The Departed is a 2006 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson as the main leads. It is one of the top-rated movies and the best gangster movie of all time. It is a remake of the 2002 HongKong film, Infernal Affairs.
Screenplay:
The screenplay begins in Boston, through the narration of Irish-American mobster, Frank Costello(Jack Nicholson) introducing himself with brilliant lines that perfectly tells the audience that he is someone you don’t want to mess with. He plants Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) as a mole in MSP(Massachusetts State Police), simultaneously William Billy Costigan(Leonardo DiCaprio) who is a cop, goes undercover to infiltrate as Costello’s crew member. When Colin and Billy understand their situation they start to counter-attack each other to save themselves from being exposed. The character Colin Sullivan is based on the corrupt FBI agent, John Connelly and Costello’s character is based on gangster Whitey Bulgar. The film was both a critical and commercial success and won four Oscars at 79th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Plot:
In 1986 South Boston, young Colin Sullivan was introduced to gangster Frank Costello. Colin has considered Costello a father-like figure since then. Later, in 2006, he gets accepted into Special investigations unit in MSP led by Captain Ellerby(Martin Sheen), during which another recruit, William Billy Costigan Jr is approached by Captian Queenan(Martin Sheen) and Seargent Dignam(Mark Wahlberg) to go undercover, as his family has a solid criminal record which makes him the perfect infiltrator to Costello’s crew. He acts as an MSP academy dropout and participates in criminal activities starting with drug dealing along with his cousin and goes to the jail on the assault charge. In some time, he gains the attention of Frank Costello by proving that he is no longer a cop or works for cops. Billy starts participating in all crimes alongside Frank Costello and his crew, during which Billy’s mental state declines as a result of his involvement in the crime. Queenan and Dignam inform Billy that there is a rat in special investigation team so they plead him to stay undercover for a few more days. Sooner, Costello realizes that a mole is trying to infiltrate into his crew. He tells Colin to take care of it. Meanwhile, Billy gets to know that Frank is an FBI informant and therefore knows about the mole, which makes him paranoid. Hence Billy and Colin try to figure out each other’s identity to save their own lives.
Cinematography/Editing:
The movie won 4 Oscars, one of which is for editing. Micheal Ballhaus is the cinematographer and the movie is edited by the Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker. There are many in-depth cuts in the entire film. In particular scenes, the shot closes as seen from a hole which depicts the sign of rats and in the final scene, a rat is seen in Sullivan’s window ledge which symbolizes “quest for the rats”.
Music:
Music and soundtracks are the biggest assets of the film. Director Martin Scorsese’s obsession with music is shown by some canny music choices which made the film win the Best Picture award. The film has one original score, composed by Howard Shore and other soundtracks being pop/rock songs. “I’m shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys gained a lot of popularity.
Sequel:
Though there was a script written for the sequel, Scorsese thought that it was not a good idea as many of the key characters die by the end of the film.
Character Arcs:
Frank Costello:
The powerful Irish-American mobster and the main antagonist of the film is a bloody and dangerous man. Few of his powerful dialogues describe him perfectly. There is a scene where the audience gets to know that Costello has an aversion towards the Catholic Church and he can also have power over them which gives a clue that he has a sexual relationship with a nun.
Billy Costigan:
Billy who comes from a family of many criminal records fits easily into Costello’s crew because of his family background. His wish of becoming a state trooper never comes true.
Colin Sullivan:
Colin has long been an informant to father-figure Frank Costello in crimes, leading a double life as a police detective and a mole. But in the climax, Colin is seen killing Frank Costello to prevent his relationship from being discovered, soon after Colin is tired of being a double-faced man and has gained an excellent social position. He also recommends the state police to honour Billy with a medal.
Actors:
The legendary actor and three-time Oscar-winning John Nicholson lived and justified the role of Frank Costello, though he didn’t opt for the role at first. Leonardo DiCaprio called one-on-one scenes with John Nicholson as “one of the most memorable moments of my life”. Leonardo Dicaprio and Matt Damon did a brilliant job. Mark Wahlberg was nominated for Oscars as the Best supporting actor.
