>>91850409final scene from the movie Chinatown. big spoilers for a good movie obviously but
the giant web of deceit and intricacy the detective has been following culminates in a disastrous "anticlimax" in Old Chinatown in Los Angeles. The detective is distraught at the event and his associates pull him away from the scene, urging him to move past trying to help, with the phrase of futility, 'Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." The associate here is referring to the area being a lost cause for the cops to try and police with the intent of improving it but it also broadly reflects the themes of the movie, including those of the detective being in too deep for his own good, how well intentioned actions causing repercussions far beyond what he could have reasonably expected, and the slim odds of going against deeply entrenched institutional corruption 