The Departed vs.

Infernal Affairs

The Departed, a film directed by Martin Scorsese, won an Oscar for Best
Picture, as well as 3 other Academy Awards. The story however, is based on
a 2002 Hong Kong film directed by Wai-keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak, Mou
gaan dou; better known to us as Infernal Affairs. The similarities between
these two crime/drama/thrillers are great. In The Departed, director Martin
Scorsese takes the story into his own style of storytelling, but the adaptation
of the screenplay originally written by director Siu Fai Mak and Felix Chong is
almost identical to the screenplay by William Monahan adapted for The
Departed. The key overall difference between the two films can be attributed
to their setting. Infernal Affairs, based in Hong Kong, was adapted or
“Americanized” to fit our American customs and situations, namely the
situation in south Boston with the Irish mafia “some time ago.” Neither films
specify an exact historical era. There is an equivalent to most Infernal Affairs
characters in The Departed: you have the mole in the Hong Kong IAU
(internal affairs unit), Inspector Lau Kin Ming, played by Andy Lau, who is the
equivalent to Matt Damon’s role as the mole in the Boston State Police, Colin
Sullivan; there’re the undercover cops, Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung Chi
Shing) and William Costigan Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio); there’s the boss of the
Hong Kong mafia (the Triads), Hon Sam (Eric Tsang), and the Irish mafioso,
Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). The head of the Boston State Police is
Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), who is mirrored after SP Wong Chi Shing
(Anthony Wong Chau-Sang). There is no real equivalent to Mark Wahlberg’s
character, Staff Sgt. Dignam, but I’m glad they added him.

The two films share similar style and techniques, however it is easy to
distinguish Scorsese’s directing. Both films make good use of moving shots,
which only add to the liveliness of the action. The Departed has virtually no
special effects at all, using editing to only to cut and color correct. Infernal
Affairs is similar to that, but makes much more use of fast editing and
montage, using slight special effects for transitions and introducing key
characters, using a combination of freeze frame and a desaturation filter for
instance. Small effects are used in moderation throughout the film to add to
the movie’s overall intensity, and makes fast cuts with multiple angles to
create emphasis and a fast-paced feel in certain scenes. The overall style of
the films are fairly similar: predominant use of medium to long shots,
steadicam, tracking, and crane shots can be seen throughout both films.

Both films start relatively the same: the gang boss recruits new, young blood
to put through the academy to work as moles for them. Although Costello
recruits Sullivan at an earlier age than Sam, they both seem to be raising
workers for the same purpose (at the beginning, we see other kids in the car
shop with Colin, who can be expected to be there for the same reason), and
the stories each focus on Colin (Costello’s mole), Lau (Sam’s mole), Costigan
(State Police undercover), and Wing-Yan (IA undercover) and their training
through the police academy. In The Departed, the two characters don’t ever
interact until near the end of the movie; the only time they are even in the
same shot in the beginning is when Colin is leaving Queenan’s office and
passes Billy, who is waiting to see Dignam and Queenan. This could signify
their closeness within the department, letting us know that they work in the
same place, but never actually interacted. Infernal Affairs, however, does
interact the two characters (Lau and Wing-Yan) at the beginning, and uses
them for the development of the plot. We see Lau and Wing-Yan training in
the academy together, not interacting directly, but when Wing-Yan is kicked
out of the academy in front of the other cadets, Lau is among them, and
expresses his wishes to be in Wing-Yan’s place. About ten years later (still
the beginning of the film), Lau purchases a stereo from Wing-Yan, which
contributes to the end of the movie - the scene in which Lau’s girlfriend
discovers his secrets by playing the sample CD that the “stereo guy” left
when he tuned their new system (equivalent to Madolyn playing back Colin’s
recordings that Billy mailed on their hi-fi stereo system). Otherwise, each of
these two characters in both films interact indirectly with each other, but
have no idea how closely related they really are, which adds to the overall
irony of the situation. The two characters interact with each other as much
as possible without ever having direct contact. This is the idea that the
movie is based on: two moles working for opposing forces, are assigned to
find each other. They even use the same strategies; disinformation, following
the boss - “Follow Costello, you’ll find his mole.” - ect.

The basic premise of The Departed and Infernal Affairs is that there is a mole
in the department that is trying to bring down the mafia, who has placed an
undercover in their crew. Both sides come to realize the presence of a rat at
the same time. The undercover must now find out who the mole is, while the
mole tries to uncover the rat. “Lies. Betrayal. Sacrifice. How far will you take
it?” (The Departed IMDB profile, Tagline).

Billy Costigan and Chan Wing-Yan play the role of the undercover cop. They
have been “kicked out” of their departments one way or another, and only
exist to the captain. They have been undercover for much longer than they
expected (ten years for Wing-Yan, and about a year for Costigan), and are
“going fuckin nuts.” Billy has to see a shrink as part of his cover to make it
convincing that he was kicked out of the force, but Chan seems to be seeing
one because he’s been assigned to one because of misbehavior. Both appear
nonetheless to be in need of some psychiatric therapy, and begin to form
close relationships with their doctors. Billy and Chang encounter similar inner
and outer conflicts, which fall under two categories: man vs. man and man
vs. himself. Costigan and Yan are not only being forced to limit their outside
human contact (outside of their undercover lives that is) to a shrink, but
living as a different person for as long as a year or ten years could cause
psychological stress on a person, and clearly does. They are good people
being forced to watch innocent people die, and just have to go along with it.
They live in fear of being discovered, and take care of it in different ways -
Billy takes drugs, starting with his dead mother’s oxycontin prescription, and
gets lorazepam from the police psychiatrist, Madolyn. He is seen several
times popping pills in times of high stress and anxiety. Chang shows us his
inner conflicts in more subtle ways throughout the movie. Costigan and Yan
share the same outer conflict as well. There is a mole in their department,
and they must uncover the mole before the mole uncovers them. They are in
risk of being discovered as well, and the longer they take to bring down the
boss, the more their lives are at risk.

In The Departed, cinematography and sound are two key elements to the
themes of the film. Infernal Affairs, however, make more use of editing than
sound to achieve the same results. Cinematography is used in several ways
to motivate the key themes in each film: deception, betrayal, identity. The
Departed makes use of camera angles throughout the movie to suggest
various messages. When Colin has been assigned to find the mole in the
department (himself), he is talking to Captain Queenan in his office. Queenan
sits down, and the alternating shots on Colin and Queenan are looking up at
Sullivan, as to be in perspective from Queenan who is sitting down, but the
shot alternating on Queenan is not from Colin’s perspective, but rather at
eye level with the captain, so as to avoid looking down on him. The shot
looking up at Colin could be used as Queenan’s perspective, as well as an
indication of Colin’s recent promotion. Using the same concept for Queenan’s
shot, however, would have a negative effect, because it would cause the
audience to look down upon the good guy, so a neutral angle is used, putting
us on Queenan’s level. While both The Departed and Infernal Affairs make
great use of moving shots, Scorsese uses them more subtly than Lau and
Mak, who tend to use the steadicam to liven each scene of Infernal Affairs.
More tracking and crane shots are used in The Departed, some barely
noticeable, giving each scene just the right amount of movement, and only
using fast moving camera shots in fast paced scenes or high tension. Angles
are also used to reflect the mood of the action. In The Departed, skewed
angles are used to reflect the discomfort and anxiety when Costigan and
Queenan have been traced and are trying to escape the clutches of the Irish
mafia as they close in on the rat (Costigan). Then when the gangsters
confront Queenan, the camera quickly moves in on Queenan as he responds,
contributing to the rising tension. This, with the music, help us understand
that he is done for before we even see him fall from the building. The same
technique is used in the same scene of Infernal Affairs, when the thugs come
up in the elevator, and SP Shing waits for them. While Infernal Affairs takes
advantage of editing to enhance the mood, The Departed relies mostly on
the director and director of photography to manipulate the audience’s
emotions. Coupled with minor ambient sound effects and “swooshes,”
transitions and minor editing techniques are used to create emphasis in
various parts of the film, like when introducing the key players of the film, in
conjunction with a montage, or as a pace-keeping tool, to help speed up
slow-moving scenes. Slow motion is used in some parts to help in creating
drama, namely when SP Wong Chi Shing dies, and the Triads enter a
gunfight with the police. The slow motion and sad music, the same soothing
song played at the beginning when Chan sells Lau the stereo, keeps viewers
focused on Chan, reminding us of his anguish as he enters a flashback-like
sequence of memories of Shing in black and white, which is a commonly
used filter in the film.

These techniques combine to make these two movies what they are. The
screenplay and dialogue is only half of the movie; it’s up to the filmmakers to
use their tools to tell the story, which can easily be destroyed by wrong
angles, bad cuts, or unfitting music. If each of these elements don’t match
the intended mood, they would contradict the style of acting and writing, and
wouldn’t convey the intended message. The angles, cuts, and choice of
sound are perhaps even more crucial to the overall flow of the film. The
Departed would be nothing without its music, and it is apparent that each
and every pause, edit, and song, in the score had a purpose, and just
seemed to buffer the action and transitions of the entire movie. Everything is
just fluent, and it is obvious that the sound is responsible.

The end of each film is almost exactly the same. . . Until the very end of The
Departed. The Departed takes the ending of Infernal Affairs, and adds to it,
answering any lingering questions, and providing a bit more closure, if you
could call it that (I’m not sure everyone dying is really closure, but it is a
conclusion). The first part of the endings are identical: the mole kills the mob
boss, gets recognition, appreciation, and respect, and returns to his office to
find the undercover waiting for him. The undercover spots the envelope
(labled “CITIZINS CITIZENS” in The Departed, and some Chinese word
translating to “Body Guard” in Infernal Affairs) on the mole’s desk, and later
sends the mole evidence against him to let him know he’s screwed. They
meet on a rooftop, and the undercover arrests him. The undercover is shot
by another mole, who says they have to look after each other. The mole
shoots him in the head. The ending of Infernal Affairs could have to do with
religion, quoting Buddha: “He who is in continuous Hell never dies. Longevity
is a big hardship in continuous Hell.” So Lau doesn’t die. The movie implies
that he lives and suffers more than he could in death. In The Departed,
however, Colin says near the end, “I dreamt I was dead.” Madolyn replies,
“Death is hard. Life is much easier.” This could have some connection to
Colin’s death at the end of the movie, or be in contradiction to the ideas
proposed by Infernal Affairs. The ending of The Departed was quite
paradoxical, nonetheless, with the shot resting on the view of Beacon Hill, as
a rat crawls across the balcony railing. The plots of both films were overall
paradoxical, with the overarching theme of identity. “Without hitting you
over the head with the obvious truth that realities are malleable, the film
manages to weave this concept through all of its plot threads.” (Passion of
the Weiss, passionweiss.com). Themes of deception, self-deception, betrayal,
and sheer irony uphold the principles and ideas of the stories.
 Works Cited

Siu Fai Mak and Felix Chong. Infernal Affairs. 2002, Hong Kong

William Monohan, Siu Fai Mak, and Felix Chong. The Departed. 2006, United
States

The Departed IMDB profile

http://imdb.com

Mou gaan dou IMDB profile

http://imdb.com

Jeff Weiss. The Departed: The Best Big Budget Hollywood Movie in Years.
2006, United States
Passion of the Weiss - http://passionweiss.com

Constantine Santas. Responding to Film: A Text Guide for Students of

Cinema Art. 2002, Chicago. Burnham Inc., Publishers.
Jack Gray April 21, 2008
Introduction to Film Film Analysis 3