The Departed: Long Awaited Satisfaction

Rating: 10/10 (19 October 2006)

The Departed released this week, directed by Martin Scorsese, I am compelled to say is the best movie that I have seen in my generation. This is the type of movie that recalls to all cinema effectionados the true reasons why we loved film so much throughout the years. It for one made me realize once again what a real movie is and should be; and understand for the first time all the grizzle that the film industry has been feeding us from each season to the next. Fueled with all the big names of the industry,(I mean Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Mark Walberg); every actor's performance was an exquisitely wrapped, unexpected gift. Certainly Jack Nicholson's best role since The Shining or One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest. I have always been an avid fan of Scorsese's, having fallowed his career from Mean Streets to the present. Like a fine wine, he as aged to perfection. With the wisdom and guidance of his absolute wizardry, he has molded DiCaprio into who may be one of the most well respected artists of our time. It only seems like yesterday I had seen DiCaprio in Basketball Diaries thinking that one day he would amount to great things. That is an understatement. The film opens the underbelly of organized crime, exposing the relationship between what society has deemed the good-guys and the bad-guys. In this world, painted in brilliant shades of black and white, the cat and mouse game that plays out is a symphony to be reckoned with. It all begins with the paralleled lives of two aspiring Boston State Police Force agents. One is the all American, blue blooded thru and thru and the other a hardened, agent reject with a broken past. Both are moles for opposing sides: the Police and the Irish Mafia; each violently struggling to reveal the other's identity. It is interesting to see how this one ends, so I will not give you any spoilers. You can see the trailer at the link posted below . I suppose the next step for me is to see the movie for which it is based, Infernal Affairs, a Hong Kong Gangster genre directed by Siu Fai Mak. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy and savor the taste of long awaited satisfaction.