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Johnnie To offers a very different take on the Hong Kong triad genre in Election. Simon Yam Tat Wah and Tony Leung Ka Fai portray two triad leaders who struggle with each other to head the Wo Sing Society. The film never romanticizes triad leaders as heroes (like the Young and Dangerous series), nor condemns them as criminals, but offers an extremely realistic portrayal of gangsters as human beings.

Apart from the two superstars Simon Yam and Tony Leung as potential Chairpersons Big D and Lok respectively, the film also has Louis Koo playing the young, brilliant, and college-educated rising star in the triad. Veteran Wong Tin Lam is the influential senior triad member Uncle Teng. Well-experienced actors including Nick Cheung, Eddie Cheung, Lam Suet, and Gordon Lam, who has excelled in many other Johnnie To movies, vividly portray other gangsters in the film, and Maggie Shiu is Tony Leung’s wife.

The film title Election already spells out the plot: it follows the Chairman selection process in the Wo Sing Society. The film opens with the ceremonial rituals of the Chairman’s inauguration, which reminds us of the Society’s origin being a centuries-old institution once with a virtuous aim of overthrowing tyranny. Ironically, while the head of the Wo Sing Society is still elected by senior triad members nowadays, the temperamental Big D (Tong Leung) and the calculating Lok (Simon Yam) both attempt to beat their competitors by all means, including bribing the seniors and bullying the opponents.

The intervention from the police and Uncle Teng (Wong Tin Lam), and the conflicts and cooperation among the junior triad members, etc, lead to complicated politics and, undoubtedly, fierce fights as well. Even without a single gunshot, the film still contains plenty of spectacular actions alongside in-depth depiction of human nature during power struggle. Johnnie To enriches the film with a political allusion to the present day Hong Kong, making this excellent title more than just another triad movie..
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