The Departed
| The Departed | |
|---|---|
| File:The Departed 2.jpg | |
| Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
| Written by | William Monahan |
| Produced by | Brad Pitt Brad Grey Graham King |
| Starring | Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Jack Nicholson Mark Wahlberg Martin Sheen Ray Winstone Vera Farmiga Alec Baldwin |
| Cinematography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | October 6, 2006 (USA) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90,000,000 |
The Departed is a film by director Martin Scorsese, released on October 6, 2006. It is an American remake of the popular Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. The screenplay was written by William Monahan, who based it on an original script by Felix Chong and Siu Fai Mak.
Plot
Template:Spoiler The Departed is a drama set in present day South Boston, where the Massachusetts State Police is waging war on the Irish Mob.
The film begins "some years ago" where Irish mob gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), who runs his section of Boston with an iron grip, decides to look after a young boy from the neighborhood named Colin Sullivan.
The film cuts to the present, with Colin’s entrance into the Massachusetts State Police. Colin (now played by Matt Damon) is still very close to Costello, and has entered the police force to work as a mob mole. (Colin’s impeccable family history allow for his graceful acceptance into the force as well as his quick rise to leadership positions with the police.) Meanwhile, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a hot-tempered youth with a checkered family past, has also recently joined the police force. Billy is propositioned by State Police Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to work as a mole inside Costello’s mob syndicate. (Billy’s temper and family history make him ideal to serve in this capacity.) Though Billy doesn’t get along with the abrasive Dignam, he accepts Queenan’s proposition to act as a mole. Billy is fired from the police and serves time in prison to help build a background as an up-and-coming criminal. When he is released, he immediately starts selling drugs with his lowlife cousin to continue his slow infiltration to the Boston underworld. After Billy attacks a pair of Italian mobsters from Rhode Island, his life is in danger because other mafia men from Providence will soon seek retribution. Costello, who seems to want a guy like Billy on his crew, enters the fray and agrees to make a few calls and save Billy’s life. At this point, Billy also meets Mr. French (Ray Winstone), Costello’s right-hand muscle man who smashes a cast on Billy’s truly broken hand to learn if he’s carrying a wire.
Colin continues his meteoric rise in the police and is soon promoted to the Special Investigation Unit headed by Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin), where he is very connected and able to give Costello plenty of information. The only information he doesn’t have access to is what he wants the most – whether or not there is a police mole in Costello’s organization. During this time, he meets Madelyn, a psychologist who works with cops and criminals. They slowly fall in love. Ironically, Madelyn has sessions with Billy and the two talk about the necessity of lies and deception throughout everyday life. Billy starts to fall for Madelyn as well, causing a very complicated love triangle. Madelyn’s attraction to Billy grows (possibly caused by Colin’s sexual impotence problems).
Both Colin and Billy become consumed by their double lives, torn between allegiances to both sides. As secrets start to leak out in the police and the mob, both sides become self-aware that a mole is within their midst. Both sides play games to try and smoke out their respective moles before their own mole is identified and killed. Billy, frustrated at the length of time he has to serve undercover, fears Costello will soon discover his identity and kill him. Colin continues to save Costello from traps while still unsuccessfully trying to discover who the police mole is. (Only Dignam and Queenan know, and they refuse to say or share information.) Billy goes to meet Queenan and talk, but Queenan is followed by police, and in turn by mob guys, as Colin has tipped off Costello. Queenan saves Billy’s life and protects his identity, but is killed when thrown off a building.
With Queenan dead, Dignam quits. Colin takes over the infiltration department. Although he doesn’t learn Billy’s identity, he does learn inside information: Costello moonlights as an informant for the FBI. This frightens Colin deeply, as he fears his identity as a double agent could be sold out if Costello is in a bind. Around this time, Madelyn and Billy share a night of passion. Colin, still spooked by the knowledge about the FBI, tells Costello that he is clear to make a deal one night - but secretly, Colin has informed police about the deal. Police make the raid and kill all of Costello’s men, including Mr. French. Billy is saved because he feared a raid and left before police came. Costello escapes the shootout wounded but is confronted and killed by Colin.
With the undercover mission effectively over, Billy comes in the station to claim his big monetary reward and reclaim his identity. Colin congratulates him, but when Colin leaves the office for a moment to retrieve Billy's personnel file, Billy realizes that Colin is in fact the mole and runs out of the police station before Colin returns. When Colin returns to the now empty office, he realizes that Billy knows he is the mole and quickly erases Billy's personnel file from the department's database.
Incredibly, Billy learns that Costello (before dying) recorded most of his conversations with Colin, to use them if necessary in the future. The tapes are delivered to Billy by upon Costello’s death – ironic that Costello trusted the mole with this valuable information. Billy sends a CD with the recorded conversations to Colin's apartment, but Madelyn becomes curious when she sees Billy's name listed on the return address and opens the package and plays the CD while Colin is in the shower. Upon learning of Colin's true identity from the conversations, she leaves him, even after she recently revealed that she was pregnant. (It is never confirmed that Colin is the father. Due to his impotency and her sexual encounter with Billy, this is unclear.)
Colin calls the number Billy provided with the CD and arranges a meeting at the rooftop of the building where Queen had been killed. Billy beats Colin and cuffs him, saying he will use the tapes to prove his innocence and reclaim his now-deleted identity. In a moment of despair, Colin realizes his inner evil and tearfully asks Billy to kill him while taking an elevator to the ground floor. Billy, speaking in a figurative sense, says he is. As the two exit the elevator, Billy is shot dead by one of Colin’s fellow policemen, who reveals that he too is a Costello mole inside the force. The policeman is also aware that Costello was an FBI informant and tells Colin that since they're the only two left now, they have to watch each other's backs to make sure nobody ever learns of their identities as moles. Colin reciprocates by immediately killing the helpful dirty cop and lying about the events to investigators. He also nominates Billy posthumously for the department's badge of merit.
With everyone now dead and Madelyn gone, Colin is praised as a hero and continues his life of policework. He returns home one day but sees someone else in the apartment – it’s Dignam, who has pieced together that Colin is the mole. Dignam shoots the unarmed Colin dead and walks out, effectively ending the story.
Themes
The father-son relationship is a heavy theme throughout the movie.
- Costello acts as a father to Colin and even says “You were like a son to me” near the end.
- Costello takes on Billy as a second son. Because the tapes were delivered to Billy at the end, we see that Costello trusted Billy (the mole) more than anyone else.
- Queenan acts as a father figure to Billy throughout the undercover process and even saves his life by sacrificing his own.
- Madelyn reveals she is pregnant, but the paternity is unknown.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Leonardo DiCaprio | Billy Costigan |
| Matt Damon | Colin Sullivan |
| Jack Nicholson | Frank Costello |
| Mark Wahlberg | Dignam |
| Martin Sheen | Queenan |
| Ray Winstone | Mr. French |
| Vera Farmiga | Madolyn |
| Anthony Anderson | Brown |
| Alec Baldwin | Ellerby |
| James Badge Dale | Barrigan |
| Robert Wahlberg | FBI Agent Joyce |
| David O'Hara | Fitzy |
Boston setting
The film heavily incorporates the culture and history of Boston. The first images are news clips from the busing riots of the 1970s, over which Costello muses about the city's troubled racial history. Several times, Dignam refers to Costigan as "lace curtain Irish", a disparaging term used primarily in the Boston metropolitan area against upper-middle class Irish-Americans who have strayed from their former working-class identity. Despite the tendency of films to use generic phone numbers, Boston's 617 area code can be clearly seen on various characters' cell phones. The Massachusetts State House is also featured prominently in the film as a symbol of Colin Sullivan's ambition.
Reactions
Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily on October 9, 2006, 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 about 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."[1] 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 original into one isn't as good as in the original," according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam.[2]
The film is currently one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006 on Rotten Tomatoes, and the third highest on Metacritic. It is also the highest of the films of 2006 on IMDb's top 250- with #48.
Differences between The Departed and Infernal Affairs
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- There is a scene with Dicaprio at his dying mother's bedside at her death and an ensuing confrontation with his uncle, which did not take place in the original.
- Mark Wahlberg's character, Staff Sgt. Dignam, has no parallel in the original.
- Morse code plays a large part in the original as a means of communication between the undercover police officer and his handler.
- DiCaprio's character, Billy Costigan, wore a cast because he broke his hand in a convenience store fight. In Infernal Affairs III, it was revealed that Tony Leung's character, Chan Wing Yan, wore a cast on his arm because he was shot a few weeks in the timeline before the start of Infernal Affairs I.
- Jack Nicholson's character, Frank Costello, is not nearly as disturbed and darkly comical in the original.
- The character played by Vera Farmiga in The Departed is two separate characters in the original, one played by Kelly Chen, the other by Sammi Cheng in I.
- The length of Costigan's time undercover in The Departed was less than two years, whereas in Infernal Affairs he was undercover for ten years.
- Frank Costello was shown to scout only one young boy, Matt Damon's Colin Sullivan at the beginning of the movie. Eric Tsang's Hon Sam character in the original film was depicted in enrolling at least seven candidates into the academy.
- Chan Wing Yan's (Costigan) background was not revealed until Infernal Affairs II and no reference was made to it in Infernal Affairs I.
- Queenan's death was dramatic and suspenseful. Anthony Wong's Superintendent Wong Chi Shing's death was used as a shocker and caused an emotional gun battle.
- In The Departed, two people, Queenan and Dignam, knew of Costigan's identity the entire film. Throughout the course of the Infernal Affairs Trilogy, so many as five officers were aware of Yan's undercover status. (According to Infernal Affairs III, Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing and Shen Cheng also knew Yan's undercover status. But they did not exist in Infernal Affairs I.)
- The first transaction in the movie, selling computer chips to the Chinese, involved buying heroin from Thailand in the original.
- Infernal Affairs III story partially involved the consequences of Chan Wing Yan death several months after Infernal Affairs I. The Departed will all but make this story arc impossible to continue.
- Costello was revealed to be an FBI informant, a trait which did not exist in the original.
Trivia
- Scorsese and the producers wanted to shoot the film on location in Boston where the story is set. But due to economics and politics, the production chose New York City to double for Boston due to a 15% tax incentive. Six weeks were reserved for Boston with the first half in June and the second half in August. Most of the film's exterior shots are filmed in and around Boston.
- Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in the title role in The Good Shepherd, but he dropped out to play Billy Costigan in this movie. Coincidentally, his co-star Matt Damon took his intended role in that film.
- Jack Nicholson signed on to play Frank Costello because in the past ten years he had only done comedies, and he wanted to play a villain again. He has mentioned that he considers his character of Costello to be the ultimate embodiment of evil. [1]
- Both Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg returned to their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts in this film. Wahlberg's schedule was moved to the beginning of principal photography so he would have time in his schedule for another film, as was Alec Baldwin's.
- Some of the stunts were performed and filmed in the old Fore River Shipyard just south of Boston. This location may have been chosen for the sightlines in the background so the Boston skyline would be true.
- Robert De Niro was considered for the roles of both Frank Costello and Captain Queenan. Due to being preoccupied with directing his own film, The Good Shepherd, he had to turn both roles down.
- The Dropkick Murphys cover of Woody Guthrie's "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" from their latest abum The Warrior's Code is in the soundtrack and trailer. The Dropkick Murphys are from Boston.
- Also in the trailer and in the film is the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb", as performed by Van Morrison and The Band during the 1990 staging of The Wall in Berlin.
- Jack Nicholson refused to wear a Boston Red Sox hat during filming and instead wore his New York Yankees hat.
- The term 'the faithful departed' is a reference in Roman Catholicism to the belief that baptised souls who have not atoned for their sins will be unable to attain to grace without prayer and the sacrifice of the Mass. Without these the departed are believed to reside in Purgatory. This is similar to the Hong Kong version's original name in that both bear religious connotations.
- The character of Frank Costello was largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger, a real life Irish-American mobster in Boston.
- In one scene, Scorsese uses a clip from John Ford's 1935 film The Informer, which details a poor Irishman who "rats" out his friend (a wanted criminal) to the British Authorities.
- Costigan's undercover legend of being a State trooper who joins the Irish mob is similar to the story of Richard Marinick, a former State trooper who later joined Whitey Bulger's gang.
- Early in the film, Frank Costello uses James Joyce's term non serviam to assert his gangland theories of independence and leadership. The term is originally uttered by Satan in Joyce's novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to God in defiance. Therefore, Costello is quoting Satan; this reaffirms the themes running throughout the movie that portray Costello as an incarnation of "evil."
See also
Notes
- ^ "Andy Lau comments on The Departed (Chinese)". 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2006-10-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Andy Lau Gives 'Departed' an 8 Out of 10". 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
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