Shaqiang said this, we can imagine why he is so stubborn?
After he met Chen Yongren, he left himself behind and chose to take the elevator to leave, leaving Chen Yongren to go first and was eventually killed. At this time, it is difficult to say that he did not do it for the purpose of protecting this nine-year undercover.
Therefore, he is a just policeman, because from beginning to end, he is doing what a policeman should do!
It can be said that Han Chen is a very key figure in this movie. Huang Zhicheng asked Chen Yongren to continue undercover in order to catch him.
Liu Jianming was trapped in the endless hell and could not escape.
Therefore, he is a starting point, but not the end. Han Chen is a very simple character, simply bad, a drug dealer, a murderer, a gangster, and a ruthless character. As soon as he entered the police station, he said to Superintendent Huang: "Have you seen Did anyone go to the funeral home to shake hands with the dead body?" But he didn't expect that the undercover agent he cultivated to enter the police station eventually betrayed him, and he was eventually killed by the undercover agent. The core contest between good and evil takes place between good and evil. Among people, a pure and greatest villain like him is actually not the focus of the battle between good and evil.
When Liu Jianming finally shot him to death in the underground garage, he said that he had chosen it himself. This is what he said to Liu Jianming many years ago. It is up to Liu Jianming to choose whether to enter the police station or not, but to be a gang boss is Han Chen's choice that has never changed.
For Liu Jianming, he no longer wanted to walk in the dark, so for Han Chen, he had to walk in the dark on the road he chose.
The tone of the whole movie is sad and heavy. No matter which character he is, he is shrouded in a tragic color. Infernal Affairs is the lowest level among the eighteen levels of hell. Anyone who is thrown into the eternal hell has no hope of liberation. In this group of people, we cannot find the hope of reincarnation, and can only struggle with them in the story.
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