Some movies belong to another culture, and are just what you are not used to, and "Election" is one of these movies, which proves two things, first that cinema is not US cinema, and that Johnnie To is a hell of a director.
Meet the Triads, a secret societies of organized crime in HongKong, with three hundred thousand members, and a history old as the history of china, and you would not be surprised that these secreties appoint a chairman to rule the board, what is surprising matter of fact is that this chairman is democraticaly elected from the "uncles" or the senior Triad memebers, and for the Wo Sing society, it is for a term that expires after two years.
Lok (Simon Yam) and Big D (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) are the two candidates, who are campaigning amongst the uncles to convince them they are the fittest, and this election, as any election in the world, is not clean of bribery and threats, but after the intervening of Uncle Teng(Wong Tin-Lam), who speaks in favor of one of the candidates who is more keen on respecting the old tradition which mind you goes back to the times of the Mandchurians and the Ming empire, the election happens and everybody is more or less happy.
Problem is that some influent people are not happy with the outcome of the election, so they try to get their hands the Dragon head which is the symbol of power of the new Triad leader, while the police is forced to emprison all the uncles, to keep the gang infighting from causing a bloodbath in street, while the both part struggle in continental China to get the dragon head and while the former Triad leader Whistle (Wang Chung), has to make choices that cause him immense sacrifice to show his loyalty to the Triad.
Mind you this is a radical departure from the godfather/godfellas kind of gangsterism, this is another flavour of it, and more in the spirit of the loyalty and family, even the police is aware that it will never be able to eliminate the triads, so their goal is to keep the harmony where they don't overstep territories and cause disturbance, this movie is not for export and it's a good thing, it's a movie made by asians for asians, the level of loyalty and brotherhood is similar to the one in the samurai movies, or the Shaw brothers swordsmen movies, it is really a relief to see something different that doesn't try to be western.
There is a certain amount of violence but it's never gratuitous and it is even righteous from the point of view of the persons who perform them, they do it by loyalty, and this feeling of belonging to a code of honor, something that is bigger then one's self interests, and the controversial end is perhaps also justified because he did what he did to keep harmony.
Tarantino called this movie the best of 05, and frankly it is probably true, the calm force of Lok, the violent outburst of Big D, and the wisdom of Uncle Teng, and Whistle, and Chief Superintendent Hui who is aware of the limits of what he can do, but is not intimidated by the mob bosses, it is far away from the Armani power thirsty model we are used to, these are real people, who have been in the society all their lives, and who got promoted, who obey an ancestral code of honour, and who elect their leader, you sometimes which our corrupt governements were that loyal, and the character that caught my attention was Jimmy (Louis Koo Tin-Lok), who is educated and a post graduate student, and whose influence helps to cure the feuds.
The Election ceremony is exactly th same as it happens in the real world, and Johnnie To, films this movie as an insider, well i don't say that he is a Triad member, but i'm sure that he is friends of many influent "Uncles", and for that authenticity, you need to watch this.
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