The Departed

Now it’s time to wrap up “Jack Nicholson Month” with Martin Scorsese’s 2006 gangster flick, “The Departed.” You may have heard the whole talk all over the Internet that “The Departed” is an old-school film, relieved by insight. You probably will think the same thing if you don’t pay any attention to what’s going on. Or maybe you’ll see “The Departed” for what it is: a new American crime classic from the legendary Martin Scorsese, whose talent shows here on its highest toll.

The title card places us in the setting: Boston, some years ago. Now we’re off, watching Leonardo DiCaprio as a cop pretending to be a cover and Matt Damon as his opposite. Both are stuck in circumstances where you can’t tell the good from the bad.

Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone mentioned in his review, “All the actors bring their A games to this triumphant bruiser of a film, its darkly wanton wit the only defense against complete chaos.” DiCaprio and Damon give explosive, emotionally complex performances, but it must be mentioned that Jack Nicholson reaches unimaginable-of heights corrupt evil as Irish mob kingpin Frank Costello. If he’s waving a gun or a female’s toy, buying off cops, insulting Catholic priests as degenerates, deceiving children into a life of crime, bringing in cocaine for favored prostitutes or chatting elbow-deep in blood, Nicholson is electrifying. Unemotionally finishing a woman on a beach, Costello says to his henchmen Mr. French, played by the terrific Ray Winstone, “She fell funny.” However, Costello is no campy Joker. Travers noted, “Channeling James Cagney in White Heat and Paul Muni in Scarface, Nicholson leeches out the glamour to create a landmark portrait of evil.”

Travers went on in his review to say, “William Monahan's stinging script, a revelation after his murky meandering in last year's Kingdom of Heaven, transfers the plot of the terrific 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs to his native Boston so he can drill down to its depraved core. Those familiar with the gangs of Beantown will see Whitey Bulger — the Irish thug still being pursued by the FBI — in Nicholson's sick twist of a character.” This is essential, instinctive filmmaking, indebted to Michael Ballhaus’ vivacious cinematography and Howard Shore’s suggestive score, boosted by Scorsese’s typically smart soundtrack choices – a unique combination of the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Nas, Van Morrison, the Beach Boys and Patsy Cline. Once again, Thelma Schoonmaker turns editing into art form. Travers described her as “the wizard at Scorsese's side, getting the action to jump off the screen while setting up psychological provocations that reverb hellishly in your head.”

At the time, irrelevant fan-boys would ask: Will Scorsese finally win his Oscar? Is “The Departed” as brilliant as “Goodfellas?” Is it too gory to be a blockbuster? “The Departed,” flawed by a few underwritten characters and some stressed imagery (the symbolic rat), takes you to the edge of your seat.

Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Damon), oblivious to one another, are both novices at the Massachusetts State Police Academy. For Billy, it’s a goodbye to the Southerners, the South Boston criminal element that made him. For Colin, it’s a chance to play mole for Costello, who taught him since he was a child. The drama builds up when Billy is told that he will never wear the State uniform. His father figure, Captain Queenan, played by Martin Sheen, wants Billy to go undercover and penetrate Costello’s crew. Billy’s identity will be known only by Queenan and his hard enforcer, Sergeant Dignam, played by Mark Wahlberg, who Travers described as “locked-and-loaded and gives a supporting role major dimensions.” Colin, who thinks the State uniform makes you look “dressed to invade Poland,” joins the suits led by Captain Ellerby, played by Alec Baldwin, in the Special Investigations Unit. Now the two rookies, assigned to rat out the people they work with, begin to loosen from the strain of maintaining identities antithetical to their true natures.

Travers says, “As in Infernal Affairs, there's a heap of coincidence.” You might want to cancel the film’s dramatic license when Billy and Colin both fall in love with Madolyn, played by Vera Farmiga, the shrink who treats Billy and moves in with Colin. Luckily, Farmiga is a glorious actress, an explosive mix of intelligences and love appeal, who reveals that Madolyn is as lost and off-the-rails as the two men.

What about the violence? Most of it is saved for the film’s final act, where it’s enough to give you whiplash. Scorsese rightly refuses to go weak on the corruption that extends from Costello’s arsenal of vipers to the State House, whose gold dome Colin sees from the window of his elegant apartment on Beacon Hill. Damon, building on his no-nonsense turns in “Syriana” and the two Jason Bourne movies, brings looped-spring intensity to Colin, whose double life is taking its toll (for one, he’s often powerless). Scorsese allows mentioning flashes of the child in these men. Colin dreads betrayal of Costello, the gangster who filled his skinny twelve-year-old arms with groceries and made him his slave. Billy uses drugs to deaden his fear but can’t find anything – family, friend, lover, church, government – to trust. DiCaprio does himself proud in a dangerous role that stabs at the heart as Billy’s audacity loses the battle to his clattering nerves. Despite that DiCaprio and Damon share only one big scene, their climactic rooftop face-off reflects the film’s unwelcoming view of a world where nothing is held sacred.

Scorsese doesn’t need gore to make his point. A scene with Billy and a vibrating cell phone matches Hitchcock for suspense. Travers also notes, “Another, deftly borrowed from The Third Man, simply involves Madolyn walking past Colin at a funeral, her impassive gaze deadlier than a speeding bullet. Issues of sin, redemption, identity and loyalty resonate in Scorsese's films, including the atypical Kundun, Age of Innocence and The Aviator.” Each new film absorbs the other, creating a body of work that can stand with the greatest. Scorsese tops the list of American directors because, even when he fails, he attempts passionately to make movies that matter. “The Departed,” a boldly uncompromised vision of a society decomposing from the inside, is one of his best. Act accordingly.

If you haven’t seen this movie, you have to. Stop reading this review, and go out and see it. You will absolutely love it, if you have seen other Scorsese movies. This is another one of my absolute favorite gangster flicks, and I sincerely think everyone should check this one out. You will be thinking throughout what is going to happen and what role is everyone playing. The resolution does not disappoint at all.

Thank you for joining in on “Jack Nicholson Month.” I hope you have enjoyed, and I hope that I made some good recommendations. Stay tuned next month to see what else I have in store for everyone.