#32 The Departed

In Summary

With a filmography including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas and Casino, it is incredible to think that it wasn't until 2006, with The Departed, that Martin Scorsese finally won the Best Director award at the Oscars.

To say that The Departed isn't Scorsese's finest work is far from an insult given the director's body of work. The Departed is yet another slick, watchable crime drama from a director who, at this point in his career, could have easily have made this film in his sleep.

The Departed is a film with such a wicked, twisted web of alliances, relationships, crosses and double-crosses, it can be hard to keep track of everything. Ostensibly, the film contrasts the stories of the golden boy hotshot cop, Colin Sullivan (portrayed by Matt Damon), with the undercover, downtrodden, Billy Costigan (portrayed by Leonardo di Caprio).

This is where The Departed's web begins to be woven. Sullivan has secretly been groomed by the crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to be his mole inside the police force. Meanwhile, Costigan is attempting to overcome his family's ties with Costello's mob, only to find himself forced to go undercover inside that very same crime syndicate.

Things only serve to get more complicated from that point onwards with an excellent ensemble cast - featuring Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga and Mark Wahlberg - each chipping in with important contributions to the tale.

The Departed exists in this murky and deeply cynical world where corruption, suspicion and self-interest renders any attempts to do something for the common good nigh-on impossible. The good guys in the film are downtrodden yet that isn't to say that the  bad guys get their comeuppance.

The film ends on a nihilistic and bloody note, underlining how feeble any attempt was to be a force for good in the world of this film.

A Memorable Quote

 I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.

Things You May Not Know

• Al Pacino was Martin Scorsese's first choice for the role of Frank Costello - with the two never having worked together until The Irishman in 2019.
• The Departed is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs.
• When Frank Costello walks off with the angel kids, he goes past a yacht that is later used in The Wolf of Wall Street.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
The Departed is a gripping two-and-a-half hours of entertainment that twists and turns at a pace rapid enough to keep the audience on their feet without going so fast as to leave them completely at a loss. It is a feat in and of itself to have achieved that kind of balance.

For all the wealth of acting and directorial talent involved in this film, it doesn't feel like anyone is quite at their best - with the notable exception of Mark Wahlberg. Although the film's ending feels something of a cop out, because there is so much talent incorporated into The Departed it would have been very difficult to make something that was less than as solidly entertaining as this is.