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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Departed


The Departed is a 2006 American crime film, a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs.[2] The film was directed by Martin Scorsese, written by William Monahan, and starsLeonardo DiCaprioMatt DamonJack NicholsonMark WahlbergMartin SheenRay WinstoneVera Farmiga and Alec Baldwin. It won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and an Academy Award for Best Director win for Scorsese.
This film takes place in BostonMassachusetts, where Irish Mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Nicholson) plants Colin Sullivan (Damon) as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides realize the situation, each man attempts to discover the other's true identity before their cover is blown.

Plot

At a young age, Colin Sullivan (Damon) is introduced to organized crime through Irish mobster Frank Costello (Nicholson) in the Irish neighborhood of Southie in Boston. Costello trains him to become his mole inside the Massachusetts State Police. Sullivan is accepted into the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which focuses on organized crime. Before he graduates from thepolice academy, Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is asked by Captain Queenan (Sheen) and Staff Sergeant Dignam (Wahlberg) to become an undercover agent, as his childhood and family ties to organized crime make him a perfect infiltrator. He drops out of the academy and does time in prison on a fake assault charge to increase his credibility.
As both infiltrate their respective organizations, Sullivan begins a romance with psychiatrist Madolyn Madden (Farmiga). Costigan sees her for his probation and also develops a relationship with her. Shortly after, Costigan makes love to her before she moves in with Sullivan. After Costello barely escapes a sting operation, both moles become aware of the other's existence (though not his identity). Sullivan is told to find the "rat" and asks Costello for his crew's information to determine who is the informer within Costello's crew. Costigan follows Costello into a movie theater where Costello gives Sullivan an envelope with the details. Costigan then chases Sullivan through Boston's Chinatown, during which Sullivan pulls out a pocket knife and stabs an innocent bystander in the stomach. When it is over, both men still do not know each other's identity. Sullivan then has Queenan tailed as he meets Costigan in an abandoned building. Sullivan sends Costello's men in and Queenan distracts them to let Costigan escape. He is thrown from the roof and dies at the feet of Costigan, who is covered in some of Queenan's blood. When the mobsters escape, Costigan pretends he has come to rejoin them. The trailing state troopers open fire on Costello's crew, which causes casualties on both sides. Later, at one of Costello's safe houses, Delahunt (one of Costello's enforcers) tells Costigan "I gave you the wrong address--but you went to the right one" but then asks him if he knows why he didn't say anything about it before dying. When Costello's henchman, Fitzgibbons, known as "Fitzy," (O'Hara) does an unsuccessful job of hiding Delahunt's corpse, it's revealed that Delahunt was also an undercover cop with the Boston PD. Costello says, "They're saying he's a cop so I won't look for the cop."
Now under scrutiny, Sullivan is attacked by a suspicious Dignam because of Queenan's death. Ellerby places Dignam on leave. Using Queenan's bloody phone, Sullivan reaches Costigan, who refuses to abort his mission. Sullivan learns of Costello's role as an informant for the FBI from Queenan's diary, causing him to worry about his dual identity being revealed. With Costigan's help, Costello is tracked to a cocaine drop-off, where he and his crew become trapped in a gunfight with police, resulting in most of the mobsters being killed. As Costello attempts an escape he is confronted by Sullivan. Costello admits he is an occasional FBI mole and tries to shoot, but Sullivan fires first fatally hitting him, then when Costello tries to shoot him again Sullivan shoots him multiple times, killing him. With Costello dead, Sullivan is applauded the next day by everyone on the force. In good faith, Costigan comes to him for restoration of his true identity, but notices an envelope containing details of Costello's men on Sullivan's desk and flees. Knowing he has been found out, Sullivan erases all records of Costigan from the police computer system.
Costigan leaves an envelope in the care of Madolyn and tells her he will talk with her in two weeks. Later, she reveals to Sullivan that she is pregnant, but it isn't revealed who the father is. Afterwards she discovers a package from Costigan. It contains a CD and a phone number for Sullivan. Madolyn listens and discovers that it contains recordings of Costello's conversations with Sullivan. Sullivan walks in on her and tries to assuage her suspicions, but she locks herself away from him. He hastily contacts Costigan, who reveals that Costello recorded every conversation he had with Sullivan. Since Costigan was the only person Costello actually trusted, Costello's attorney left Costigan in possession of the recordings and therefore Costigan intends to implicate Sullivan. They agree to meet at the building where Queenan died.
On the roof, Costigan catches Sullivan off-guard, assaults him and hand-cuffs him at gunpoint. As Costigan had secretly arranged, Officer Brown appears on the roof as well. Shocked, Brown draws his gun on Costigan. Costigan attempts to justify his actions by exposing Sullivan as the rat, but Brown does not fully believe him. Costigan asks Brown why Dignam did not accompany him as per their agreement, but Brown does not answer. Using Sullivan as a shield, Costigan leads Sullivan into the elevator. As it reaches the ground, Costigan is shot point blank in the head by Barrigan, another police officer. Brown reaches the ground floor and is killed by Barrigan as well. Barrigan reveals to Sullivan that Costello had more than one mole in the police, and suggests that they must avoid being traded to the FBI. Sullivan waits for Barrigan to turn then shoots him in the back of the head, the only survivor. At police headquarters, Sullivan blames all mole activity on Barrigan and has Costigan posthumously given the Medal of Merit.
At Costigan's funeral, Sullivan and Madolyn stand at the grave. She is clearly distraught. Sullivan attempts to discuss the future of her child, but she ignores him. Later, Sullivan enters his apartment with groceries, and to his surprise finds Dignam waiting for him, wearing hospital footies and surgical gloves to leave no trace of his presence and aiming a silenced pistol straight at him. Aware of Sullivan's treachery, Dignam shoots him in the temple. As Sullivan collapses dead, Dignam calmly exits Sullivan's apartment. A rat crawls along the apartment balcony, with the view of the Massachusetts State House in the background.

[edit]Cast

  • Leonardo DiCaprio as William "Billy" Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in Costello's mob.
  • Matt Damon as Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan, Costello's informant in the Special Investigations Unit.
  • Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello, sadistic boss of the Boston Irish mob.
  • Mark Wahlberg as Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam, second in command of the undercover unit.
  • Martin Sheen as Captain Oliver Charles Queenan, commander of the undercover unit.
  • Vera Farmiga as Dr. Madolyn Madden, occupational psychiatrist and girlfriend to both Billy and Colin.
  • Ray Winstone as Arnold French, Costello's right hand man.
  • Alec Baldwin as Captain George Ellerby, commander of the SIU.
  • Anthony Anderson as Trooper Brown, member of the SIU and Billy's classmate at the MSP Academy.
  • James Badge Dale as Trooper Barrigan, member of the SIU, Colin's classmate at the academy, and Costello's other informant.
  • David O'Hara as "Fitzy" Fitzgibbons, one of Costello's enforcers.
  • Mark Rolston as Timothy Delahunt, one of Costello's enforcers.
  • Kevin Corrigan as Sean, Billy's cousin.
  • Robert Wahlberg as FBI Special Agent Frank Lazio, FBI liaison to the SIU.

[edit]Themes

Film critic Stanley Kauffmann describes a major theme of The Departed as one of the oldest in drama—the concept of identity—and how it "affects one's actions, emotions, self-assurance, and even dreams."[3]
The father-son relationship is a motif throughout the film. Costello acts as a father figure to both Colin and Billy while Queenan acts as Costello's foil in the role of father-figure presenting both sides of the Irish-American father archetype.[4] Colin refers to Costello as 'Dad' whenever he calls him to inform him of police activities.

[edit]Boston setting

Born to an Irish American family in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, MassachusettsWilliam Monahan (who adapted the screenplay from Infernal Affairs) incorporates the culture and history of Boston heavily into the film. The first images are news clips from the busing riotsof the 1970s, over which Costello muses about the city's troubled racial history. Several times, Dignam refers to Billy as "lace curtain," a term used primarily in the Boston metropolitan area by working-class Irish-Americans to disparage upper-middle class Irish-Americans who have "strayed from their roots" in their attempt to better themselves.
The majority of the characters have the non-rhotic Boston accent. The Massachusetts State House is featured in the film as a symbol of Colin Sullivan's ambition. Boston Red Sox apparel is seen and worn, including the appearance of a now-out-of-print "Reverse The Curse"bumper sticker on the wall at SIU headquarters. (Incidentally, when asked to wear a Red Sox cap during filming, Nicholson refused citing his loyalties to the New York Yankees, the Red Sox chief rivals.) In a bar scene, the logo of the Harpoon Brewery, which has locations in Bostonand Windsor, Vermont, is seen. Costello and his gang drive over the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in one scene. The building off which Queenan is thrown (and where Billy and Colin later meet) is in the Fort Point section of South Boston with the downtown skyline as backdrop (the fictitious "344 Wash" is actually an alley between Farnsworth Street and Thomson Place). John Hancock employees are referenced by Costello, who makes an obscure but, according to urban legend, accurate reference to "the Fens"--a section of the Fenway—as a popular spot for gay cruising. Boston's Chinatown is portrayed in a crucial scene which is somewhat inaccurate, as the neighborhood is no longer home to pornographic movie theaters (Boston's red light district, the Combat Zone became defunct in the mid-1990s, but was very close to Chinatown). Characters are shown working in the striking, Brutalist Government Service Center downtown. The film includes the song "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys, an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Other references include state locations such as Route 128, regions such as the North Shore, there is a shot of the Park Street and South Station MBTA Red Line stops, local cities such as WorcesterBrocktonGloucester, and Somerville while having turf wars with crew from nearby Providence, a cameo by the Lynn police, mention of the Dedham Mall (located in Dedham just southwest of Boston), and state slang like "Staties," a local nickname for Massachusetts State Police troopers. Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, is referenced when Dignam points out that Billy was expelled from the school after assaulting the gym teacher (though in reality Deerfield, like most Independent Schools, has no gym class). Additionally, the label on Billy's prescription bottle shows a Beverly Street address in Boston. The University of Massachusetts Boston is referenced in several scenes.
Frank Costello was largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger, an Irish-American mobster in Boston who was secretly an FBI informant for over three decades. The revelation that the FBI had long protected Bulger and his gang from prosecution caused a major scandal in Boston law enforcement. Bulger was believed to have been seen coming out of a theater showing the film in San Diego in November 2006.[5][6] Matt Damon's character is based on John Connolly, the FBI agent who tipped off Bulger for years, allowing him to evade arrest. Bulger went into hiding and is still presumed to be at large, occupying a spot on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list; Connolly is imprisoned for his role in Bulger's criminal activities.[7] Billy's undercover role as a former State trooper who joins the Irish mob parallels the story of Richard Marinick, a former State trooper who later joined Whitey Bulger's crime syndicate. Billy lives in Somerville, where Bulger's Winter Hill Gang began. Thomas Duffy, the film's technical advisor, is a former MSP major who was assigned to investigate the Irish mob upon making detective.
Scorsese asked the MSP if he could use actual logos, badges, and color schemes on the uniforms and the cruisers, but was denied. As a result, the uniforms, police cruisers, and logos in the film are slightly different from the real ones.

[edit]Reception

The Departed was highly anticipated when it was released on October 6, 2006 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The film is one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006 on Rotten Tomatoes at 93%.[8]
Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "If they're lucky, directors make one classic film in their career. Martin Scorsese has one per decade (Taxi Driver in the '70s, Raging Bull in the '80s, GoodFellas in the '90s). His 2006 Irish Mafia masterpiece kept the streak alive."[9]
Online critic James Berardinelli awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it as "an American epic tragedy." He went on to compare the film favorably to the onslaught of banality offered by American studios in recent years. "The movies have been in the doldrums lately. The Departed is a much needed tonic," he wrote. He went on to claim that the film deserves to be ranked alongside Scorsese's past successes, including Taxi DriverRaging Bull and Goodfellas.[10]
Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, said, "Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture."Andy Lau, one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs, when asked how the movie compares to the original, said, "The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together."[11] Lau pointed out that the remake featured some of the "golden quotes" of the original but did have much more swearing. He ultimately rated The Departed 8/10 and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though "the effect of combining the two female characters in the [later film] into one isn't as good as in the original," according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam.[12]
The film grossed $26,887,467 in its opening weekend, becoming the third Scorsese film to debut at number one. The film saw small declines in later weeks, remaining in the list of top ten films for seven weeks. Budgeted at $90 million, the film grossed $289,835,021 worldwide of which $132,384,315 was from North America, becoming one of the most commercially successful of Scorsese's career.

[edit]Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.[13]
Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal, Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle, and Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer named it one of the top ten films of 2006.[13] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times named it the best film of 2000s

[edit]Awards and nominations




The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards for Best PictureBest Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Film Editing(Thelma Schoonmaker), and Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan). Mark Wahlberg was nominated for the Best Supporting Actoraward for his performance. The film marked the first time Scorsese won an Oscar; many felt that he deserved it years earlier for prior efforts.[14] Some have even gone further, calling it a Lifetime Achievement Award for a lesser film.[15] Scorsese himself stated that he won because: "This is the first movie I've done with a plot

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