'Departed' Censored in Mainland Theaters
A day after Martin Scorcese won the award for best director at the Golden Globes, the Chinese government ruled that his film, "The Departed" is not suitable for domestic cinematic release.  A source close to the censorship police told Reuters Wednesday that "there is no chance 'The Departed' will be shown in mainland cinemas because the U.S. side declined to change a plot line describing how Beijing wanted to buy advanced military computer hardware."  For those who have seen "The Departed," the role of China in the film is quite forgettable.  Though to Chinese censors, the same group who banned "Mission Impossible 3" because it failed to portray China's modern architecture, the mere mention of China's militarism was enough to push the censor button.  According to the Reuters source, "That part of the plot is definitely unnecessary.  The regulators just cannot understand why the movie wanted to involve China. They can talk about Iran or Iraq or whatever, but there's no reason to get China in."  The film is a remake of a famous Hong Kong thriller called "Infernal Affairs" and the film's Chinese distributor felt the movie would do well on the mainland.  One has to remember though, for every movie theater in China that would have played "The Departed" there are about 1,000 DVD stores selling a high-quality pirated version.  And while I'm not admitting to buying pirated movies, let's just say I live in China and I loved the film.

•Reuters: China Blocks Entry to Scorcese's 'Departed'

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