STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM - “The Departed”

It’s a very sad, but very true fact of life that you never know who you can trust. Worse, the realization never hits until it’s too late.

It’s a more dangerous thing if this happens in law enforcement.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, written by William Monahan, and based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (無間道), The Departed is about two moles within Massachusetts State Police and within a gang run by Frank Costello.

Colin Sullivan is a member of Costello’s gang who is assigned to join the Massachusetts State Police, acting as an informant for him.

Billy Costigan, Jr. is about to graduate from police academy before he is hired by Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam to infiltrate Costello’s gang.

Queenan and Dignam are the only ones who know Costigan is a cop.

After a failed sting to capture Costello, Sullivan and Costigan realize there is a mole within both organization, and they are assigned to find and kill each other.

I’m not at all aware of Boston culture and lifestyle, but the film clearly makes it identifiable to the point where it feels like it’s its own character. The accent, the language, the relationships of each character; it’s all very distinct. The quote “how’s your mother” is prevalent in the early part of the film. Whether or not it’s truly authentic, I’m not sure.

"How's your mother?'

"Good, she's tired from f**king my father."

Scorsese uses a recurring motif throughout the film: the letter X. Whenever possible, there are X’s shown in front of the characters. It’s pretty obvious what it symbolizes, but I won’t explain it here. Let’s just say the audience will be waiting when it’ll finally happen.

The film does a great job creating a tense atmosphere: will the mole get caught and get shot in the head? However, it does take a while for it to get into the action. More specifically, it takes 40 minutes for the two moles to discover each other’s existence. The film takes its time establishing character relationships in an already long movie even though it didn’t need to be at all. Luckily, once it gets going, it doesn’t let up.

Jack Nicholson’s acting as Costello may be considered needlessly (or even inappropriately) over-the-top, but for me, personally, it just gave me a feeling that this guy needed to be stopped.

I discovered the movie when I saw the film win its Best Picture and Best Director Oscar back in 2007. My understanding was that it was a BIG deal for Scorsese to win his Oscar, after having being nominated five times prior to The Departed. Some even say he won for this film as an apology for him NOT winning his Best Director Oscar for his 1990 film Goodfellas (Kevin Costner won that year for directing Dances with Wolves.) Even Scorsese himself joked that he won for this film because “this is the first movie I’ve done with a plot.”

Whatever the reason is, The Departed is ultimately a great film. It goes without saying you should check out Infernal Affairs (its sequels, however, your enjoyment may vary.)