Scorsese at the Top of His Game

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2007)

He's one of the few directors who have at least one movie within the top of the critics' lists during the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties, and now this decade. That's consistency in the quality of work, especially in an industry where directors come and go with one big hit, where they suddenly have slumps -- some lasting years and years --, and others make sporadic movies here and there. Martin Scorsese is also one of the few directors to tackle a theme that by now would have run its course: the Mafia movie because there can be only so much you can do with this type of film; however, Scorsese proves that there's still a lot of material that can be molded into compelling, edge-of-your-seat tales like the one he weaves here. Certainly not a "B" picture as he called it, yet it has all the elements of a B-picture: the seedy criminals, the sordid locations, the femme fatale, the overall feeling of despair and doom. It certainly is high noir, especially in the fact that all of the characters, to a degree, are under the shadow of this ultimate evil man, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and pretty much there is no escape, especially when Costello's deep ties that corrupt law enforcement come to light. The world of the men in THE DEPARTED is one where everyone is suspect and everyone is at danger of being "next". Even golden-boy Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a pawn of Costello since he was a child, can't escape this fact. Moving upwards, propelled by his good looks and extreme good luck, he's the ultimate patsy who is set from the get-go even as he tries darned hard to elude all evidence that links him to Costello and invisible man William Costigan (a hardened-looking Leonardo DiCaprio).
Scorsese moves throughout his multiple plots with quite a bit of tentative yet explosive meandering. There is a lot going on through the initial portion of THE DEPARTED -- the first 15 minutes, approximately -- I became somewhat baffled he is setting up the intricate tableau which details those who are on the side of Good (represented by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg) and those who are on the side of Evil (Nicholson). Minor characters pop up here and there and at first there is no real reason as to why they are even there, but that becomes rather clear later on in crucial moments. It's fantastic, wickedly suspenseful, compelling storytelling that draws you in from its opening scenes, and its style indicates that somewhere within the folds of narrative, Sullivan and Costigan, opposites in every sense of the word (Sullivan has led a life of privilege under the aegis of Costello and is now the poster boy of success, rising fast within the police department; Costigan comes from a broken family and is trying to make amends with himself even when he will never become an official law enforcement entity -- he is "no man") will have to meet. The crux between them lies in Vera Farmiga who plays the woman caught. She is Costigan's therapist, but is also Sullivan's girl, and her character is tricky, since it balances being the girl who suspects something is wrong with her boyfriend and the professional who feels anger, then pity, and finally desire for her patient.
Stylish, darkly funny (much of the humor coming from Nicholson's deadpan performance), extremely masculine (and what a cast of actors!) with an outstanding soundtrack (can anyone select songs like Scorsese for their movies?), THE DEPARTED is deservedly a winner, a masterpiece. It's exquisite to slowly chew on and then wash down with the most expensive wine.