Talk:Infernal Affairs

Latest comment: 9 months ago by Micahnewman in topic Meaning of Chinese title


Creation-Investment

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"The Zhuang Cheng that Liu Weiqiang still is holding the psychology that tries finally to atlanto Asia entertainment sent the script, what unexpected are Zhuang Cheng and Lin Jianyue of company boss feel this double undercover film has a bright future"
This sentence is just not comprehensible.
213.142.184.246 (talk) 10:35, 14 June 2021 (UTC)Reply

Online Game

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When trying to find the films on yesaisa.com a while back I came across a product for sale referred to as "Infernal Affairs Game Card", I did a little searching and it looks like there is a pay to use Chinese only Infernal Affairs MMORPG running out of Hong Kong.

Anyone (perhaps someone who can read Chinese) want to finish my research and put something up about it in the article? AKLR 01:17, 3 October 2007 (UTC)Reply

Meaning of Chinese title

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I removed this from the article, because it is unsourced and dubious: "The Chinese title refers to Avici, the ultimate level of hell in Buddhism, and literally means "The Non-Stop Way"." The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism gives 无间地域 (Wujian Diyu) as an alternate name for Avici; this name translates roughly as "Endless Hell". On the other hand 無間道 (Wujian Dao) is a good thing, a meditative technique known in Pāli as anantarika-magga.—Nat Krause(Talk!) 23:32, 14 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

The name Avici means "non-stop" and is the name of the hell in question. I did cite my source, so it is neither dubious nor unsourced; perhaps you did not check the change history.
If you somehow missed my log in the change history, my source is the Japanese version of the official movie site which is still listed in External Links. So, because it is an official movie site, it is, at least pertaining to the movie in question, official word.
In case you actually went to the site and could not find my source, it is under "無間道とは" ("about the term '無間道'"). The third paragraph specifically states that the Avici hell (阿鼻地獄) is also called "無間地獄". Earlier in the paragraph it cites primary Buddhist literature stating that "阿" means "without" (無—remember that Sanskrit is an Indo-European language; this "A-" is just like English) and "鼻" (vi[ci]) means "stopping" (間), and explicitly states that the intended meaning of "無間道" in the film title means the "the lowest level of hell of the 8 greatest hells".
Two statements in the cited page establish beyond any doubt that 無間道 refers to the Avici Hell and not the "good way" you are thinking about; these are two quotations in Chinese pulled directly from the Buddhist scriptures, namely,
阿者言無,鼻者名間,為無時間,為無空間,為無量受業報之界。(I was thinking of a Japanese sentence later in the paragraph when I wrote my third paragraph above, but you can also say this could have been it.)
and
無間有三,時無間,空無間,受業無間,犯忤逆罪者永墮此界,盡受終極之無間。
There is also additional source I can cite, but it is completely in Chinese and is not online. Also, I want to find primary source instead of citing my secondary source. But if you really insist on citations beyond the official movie site, I will give you an ISBN or something. But I really cannot understand why you want something beyond what the official movie site says; IMHO, even if the movie producers are wrong, if they say it's what they mean, then it's what they mean.
In any case, even though I am supposed to have already quitted Wikipedia, I wish to also additionally point out that while the word "道" have the meaning of "Way" and is the usual meaning, it is the wrong meaning here. The correct meaning is "realm", usually given in dictionaries as "an ancient unit of political division, roughly corresponding to the modern province or state"; this rare meaning has all but disappeared from modern Chinese, but a vestige of this meaning can still be found in the Japanese place name "Hokkaidō", "Realm of the North Sea", maybe also in other ancient place names too that I don't know of. As to why the "realm" is used instead of the word "hell", I can only guess, but one very likely reason is that in Buddhism, "hell" is considered a "realm" (道) out of the 6 realms (some say 5) in the cycle of "transmigration".
The name Avici and 無間地獄 (not 域 as you quoted) are equivalent, and is the intended meaning of the movie's title 無間道; this is backed up by the official words in an official movie site, and I mentioned this in my change log. So I really cannot understand why you claim that it is dubious and unsourced.
Gniw (Wing) 03:43, 21 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

The Chinese version of the article does explain the Buddhist meaning of the title. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 07:25, 21 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

Hi, Gniw. I really didn't mean the above to demean your credibility or somesuch, and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I did not, in fact, see the source you gave—sources should really be listed in the article, and I failed to notice it in your edit summary. It wouldn't have done me much good, anyway, since I don't read Japanese at all (I read Chinese quite poorly). I wanted to remove the passage from the article because I thought it was unsourced and dubious, but the source seems to be legit, so it should stay. I still think it's a strange title—I've yet to see any source showing that 無間道 ever referred to Avici prior to the titling of this movie, so it seems to be a new coinage—but this doesn't matter, because, as you say, "even if the movie producers are wrong, if they say it's what they mean, then it's what they mean." In any event, the article currently says 無間道 means "The Non-Stop Way", which is confusing at best, so we should change that.—Nat Krause(Talk!) 07:43, 23 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

Just let me say that I believe the above to be just a misunderstanding. Nothing malicious here, as far as I can tell. 202.20.5.206 09:42, 24 November 2006 (UTC)Reply

According to my browser plug-in pop-up Chinese dictionary, 無間 means "very close, no gap, hard to separate, indistinguishable." Because this fits with the theme of the movie, as the two main characters feel unsure whether they are really cops or criminals. So that, plus the Buddhist term for "hell" may constitute a double entendre. Micahnewman (talk) 05:21, 4 February 2024 (UTC)Reply

Story

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"As he and Ming enter the lift going down to the lobby, Ming shoots him dead thus ensuring his identity to be remained a secret." It could be that he shot him to ensure his identity remained secret, but it could also be that he shot him because he was upset that he shot Yan because he felt that Yan was a righteous man, and that he deserved to get arrested. -- Frap 23:12, 23 January 2007 (UTC)Reply


I agree, I always felt Ming really did want to do the right thing by Yan at that point. I feel he shot the mole/police officer both out of anger and also because he seemed quite sleazy and clingy towards Ming. 121.44.67.25 (talk) 13:26, 29 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Corrections

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-New Correction 7/9/16. Although every site refers to the character as "Chan" it is in fact "Chen". Don't believe me? Here's proof taken from the movie itself: Chen picture in credits — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:E000:7C4A:8100:ACB7:E364:16D8:BC13 (talk) 22:10, 9 July 2016 (UTC)Reply

Removed the following from the Trivia section:

As Ming (Andy Lau) exits the lift in the penultimate scene, one of the police officers waiting for the doors to open is holding a firearm awkwardly without his finger even remotely close to the trigger.

This is actually not an error on the actor's part. Police officers are trained not to put their fingers on the trigger when confronting hostilities to avoid accidentally firing the gun. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with this scene.

Fair use rationale for Image:InfernalAffairs.jpg

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Image:InfernalAffairs.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 14:33, 2 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

Excellent HK Flic, Hollywood Remake Not Up To Par

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I am surprised that there are no comparisons to the two movies here in talk page. The trilogy of IA is excellent series. But renowned director Martin Scorsese's Hollywood remake was not up to par, I thought. I commend Scorsese for acknowledging Infernal Affairs and Andrew Lau in his Academy Award acceptance speech. I found not enough contrast in the two leads Di Caprio & Damon as with Andy Lau & Tony Leung. Di Caprio and Damon appeared more to be boys than men like Lau and Leung. It is too bad when Academy Awards finally acknowledge the talents and contributions of Martin Scorsese, it is for remake of HK movie. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LiShihKai (talkcontribs) 21:02, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Reply

無間道III終極無間小說, etc., etc.

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Need I remind editors that this is English Wikipedia? If, as in this article, the subject under discussion is a Chinese work, by all means cite the original Chinese names for them -- but include translations into English, too, for every title given in the original. Thankyou.

Nuttyskin (talk) 02:50, 21 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

"2. Hong Kong films incorporate a lot of dramatic elements."

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What dramatic elements? Did Infernal Affairs not have any? Subsequent Hong Kong films didn't have any as well? Paying attention to plot and picture means not incorporating dramatic elements? This statement is very vague. 143.44.196.37 (talk) 13:55, 24 August 2023 (UTC)Reply