Great movie

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2015)

The Departed was a fascinating movie chronicling the Massachusetts State Police Department's battle with a Boston mob led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young, aspiring police officer with family ties to the mob. Seeing this as an opportunity, the police department sends him undercover to infiltrate the mob and become close to Costello. At the same time, Costello sends one of his own men, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) to become a police officer and infiltrate the department to stay one step ahead. This turns into a high stakes race between the two men to find out the identity of the other.
There seems to be a strong theme of morality in the film, as it has a classic good cop-bad cop storyline. What is fascinating is how both Costigan and Sullivan have to pretend to be exact opposites of who they are as they play their undercover roles. On multiple occasions, Costigan admits that the stress and anxiety of living a double life is causing him problems psychologically, knowing he is one screw up away from being killed. Sullivan is also dealing with his own issues of leading a double life, which begins affecting his relationship with his girlfriend.
Two aspects that I thought really enhanced the overall vibe of the film were lighting and music. As most of the story centered on the mob and illegal activity, many of the scenes were shot with a low contrast. In particular, there were several bar scenes toward the beginning of the film where Costigan got into some fights with members of other mobs as a way to impress Costello. Another crucial scene where an illegal deal took place between Costello's crew and a rival gang also exhibited this lighting style. The low contrast element did a great job of setting the tone for the illegal activities as well as making the audience feel like they are a part of that world. The music choices also set the tone very well for some big scenes in the movie. The best example of that is the song 'Shipping Up to Boston' by Dropkick Murphys, which is used several times throughout the film, including the climatic chase scene at the end. The song naturally has a Boston vibe and fits great with the mob culture that is portrayed. All in all, The Departed was a riveting film, and one that does a great job portraying mob culture as well as the humanity and morality involved in pretending to be somebody you are not. If you are a fan of other Martin Scorsese films, such as 'Gangs of New York,' then you will absolutely love this film.