The Departed vs. Infernal Affairs

The Departed vs. Infernal Affairs


Martin Scorsese fans worldwide eagerly anticipated the recent release of The Departed, but perhaps none more so than those located in Hong Kong. The Departed is a re-make of a local hit film Infernal Affairs, which incidentally, features ClotÂ's very own Edison Chen in one of its sequels.

Why the excitement? It is the circumstances of the remake that is unusual. East Asian cinema has had numerous remakes, usually from Japanese cinema with much documented remakes of Seven Samurai and Yojimbo into spaghetti westerns: Magnificent Seven and Fistful of Dollars respectively. More recently Japanese horror films like The Ring and The Grudge have been given the Hollywood treatment, and on these occasions, not even changing their names.



However for Hong Kong cinema, an American remake is a first. In addition, it has been given the full works. Initiated by Plan B productions, co-owned by Brad Pitt, the filmÂ's cast included heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin. The greatest coup however was to persuade Martin Scorsese to direct this film, who is without doubt one of the few living masters of cinema. The original Hong Kong scriptwriters and Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau would have been pinching themselves at first.

Hong Kong cinema has been through many movements and changes since its inception in 1909. Internationally, it is mostly widely known for its action genre, the Shaw Brothers martial arts epics of the 1960s, and the violent blood fests of Golden Harvest dominated films of the 1970-80s. Icons of these times such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chow Yan Fatt have been known not only by cult cinema enthusiasts outside of region, but by everyone and their grandmothers. However, by the 1990s the heydays were over, an unprecedented economic depression forced a wholesale decline in ticket sales, a decline that continues even today.

Infernal Affairs is part of a new wave in Hong Kong cinema. One film scholar Justin Wyatt calls it Â'high concept filmmakingÂ' - a move away from Â'assembly lineÂ' film production towards a more thought out process with more intense attention to details in writing, filming, performance and marketing.

Those who are inclined to appreciate The Departed fully and the direction Scorsese applied in his remake might find it useful to watch Infernal Affairs.

The Chinese title of Infernal Affairs Â"無間道Â" refers to the Buddhist state of hellish suffering, literally meaning Â'non stopping wayÂ', like in DanteÂ's Inferno a deep lying circle of hell reserved for the truly wicked. Here there is an implication that the lost soul continues perpetually on its way, no longer able to discern what is right and what is wrong. This is the underlying theme in LauÂ's original.



Scorsese picks up this religious motif and re-applies it by drawing a set of Christian references into his remake. In choosing to locate The Departed in a predominately Irish-American area of Boston, the central characters pick up a framework of Christian moral baggage effortlessly. Scorsese doesnÂ't stop at that, since he is never one to shy away from the high brow. In an early scene, NicholsonÂ's character, Frank Costello, gives a speech about gangland politics and uses a term Â"Non ServiamÂ". This is taken from James JoyceÂ's novel A Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Man, where none other than Satan uttered those words to God in defiance. A murderous gangster swotting up on James Joyce, we might ask? A bit far fetched, but weÂ'll let Scorsese off as itÂ's deep!

Another point of comparison is characterisation: Scorsese pays noticeably more detail to this than Lau does in the original. When WahlbergÂ's Agent Joyce (!), grills Costigan (DiCaprio) about his past, it serves the main purpose of filling in the audience. LauÂ's device in the original was to have Yan (Tony Leung) bump into an ex-girlfriend with an is-it-or-is-it-not-mine child? ScorseseÂ's method is brasher and also allows the dialogue to become vastly more colourful. LauÂ's device is more subtle and brooding. Arguably these particular approaches are the main differences throughout the two films.

Two highly charged psychological thrillers placed within a Â'cops as robbers versus robbers as copsÂ' scenario. The remake relies more on directness, detail and outward explosiveness. The original is biased towards a more subtle and nuanced method of storytelling and performance. Although there are flaws in both films it is safe to say they are greatly outnumbered by positives in each.

The inevitable question is which one is better? Andrew LauÂ's confident reply when interviewed by Apple Daily (a Hong Kong tabloid) was:

Â"Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture.Â"

The answer is open to debate. Perhaps readers who have seen both could post your opinions in the comments section below?

However, a couple things are now more certain, Hong Kong cinema is back on the rise as a global force, and Brad Pitt is perhaps not as dumb as he looks.>