Plot Intro
A rookie Boston-based cop, Billy Costigan (Leonardo Dicaprio) is assigned by Captain Queenan (Matin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to assume a new identity and infiltrate an Irish gang led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). However, Costello has his own mole inside the police force, a man whose career Costello has influenced heavily, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). While Costigan and Sullivan both know that moles exist in opposing parties, neither knows the other’s true identity, and so a deeply complex game of cat-and-mouse ensues.
The mid-noughties sees what one might call (and by “one” I mean “just me”) “the rise of the underdog”. We saw Crash controversially defeat Brokeback Mountain in our previous blog post. Soon, particularly in the 2010s, we will be seeing frequent examples in which the more unexpected Best Picture entries nab the prize from films with far higher production values. Gone are the days when Gone With the Wind, The Godfather, Ben-Hur and Titanic can get an easy win due to their insane popularity. I would argue that The Departed was such a win, as it beat a popular Clint Eastwood entry, Letters from Iwo Jima, and other delightful and incisive films, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen.
The Departed certainly deserves its win far more than the previous year’s Crash, and it’s refreshing to delve back into the crime thriller, a genre not rewarded enough by the often-esoteric Academy. In fact, it’s heavily reminiscent of 1971's winner, The French Connection. Both films tackle the idea of blurred lines between “good” and “bad” when it comes to the police force’s relentless pursuit of catching criminals. Every police officer, even if they’re not associated with the mob, are a bunch of aggressive, toxically masculine arseholes, especially Mark Wahlberg’s bullish Dignam and Alec Baldwin’s bumbling Ellerby. There’s really no difference between the cops and the gang members they are chasing other than the latter doesn’t have the law on their side. Even the characters’ names sound symbolically similar, with Costigan and Costello being the main “hero” and “villain” respectively, and Costigan, Sullivan, Dignam and Queenan all blending into one when yelled out at high speed by sweaty middle-aged actors. This is a common trope of Shakespearean comedy and I assert that it is no coincidence that Shakespeare and literary references in general abound.
On top of this well-crafted insight into good and evil, The Departed also manages to tell an extremely complicated and fast-paced story with clarity- but, like many Scorsese films, you have to concentrate to keep up. Scorsese directs with his typically frenetic, emotionally-detached energy. He is obviously analysing but also laughing at most of these ridiculously aggressive characters. The dialogue is also snappy and to-the-point, and conversations that provide backstory are interspersed with images to provide vivacity in scenes that could have ended up being a bit dull. The cast are also impeccable. Nicholson is the most dynamic, but DiCaprio is typically transformative and I loved Damon doing such a strong Boston accent that he sounded like Peter Griffin.
But where The Departed falls short of The French Connection is that it’s probably about 30-45 minutes too long. The intricacies of the story are complex, but the basic concept is not and it doesn’t rise much above DiCaprio trying to incriminate Nicholson while Damon steers him away whilst maintaining his trustworthy-cop status. There’s a strong pay-off at the end, again reminiscent of the shockingly inconclusive ending of The French Connection, but there are periods in the middle where I was tiring of the police having a chat before breaking into a fight, or Nicholson and DiCaprio exchanging tense dialogue that didn’t advance the plot. A quick edit could have had a faster, snappier film that didn’t lose it’s momentum mid-way.
Nonetheless, this is one of the strongest Best Picture winners of the noughties and it rises above conventional crime-thrillers by throwing in plenty of narrative surprises and innovative direction to keep us entertained for the full 2.5 hours. But I’d say Wolf of Wall Street, Shutter Island and Gangs of New York are stronger examples of the lucrative Scorsese-DiCaprio collaboration.
Highlight
I thoroughly enjoyed the first time DiCaprio and Damon make contact over the phone. It’s extremely quiet and tense and the film builds beautifully to this moment- and surprises us with its outcome.
Lowlight
There’s a couple of long scenes where DiCaprio and Nicholson talk tensely and it’s basically designed to keep us guessing about whether Nicholson will work out DiCaprio’s true identity but they go on too long and don’t change anything in the narrative.
Mark
7/10
I’ve not seen a Scorsese film before, and then randomly I very recently watched The Wolf of Wall Street, so I’ve had a bit of a crash course in his film making. I can safely say that while I admire the frenetic film-making and absorbing noir-esque storylines, I can’t help but feel this is a macho drugs/gun/general lawlessness obsessed film maker that doesn’t really appeal to me.
The general theme of this at-times confusing film could be summed up by ‘being involved with the mafia is generally a bad thing.’ While this could seem an obvious lesson, I suppose it’s good to reiterate. One can imagine groups of Men Being Men would go see this and slap each other on the back and say ‘guns eh’ before making growling sounds. Or whatever it is that Men do.
I’m not against the whole ‘male-focused’ films - indeed this project has introduced me to Clint Eastwood’s work and I’m very grateful for that. One wonders what Eastwood’s take on this film would have been - I’m willing to bet I’d have preferred it.
But it’s not a bad film. It took me a while to understand what was going on, but it clicked about half an hour in and then watching the two ‘rat’ situations play off against each other was quite exciting. My blood wasn’t exactly racing - partly because I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters (again, they’re all stereotypes of Men which is just a bit dull) but I got involved.
I’d be interested too to know if they made the film today whether they would still include all the homophobic language. I know that the case can be made for ‘creating a realistic copy of the environment’ but I also would prefer it if they didn’t spew homophobia on the big screen all the time. Anyone who sees this - despite it not glorifying the mob - could feel it’s ‘cool’ or ‘wild’ to mimic it and it doesn’t sit quite right with me.
Acting wise, Jack Nicholson turns up and steals every scene with such effortless ease that one imagines Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were so awestruck that they forgot to try and match him. He’s a phenomenal actor and while not exactly subtle, he pours such energy and vigour into his role here - as always - that I enjoyed his scenes the most.
Perhaps my favourite fact though is that according to Wikipedia, a sequel was planned. This is despite - as Wikipedia points out - ‘many of the key characters in the film are deceased by the movie’s end’. The sequel collapsed for financial reasons.
Overall though, it’s about 45 minutes too long, and I’d be interested to see the original 2002 film Infernal Affairs, a Hong Kong movie that apparently is shorter - and by many accounts better. Not the best film in this project, but it’s dynamic enough and entertaining that the hours didn’t drag by.
Also Paul just told me Shutter Island is one of his and I bloody loved that, but maybe it’s the exception to the Scorsese rule.
Highlight
Jack Nicholson rocks up, steals every scene and then leaves. It’s the mark of a real Hollywood star, and it’s great to see his craft stay strong over the years.
Lowlight
As I said, the homophobic slurs didn’t sit well with me, whatever Scorsese’s reasoning.
Mark
7/10
7/10
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