Protest in Guangzhou: Why would you burn garbage?
Obama in China: Long gone, and still headlinin'
Barbie Spa: For the cosmopolitan plastic beauty in you
Interview: Coco Zhao, from jazz to M. Butterfly
Week Around the Ists
Officially, at least. Although anyone in Shanghai who wanted to see The Departed already has seen it on a pretty high-quality DVD, news outlets are reporting that the movie will never be shown in China's theaters. Here are the reasons according to one anonymous government source:
"There is no chance The Departed will be shown in mainland cinemas because the US side declined to change a plot line describing how Beijing wanted to buy advanced military computer hardware," said one source."That part of the plot is definitely unnecessary," added the source, who asked not to be identified as he does not have permission to speak to the foreign media.
"The regulators just cannot understand why the movie wanted to involve China. They can talk about Iran or Iraq or whatever, but there's no reason to get China in," added the source, who is close to the country's movie regulator.
Here's more from E! Online:
The scene in question involves Nicholson's gangland boss, Frank Costello, and his henchmen, among them DiCaprio's Billy Costigan (aka The Rat). They meet in a Boston warehouse with a group of gun-toting secret agents working for Chinese authorities who hand over a suitcase full of cash in exchange for advanced computer chip technology.
OK, so you are going to ban The Departed from Chinese theaters. Whatever. No one can stop you. Why not come up with some better reasons? They may not be truthful, but at least you'll be masking your paranoid inferiority complex from the rest of the outside (and obviously anti-China) world. Here are some options:
- We are banning The Departed from China because we thought Jack Nicholson's attempt at a Boston accent was laughable.
- We are banning The Departed from China because it makes America look like a corrupt place run by criminal networks. As an ally, China couldn't support this notion.
- We are banning The Departed from China because we don't stand for pap Hollywood endings.
- We are banning The Departed from China because Scorsese totally did away the character played by Elva Xiao in the original. Doing so made us question what, if any, value she added to Infernal Affairs. This made us uncomfortable, because we are huge fans of Elva Xiao.
- We are banning The Departed from China because of that final shot, the one that focused on the rat scurrying on the ledge outside. Complete shite.
Note to censors: If you must ban The Departed, it's only fair that you re-release Infernal Affairs on the big screen. It's the right thing to do (and we haven't seen it in the theater yet).
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Are you guys insane?
The Departed was WAY better then Infernal Affairs!
Give Scorsese finally an Acadamy Award for it, he f*cking deserves it!
I actually liked The Departed, Jakob.
That was just fictitious government censors saying those bad things.
Jakob,
ANY remake loses points for lack of originality, in my opinion. The Departed is a great film, but Infernal Affairs will always be better because it was an original concept. It has its faults, but I liked how they avoided the Hollywood ending that Scorsese couldn't resist. Maybe he deserves an Oscar, but he didn't make a better film than Andrew Lau.
*** PLOT SPOILER ***
The offending scene is DEFINITELY necessary as it is the first time that Matt Damon is definitely shown to be the dirty cop. Admittely, I never saw the HK version, but I must say that the adapted script is brilliant... reads like Mamet.
skyboxxx, do you mean the Hollywood ending, or the Chinese government arms dealers scene? Neither one is the first time Matt Damon is shown to be a dirty cop. We know from the moment Jack Nicholson's character meets him as a young boy (buying his complicity for some groceries). And it is further reinforced various times before the arms deal or his final demise.
Do you mean it is the first time the police realize there is indeed a dirty cop among them?
I like how their criticism that using Chinese arms dealers as a sterotype was to argue that they should have used other sterotypes (Iraqi or Iranian arms dealers)instead.
But what do you expect from the people who banned Mission Impossible III because it showed scenes of hanging laundry that defamed the image of a modern Shanghai (where of course no one hangs launry outside)?
At least Hollywood gets some credit for not backing down and calling "bad China" "bad China".
Looks like China got the micro-chip technology anyway judging by the satellite they just shot down. So no reason to ban the film.
I do believe that the arms-dealing scene is the first time that the actor Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is actually shown to be directly cooperating with the Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson) gang and it is the first irrevokable, positive proof of his character's complicity, as he tips off the gang members with a text message. If you know another, earlier scene, do tell.
Regardles, I guess the whole thing is a litte too close to home for the Chinese censors!!!
...That's the charactor Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon).
...or 'character', if you insist on correct spelling.
Well, aside from the grocery store "bribe" and education as a young boy, he receives a gift from Costello the moment he graduates from the police academy. A few minutes later in the movie, immediately after he meets his girlfriend in the elevator, he speaks to Costello on the phone and gives him information about the surveillance van following him.
The arms dealing scene is still crucial, but it isn't the first time we are made to be clearly aware he's in bed with Costello.
Okay, whether it is the first time or not is really academic. The important question is, why is the scene essential to the movie?
I think the answer to that is that the scene shows the extremity of Sullivan's allegiance with Costello. Not only does Sullivan betray his friends, colleagues, community, and professional duty, but this scene shows that Sullivan is willing to betray his country -- to act as an accomplice to treason -- to protect Costello.
My biggest issue with the scene in question is the fact that the Chinese arms dealers are speaking Cantonese... and not only that, but it's kind of crappy Cantonese (or else some similar dialect that I'm not familliar with, in which case I'm blushing). In my estimation, the only governments who might be interested in arms include Taiwan (who just get the stuff direct from the US gov't anyway) and Beijing, neither of which are Cantonese-speaking areas. I know Cantonese speakers are easier to come by in LA, but I'm sure there are some Mandarin speakers looking for bit parts too. And the least they could do was pick someone who spoke better Cantonese.
@epay I cannot speak to the accents, but it is simply not true that Cantonese are disinterested in conducting military espionage, as the recent Mak family case proves.
epay, I agree that it would have made the most sense to have the representatives of the Chinese government speak Mandarin, particularly because they were speaking through an interpreter. However, why would they necessarily only speak Mandarin? It is not outside the realm of possibility that a group of Chinese government officials from Guangdong would be making the buy, in which case they might speak Cantonese. I live in Shanghai and find that when Shanghainese congregate they are just as likely, if not more so, to speak in Shanghainese. Would this not apply to a group of any other Chinese dialect speakers? Anyway, shouldn't we be suspending disbelief to enjoy any movie?
I speak Mandarin, not Cantonese, but I've heard enough Cantonese to also guess that could be what they're speaking (it sounds slightly off to me too, somehow). Can anyone confirm what language/dialect they are speaking?
No. Let it go ... If you really REALLY want to analyse accents then analyse the collection of mish-mash Boston accents.
No-one, and I mean no-one, is allowed to say a bad word about China. Ever. We wont allow it. Though we aren't quite sure why...
Pa-----THETICCCCCCC!!!
re above comment: well, it seems to me that just about everyone leaving comments on this blog is bad mouthing China.
There's a lot to complain about in China, but it also is a catch-all complaint for every other kind of frustration. Very easy to pin the blame on things you don't necessarily understand.
Girlfriend in a bad mood -- damn Chinese!
Too much stress at work -- damn Chinese!
Can't get a good table -- damn Chinese!
Hit by a snot rocket -- well, there must be some legitimacy in it!
Expat life is tough, but you can always blame the locals, especially when they are so blamable!