The Departed : Brilliant!
He’s one of those who clean the society’s mean streets. To do that he’s made to give up his identity, play tough, fight the meanies, break his bones and risk his life while working for a ever suspicious psychopath boss who loves money, power and poonani, exactly in that order.
On the other hand Mr. I-have-poonani for breakfast sends his guy, who’s been brainwashed by him right from childhood, to join the police… Mola mola mole.
And you have the stage set for an airtight, forgot-to-scratch-the-itch-till-the-show’s-over story. Originally written by Sui Fai Mak and Felix Chong as Infernal Affairs, and now adapted for Hollywood by William Monahan, The Departed by Martin Scorsese is quite the trip that leaves you with all your hair (if any available on your body) standing right out.
And this in spite of you having seen Infernal Affairs (titled Wu jian dao as the Hong Kong original) a gazillion times over and over again.
Hats off to Monahan for not only being true to the original version but also adding, may I dare say, quite seamlessly his own characters and events, including the extra layer in the climax which I hopelessly begged the original would have accomplished.
There may be many out there who’ve done quite a Phd on Scorcese. So if you are one of those, it is a crime to not having seen The Departed, as yet. The movie is filled galore with Scorsesic scenes and shots and yes, that includes the trademark climax in red, we have so come to expect from the maestro.
The Departed, begins with the Boston street mess in the 70s/80s quickly bringing in a young kid face to face with the up and coming crime boss – Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). In these opening sequences, Scorsese puts Nicholson in shadows only to let him out in the light as the kid grows up to become a cop (Matt Damon as Collin Sullivan), as per Costello’s plan.
On the other hand, there is Billy Costigan (Leonardo Di Caprio) who has had a tough life, graduates as a cop and now sits in the hot seat in the office of Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Digman (Mark Wahlberg). Reason? They are looking to recruit undercover agents to bust the now supreme boss of all, Frank Costello.
The to and fro jump between the “having it all easy all the way” Collin to the “it gets shittier and shittier” for Billy is a very interesting execution by Scorsese to show two distinctly apart lives and the paths.
The jet set speed with which Scorsese builds even the there-for-a-short-time characters is unbelievable. Especially the way he introduces and defines the ever caustic Digman and the laid back Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). Such is Scrosese’s deft craftsmanship that even these small characters linger on in your memory long after the movie.
The story moves at brisk pace where each mole tries to be one up on the other, and at the same time working to find the identity of the other. Yet the layers of complexity in life are what keep tripping them over and over. While Costello keeps twisting Collin’s arm with more and more demands, Costigan is close to breaking down and losing it.
Solace comes to both of them in the form of a therapist, Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), which in fact could be one of the few inexplicable things in the movie, but I won’t go further into it since some of you may not have seen it as yet.
The Departed is one of those few movies that sticks to you for a long time. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this one finds its way to your all time favorite list.
And quite honestly, the story has such a tight grip over you that you have nothing to say when it comes to talking about other departments in the movie. I was at a loss to discuss the shots and their division methods with guys after the movie.
Of the cast, I’ll say it again, I’m simply amazed by the amazing simplicity and speed the characters of Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg are defined. And the actors don’t hold back one bit to flex their acting muscles, playing their roles with great panache.
Nicholson as a now I’m psychotic now I’m not – mafia boss plays his role with élan. You can see that he’s having fun. Yes, his patented “Joker” act has been used time and again. Perhaps Nicholson saw it fit to handshake it with Frank Costello, for they “are” similar on so many levels.
Veera Farmiga, as the therapist split between two men, stays true to her character, though one does wish the later half of the story could have been used to further develop her involvement in the forward movement of the flow.
Matt Damon plays the cop who morally owes his allegiance to the Mafia Boss who bought him breakfast as a kid. Unfortunately you get the impression it’s a half hearted attempt or perhaps the story is cruel to this character. Admittedly it isn’t one of those typical “I’m the hero” role he’s playing here. Yet there could have been much more done on Damon’s part to reach out to the audience. Sadly it never happens.
But the tour-de-force of the movie is, without any doubt, Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s funny now that I think about it, but the role of Billy Costigan was meant to be played by DiCaprio and no one else. Costigan’s anger and frutstration in all his vulnerability are brilliantly brought forward by the soft eyed tough looking DiCaprio. Watch out for the scenes where he nervously fights to break free from the hole he’s sinking deeper into be it in front of the cops or his mafia boss. Using his eyes and body language to so fluidly convey his inner turmoil, DiCaprio leaves you with breathless amazement.
A Minus. Make room in your library and favorite lists for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Very Few movies in OZdom with a brilliant tag on it. Interesting to see Leo coming out of the shell..after immense trialhood(is that a word?). Alec Baldwin is very underrated..Unfortunately people remember him for his tirades with the drug abuse.
After looong looong time and after all those over hyped big releases, one english movie caught my attension from beginign to ending. Ending came as a shock to me, but may be that was more realistic. It was spinning in my head for so long that I was dreaming about smugling last night, that too undercover;)
@ Oz: Oh yeah! Scorsese is back! The good ol’ Scorsese who gave us gritty nailbiting “how the f*** did he think of that scene?” kind of Scorsese, who inspired hazaar aueters from QT to our own RGV, and who gave us Mean streets, Taxi Driver, Good fellas, The Last Temptation (William Dafoe is JC, nuff said!) and Cape Fear (and what a remake!! Max Cady rules!) is back!! Screw the blood checks man, I am going to watch it tonight.
Yes, a very good movie. Tight, dramatic, very good. Nice writeup, Oz – I had mine ready to go, but you beat me to it
WHEN DOES IT RELEASE IN INIDA?????
I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!:-w
Well, I saw ‘The Departed’ today and have to say that if not hugely, I was a bit dissappointed.Having seen ‘Infernal Affairs’, the comparison was inevitable,all the more because all the positive points from the original were dropped.
The editing is brilliant,Performances are stellar,direction is top class and the lines are witty.But the soul of the film is missing.It was sad to see the cliched hollywoodization of a film which was tight,compelling and had great emotional strength.Whereas, in the u.s. remake, an extra one hour is added plus a love triangle (!!),grey character’s turned into black and the beautiful ending’s changed to suit the american audiences.Also, the emotional conflict and the guilt of the main characters was far more superior in the original.Now these are some things which really put me off…
I know many people might disagree but that is what I feel.
It is amazing movie, but the original one(Infernal Affairs) is better. I think Indian film guys will need another 100 years to make movies like these, with a internally consistent script.
DEPARTED is an embarrasment in the name of Martin Scorcesse…. Though he has done worst in past – THE AVIATOR is a tough one to beat as a pathetic film.
The only good part in the film was ALEC BALDWIN …esp when he says’ I love PATRIOT ACT” that was the only funny thing in the movie….
but i hope they give marty the oscar so he would stop making pretentious shit with Leonardo & get back to making real films.
CHILDREN OF MEN was the movie of last year!
Mainak – could you elaborate on why you thought it was an embarassment?
I finally saw The Departed.
I didn’t want to see it in the theatre because it didn’t look interesting, and now that I have seen it, it isn’t interesting.
I don’t know what the hype is about, or why this deserves so many accolades.
The story wasn’t compelling.
I didn’t see anything visually to thrill me.
The music was a MESS – WTF, what was the purpose of all that 70s music in this film – it kept distracting me.
And, a one-dimensial female character in a love triangle, in love with one man who seems to have no feeling for her.
I am no fan of Scorcese, even though he has made four films that I love. Two of those are films were panned by audiences and critics, and two are lost to history – unless your hippie parents took you to see them at film festivals when you were a kid, like mine did.
One thing I will say, every actor (except Vera Farmiga), even those in bit parts and small roles, was great.
BTW, was I the only one bored enough to wonder when Ben Affleck was going to make a cameo? After all, he did cast every other native Boston actor in the film…