Brutal inside view of mob/cop culture

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2007)

Speaking of insiders, Departed is the ultimate story of parallel universes of cop culture and crime culture, with spies on each side. The setting is Massachusetts, the local Mob leader is Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and the state-police leader of the organized-crime task force (OTF) --my acronym-- is Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen).
They're playing a chess match with young recruits, particularly Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). These two become the cream of the crop of a graduating class of Massachusetts State Police (staties); each has a past that makes him susceptible to the entreaties of the crime/cop leadership.
Colin was once an altar boy who Costello psychologically dominated then turned toward the criminal way; Colin becomes Costello's plant on the inside of the OTF. Billy comes from a family of small time crooks, and decides to become a cop to satisfy an unfocused anger; lacking any motivation otherwise Billy accepts the dangerous offer to go undercover in the Costello organization for the OTF.
The plot is thus a complicated mosaic complete with a love interest in the form of a beautiful and engaging police psychologist Madolyn (Vera Farmiga). She's a ray of sunshine in this brutal, unfeeling world, who truly believes she can help. Both the emotionally crippled Colin and the idealistic, yet impossibly burdened, Billy find solace there if not love.
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Brian Wright Copyright 2007