D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…
The Departed, 2006.
Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson and Alec Baldwin.
The Departed is a crime thriller based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and follows Billy Costigan (Di Caprio) as he finishes his time at the Massachusetts State Police School and is offered the chance to work undercover trying to infiltrate the crew of Irish Mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson). Costello also has his own inside man, having planted his informant Colin Sullivan (Damon) within the Massachusetts State Police. As each of them realises that the other has a mole, both parties try to work out who is the rat amongst their ranks.
With Costigan being in so far that only two people within the Police ranks know of his true identity, he doesn’t have many friends in the world and not many options to get out unless he can find the identity of the mole and get the dirt on Costello. Sullivan has risen through the ranks and appears to be a model cop so is given the task of finding himself within the Police ranks and feels he’s safe. Instead, he uses his new found position to go about trying to discover the identity of the unnamed mole in Costello’s crew.
As Costigan edges closer to finding Sullivan and Sullivan edges closer to finding Costigan, the story twists and turns with many near misses and tension heightening on either side. As the film builds to its, climax the ending comes like a slap in the face. One minute the tension is growing and the next… bang… it’s over. And that is brilliant.
The Departed is a slick and stylish crime film with more twists and turns than Spaghetti Junction as everyone becomes interconnected and the risks on either side become greater. The Departed’s success at the Oscars in winning the Best Picture statuette ended a long wait for Scorsese and despite this not being his best film, it was a deserved winner that year. Therefore, The Departed is a film you must see before you die.
D.J. Haza
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Originally published April 11, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
