I'd guess that many Hong Kong moviegoers applauded Infernal Affairs much more than the Hollywood adaptation, The Departed, even though the latter scooped a few Oscar awards. That's not only because actors Andy Lau Tak-wah and Tony Leung Chiu-wai are Hong Kong icons. They acted out the true feelings of Hongkongers: often perplexed, sometimes saddened, but always living their lives as fully as possible in an ever-changing world.
Newly released documents suggest that British officials pondered returning Hong Kong to China in the 1960s. And a mainland official said last week that Beijing, not Britain, first proposed universal suffrage for Hong Kong, during negotiations in the 1980s. Hong Kong's political story never quite becomes crystal clear: accounts always seem to fall somewhere between black and white, just like the cop-mob movie.
Think about the magic word 'accountability' - in the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the handover - which supposedly denoted Hong Kong's executive-legislative relations after 1997. Had it been defined in plain terms, a lot of controversy would have been avoided. The same goes for the unspecified steps to universal suffrage: if that had been lucidly mapped out in the Basic Law, much post-handover politicking would not have occurred.
In the movie, Leung's character wanted to finish his undercover assignment as quickly as possible and return to a normal life. But life wasn't that simple, no matter how much he wanted it to be.
Compelled by historical circumstances, London and Beijing had strong incentives to compromise on a liberal constitutional package for Hong Kong. But, as in many diplomatic accords, compromise could only be achieved when there was enough room for diverse interpretations and different purposes.
Hongkongers inherited that situation, stepping into a political conundrum whose answers have been heatedly disputed ever since. Leung's thoughtful and sorrowful face was a testimony to his own misery - but also to this regrettable state of affairs in the real Hong Kong.
