Masterly inactivity may be superior, sometimes!

Chinatown (1974)
Director: Roman Polanski
This movie sounds like a police drama set in Chinatown with all its vice activities and subversive elements. Well, it is nothing like that. 'Chinatown' is a red herring, actually. It can be summarized as a film with the typical noir elements, set in the 50s, convoluted story line, a lone investigator against the establishment and a neither black nor white kind of morality and ending. The 2 1/2 hour story is based on a tragic water dam controversy that happened in the early 20th century. This film also strengthened Jack Nicholson as a reputable star.
JJ Gittes (Nicholson) is a private investigator handling domestic issues. He is approached by a lady who hires Gittes to investigate her cheating husband, who is a senior engineer with the LA Water Department.
After finding proof of his infidelity and pictures of which later made it to the dailies, Gittes is confronted by a foxy lady, the real Mrs Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), with a lawyer's notice!
And Mr Mulwray is soon found dead in a dam. That starts a cat and mouse scramble in search of the real killer. The police is hot on Gittes trail as he is a suspect. The promiscuous Mrs Mulwray appears to hiding something up her..., sleeves. Her father, Noah Cross, was once Mulwray's partner could also got his hands soiled in his mess.

The initial impersonator is later found but dead. Then comes a young girl under Mrs Mulwray's care who could be her sister or her daughter. The plot becomes more convulated with accusations of incest and murder in the family. The all powerful Cross turns out to be the bad guy but poetic justice escapes him at the end of the movie in the typical fashion of a noir movie. 

An entertaining flick. Why does Chinatown come to the picture? The film ends with a shoot out at the venue but not with Chinamen gangsters. Bullets fly from the police to a fleeing car driven by Mrs Mulwray with her sister/daughter. It refers to a symbolic conversation between the screenwriter and a policeman who was working in Chinatown. In his line of work, a lot of confusion and resistance happened because of the array of dialects used there. He felt sometimes better to do as little as possible. 

In his own way perhaps the screenwriter is telling us that not all problems can solved. Sometimes it is better not to do anything at all....