A Great Addition to an Amazing Filmography

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2016)

Any film student or film aficionado can tell you the man behind such iconic movies as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and Raging Bull: Martin Scorsese. Scorsese may often work with the same actors and direct stories around criminal life, but there is not a specific distinct style when it comes to his films as you would find with directors such as Tim Burton, John Carpenter, or Christopher Nolan. I mean, how can you compare Hugo to Casino stylistically? What IS behind a lot of Scorsese's films is great storytelling, and The Departed is no different. Though Scorsese deserved an Oscar long before 2007, The Departed lives among some of his greatest work.
While it may not be a very diverse ensemble, the cast in this film is simply phenomenal. It consists of iconic white male actors both old and young pulling off their roles as cops and gang members perfectly, and Vera Farmiga doing a "good enough" job as a therapist for young cops and undercover workers. While Mark Wahlberg earned himself a deserving nomination for best supporting actor, the actor who steals the show is Leonardo DiCaprio, who probably would have also received a nomination if he had not worked on Blood Diamond the same exact year. We don't know whether to be terrified of Costello (Jack Nicholson) or if we should nervously giggle at his dark sense of humor, Alec Baldwin is at his A-game as an excitable investigator, Matt Damon is Boston personified, and Martin Sheen reminds us why he shouldn't be associated with Charlie Sheen in this day and age. Phenomenal work all around, and one last note is as odd as this may sound, Mark Wahlberg excels at swearing in this film. Funny s***.
Based on the foreign script "Infernal Affairs" (which this critic is eager to watch) The Departed is unsubtle in its focus on "rats," double agents both in the Irish mafia of Boston as well as the state police force. Matt Damon is a man who was practically raised by Frank Costello to become a rat within the state police while Leonardo DiCaprio plays a young man who grew up in a notorious family who wants to turn his life around by becoming a true cop. Nobody would believe him in a uniform, so Sheen and Wahlberg ask him to gain Costello's trust and he becomes a rat within Costello's gang.
Morality is what is at stake in The Departed. The morality of lying is the most notable since the film is focused on double agents, but even the love triangle developed between Damon, DiCaprio, and Farmiga brings this into question. DiCaprio tries to get under Farmiga's skin at first asking if she lies in general, and as she gets closer to him she confesses that she would lie if her boyfriend (Damon) saw her together with DiCaprio. As we realize that Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio are not the only "rats" in the story, it brings not only the morality of lying into question, but also it calls for the audience to ask how we can determine who is on which side of the law. Is there a line? Is the law black and white? Or are there exceptions when it comes to double agents?
While the narrative is amazing, it is important to note that this film is littered with swearing and violence, so keep that in mind if you're sensitive to these issues or if you are considering letting a child view this movie. Regarding these same issues, do NOT watch this film on cable TV as it is censored to the point where the dialogue becomes ridiculous and you cannot take the film seriously. Other than that, this film should one day become a required screening in college level film courses; a true masterpiece.
4.0/4.0