In
The Corruptor, directed by James Foley, a war
among rival gangs in New York’s Chinatown is in progress.
The leader of one of the gangs, Henry Lee (played by Ric Young),
who is The Corrupter in the story, has decided that the best
way to eliminate his rivals is to provide what police officers
want most—opportunities for them to make arrests, to have
money in their pockets, and to enjoy good sex. He provides
information about his rivals to the Chinese NYPD officers
assigned to root out crime in Chinatown as well as fat bankrolls
and numerous sex partners, especially the head of the Chinatown
unit Nick Chen (played by Chow Yun Fat). Then NYPD assigns
to the Chinatown unit Danny Wallace (played by Mark Wahlberg),
a White police officer who for unexplained reasons can speak
the prevailing Chinese dialect. Presumably, NYPD believes
that its White plant will root out corruption in the Chinatown
unit itself, but they miscalculate. Danny has to make the
same Faustian pact with The Corruptor to survive on the job.
During the film we find inevitable stereotypes about Chinese—that
they are superstitious, that they are fiercely loyal, that
all Chinese men are sexually out of control and all Chinese
women are eager to serve their men, and that they are obsessed
with money. NYPD is therefore checkmated. As the film’s tagline
reads, "You can’t play by the rules when there aren’t any."
The most intriguing part of the film is the way in which the
White officer starts with idealistic goals and is sucked into
becoming a part of the corruption. But then a movie exclusively
with Chinese actors and without stereotypic Chinese would
not be a box office success in the United States. Nevertheless,
to genuflect to the Orient, the film opened in Bangkok and
Hongkong a week before Hollywood. MH
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