A film with many subtleties, well directed scenes and a very captivating storyline with great acting. A most enjoyable film.

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2016)

The Departed:
An interesting film, it is one that centres on values of people. We begin the film with one of the protagonists, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) who is wooed into a life of crime by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) who evokes power when he steps into a restaurants and asks the owner to pay up as well as showing his eyes for the owner's daughter.
His family has no record of being involved in violent crime so Colin has been able to have an enjoyable upbringing and has passed into the Police Department then State Troopers and finally onto the investigative branch with seeming ease. Little do the police know of his relationship to Frank.
We are then introduced to the character of Billy Costigan, who despite being very intellectually talented has a troubled family tree with many relatives in organised crime which does not bode well for Billy's chances in the Police Department, instead he is assigned as an undercover officer to look into the doings of Frank Costello.
Both of them are now 'rats' and are both closer than ever. The film seems to convey that however close we can appear to a person, we may never know exactly who or what they are. This is made ever more apparent with the love interest for both of the 'rats'- Madolyn (Vera Farmiga). She has slept with both of them so it is unclear as to who the father is. This also makes the two men even more similar as they love the same woman.
As they rise to top positions in their organisations, they begin the hunt for each other, and this is an interesting dynamic with very tense scenes that are very well filmed and executed in the film. The climax is at which they come face to face at the Police precinct after the death of Costello. They both then find out the truth about each other in different means. Their deaths at the end are also very similar and unexpected with a quick headshot from someone unsuspected.
It is clear however that the two have very different moralities. For example after being saved by a fellow rat in the Police Department, Colin then kills the man who saved him.
Billy on the other hand never resorts to killing and always follows the law wherever possible, and it is clear that the constant lying puts a lot of strain on him. This bring me on to another message in the film: It is hard to do the right thing and suffer through pain and hardships, but in the end those who have done wrong will be punished for eternity.
Religious imagery appears several times throughout the movie. The most memorable is when Costello talks to a pair of priests are in a bar and he mocks them about paying him for children as well as talking about the nun before she took her vows and finally gives them a drawing showing a nun with her skirt pulled up from behind. There are also several religious painting being smashed. This can be seen as blasphemous but also show how un-Christian the mobsters are even if they claim to be so.
9.3/10