The Departed is a 2006 American crime drama film remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The Departed was directed by Martin Scorsese, written by William Monahan and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga and Mark Wahlberg. The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and a Best Director win for Scorsese.
This film takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, where notorious Irish Mob boss Francis "Frank" Costello (Nicholson) plants Colin Sullivan (Damon) as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign undercover cop Billy Costigan, Jr. (DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides of the law realize the situation, each man attempts to discover the other's true identity before being found out.
Plot
The film begins in South Boston and Charlestown, where Irish mob boss Francis Frank Costello (Nicholson) beguiles a young neighborhood boy named Colin Sullivan (Dylan Sherwood), who enters into Costello's criminal underworld at a young age. Years later, Sullivan (now played by Damon) completes his training for the Massachusetts State Police, graduating as a state trooper. Sullivan, who quickly distinguishes himself, is assigned to the Special Investigations Unit ("SIU") of the State Police by SIU's Captain Oliver Queenan (Sheen) and Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam (Wahlberg). However, Sullivan's expressed intent is to serve as a double agent for Costello within the police force.
Fresh out of the most recent State Police training program is William "Billy" Costigan Jr. (DiCaprio). Before his graduation, Queenan and Dignam interview Costigan, convinced that his family ties with the Boston underworld make him unsuitable for anything other than undercover work. Costigan agrees to work for Queenan and Dignam's undercover division of SIU and become a mole in Costello's crime family. To make his new identity believable, SIU creates a false assault conviction for him; he serves a jail sentence, is placed on probation, and attends mandatory psychiatry sessions. His police academy record and file are concealed from the department, leaving only Queenan and Dignam with any knowledge of his true identity. In the meantime, Costigan's relationship with his psychiatrist and Sullivan's girlfriend, Madolyn Madden, also deepens and the two eventually sleep together.
Both Sullivan and Costigan are able to infiltrate their chosen organizations, with Costigan being initiated in with Costello after a particularly brutal torture by Costello's right hand man, Mr. French (Ray Winstone).
However, the intelligence they provide soon alerts both SIU and Costello that their groups contain double agents. To catch his group's "rat," Costello requires his enforcers to submit their biographical data to him, and transfers the data to Sullivan in SIU for a records check. The information, including social security numbers, is collected on paper and placed in a distinctive envelope. Costigan follows this envelope, predicting it will lead him to SIU's mole, and observes the handover between Costello and his mole (Sullivan) in a porno house. Because of where he's sitting, though, Costigan, cannot directly identify Costello's mole, and is forced to follow him out into the streets into the Chinatown district, where Sullivan becomes alerted to Costigan's presence. Despite a protracted game of hide and seek leading to Sullivan stabbing a bystander, neither man is able to positively identify the other.
SIU initiates its own measures to capture the moles in its division. Organized Crime's Captain George Ellerby (Alec Baldwin), beguiled by Sullivan's "immaculate record," assigns him to investigate SIU troopers and locate the moles. Sullivan uses his new authority to instead target Costello's rat. He orders SIU troopers to follow Captain Queenan, which eventually leads them to a clandestine meeting. Sullivan, realizing Queenan must be meeting with Costello's rat, calls in mob enforcers, who arrive before Costigan and Queenan can escape. Queenan orders Costigan to flee, and stays behind to confront Costello's crew alone, leading to his death when he is thrown out of the building and lands at Costigan's feet.
In the aftermath of Queenan's death, Sullivan orders Dignam to "unlock" the files on undercovers for him; Dignam, knowing that this will expose Costigan's identity, refuses violently. Ellerby steps in and places Dignam on a two-week probation with pay. Dignam chooses to resign in protest at first, but eventually just accepts his two-week probation. Sullivan then opens the box of evidence retrieved from Queenan's murder scene, and finds a scribble in Queenan's personal notebook indicating that Costello might himself be an informant for the FBI.
Costello is later tailed by SIU to a Sheffield warehouse where he is to acquire packages of cocaine for distribution. Sullivan, disturbed by the possibility of Costello's informant identity, stages a police ambush there (using intelligence from SIU's mole, Costigan). Costello's entire crew is killed, with Mr. French committing suicide after crashing his car, and Costigan able to slip out the back unnoticed. Costello himself is badly wounded, but he manages to slip away and attempts to contact Sullivan for aid. Sullivan, however, confronts Costello about his status as an informant in the FBI, and demands to know whether Costello has alerted the FBI to Sullivan's criminal activities. After a heated exchange, Costello attempts to kill Sullivan with a concealed weapon, but Sullivan shoots first, killing him after emptying his magazine on Costello.
At the station, Sullivan is showered with praise from his co-workers. Costigan, who has come in after Costello's death to regain his identity, meets with Sullivan for the first time. While Sullivan leaves the room to retrieve Costigan's file, he notices the distinctive biographical-information envelope on Sullivan's desk; he flees the station. Sullivan, upon realizing he's been discovered, erases Costigan's police record and file from the department database.
Costigan turns up at Madden's office with an envelope, instructing her to only open it in the event that something should happen to him. Later, Madden receives a piece of mail from "WM Costigan" containing audio recordings of Sullivan and Costello's private conversations, along with Costigan's phone number. When confronted with the recordings, Sullivan tries to explain that it was all part of his police work, but Madden doesn't believe him and refuses to speak to him from that point on. Sullivan calls Costigan, who explains that the tapes were Costello's immunity from prosecution insurance should he be arrested, and had been bequeathed to him upon Costello's death as Costigan was the only man Costello truly trusted. Using the tapes as leverage, Costigan orders Sullivan to meet him later that day at the building where Queenan was killed.
On the building's rooftop, Costigan violently confronts and handcuffs Sullivan, intending to arrest him and reveal his part in Costello's organization. Costigan is determined to do so even as Sullivan reveals that he has erased his record. Though Sullivan's SIU colleague, Trooper Brown (Anthony Anderson), arrives and demands that Costigan stand down, Costigan tries to convince Brown (his former classmate in MSP training) that Sullivan is the mole and backs Sullivan into an elevator at gunpoint. On the way down, Sullivan boastfully claims that Costigan will never be able to explain his case to Internal Affairs, before his hard exterior melts and he begs Costigan to just kill him then and there. Costigan replies bluntly: "I am killing you." When Costigan's elevator reaches the ground floor, though, he is shot in the head by Trooper Barrigan (James Badge Dale), who then proceeds to unlock Sullivan's handcuffs. Trooper Brown arrives in the other elevator and while distracted by the scene, is shot in his head as well by Barrigan. Barrigan then explains to Sullivan that he too was in Costello's employ, and appeals to Sullivan for solidarity, stating that they "gotta take care of each other" to survive. Instead, Sullivan asks for the gun to clean the prints off it and when Barrigan isn't looking, shoots him in the head and then manipulates the crime scene. Sullivan's official report states that Barrigan, Costello's lone mole, entered the building and shot both Costigan and Brown, whom Sullivan was unable to save. Sullivan closes by recommending William Costigan, Jr. for the department's Medal of Merit.
After attending Costigan's funeral where he is quietly rebuffed by Madden, Sullivan returns home to find Dignam waiting in his apartment. Dignam, knowing of Sullivan's treachery and escape from punishment (presumably he has been given evidence of Sullivan's treachery by Madden), shoots him in the head with a suppressed pistol, then exits the apartment. The film ends with a lone rat crawling on the apartment's balcony railing, which frames the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House in the background.
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William "Billy" Costigan Jr.; undercover State Trooper
- Matt Damon as Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan; Costello's informant in the Special Investigations Unit
- Jack Nicholson as Francis "Frank" Costello; boss of the Boston Irish mob
- Mark Wahlberg as Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam; second in command of the undercover unit
- Martin Sheen as Captain Oliver Charles Queenan; commander of the undercover unit.
- Vera Farmiga as Dr. Madolyn Madden; occupational psychiatrist and girlfriend to both Billy and Colin.
- Ray Winstone as Arnold French; Costello's right-hand man
- Alec Baldwin as Captain George Ellerby; commander of the Special Investigations Unit
- Anthony Anderson as Trooper Brown; member of the Special Investigations Unit and Billy's classmate at the MSP Academy
- James Badge Dale as Trooper Barrigan; member of the Special Investigations Unit and Colin's classmate at the state police academy
- David O'Hara as "Fitzy" Fitzgibbons; one of Costello's enforcers
- Mark Rolston as Timothy Delahunt; one of Costello's enforcers
- John Cenatiempo as Mark Brambilla; Providence mob associate
- Armen Garo as Eugene Fratti: Providence mob associate
- Kevin Corrigan as Sean; Billy's cousin
- Robert Wahlberg as FBI Special Agent Frank Lazio; FBI liaison to the special investigations unit.
Themes
Film critic Stanley Kauffman describes a major theme of The Departed as one of the oldest in drama—the concept of identity—and how it "affects one's actions, emotions, self-assurance, and even dreams."[1]
The father-son relationship is a motif throughout the film. Costello acts as a father figure to both Colin and Billy while Queenan acts as Costello's foil in the role of father-figure presenting both sides of the Irish-American father archetype.[2] Colin also refers to Costello as 'Dad' whenever he calls him to inform him of police activities.
In Rolling Stone magazine, Scorsese linked the zero-sum feeling of the end of his movie to real-world feelings toward terrorism and the war on terrorism.[citation needed]
Boston setting
A still from the theatrical trailer: the incorporation of the Boston
Back Bay skyline into the gun reinforces the film's thematic use of Boston's heritage and culture.
Born to an Irish-American family in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, Massachusetts, William Monahan (who adapted the screenplay from Infernal Affairs) incorporates the culture and history of Boston heavily into the film. The first images are news clips from the busing riots of the 1970s, over which Costello muses about the city's troubled racial history. Several times, Dignam refers to Billy as "lace curtain," a term used primarily in the Boston metropolitan area by working-class Irish-Americans to disparage upper-middle class Irish-Americans who have "strayed from their roots" in their attempt to better themselves.
The majority of the characters have the non-rhotic Boston accent. The Massachusetts State House is also featured in the film as a symbol of Colin Sullivan's ambition. Boston Red Sox apparel is seen and worn, including the appearance of a now-out-of-print "Reverse The Curse" bumper sticker on the wall at SIU headquarters. Also, in a bar scene the logo of the Harpoon Brewery, which has locations in Boston and Windsor, Vermont, is clearly seen. Costello and his gang drive over the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in one scene. The building off which Queenan is thrown (and where Billy and Colin later meet) is in the Fort Point section of South Boston with the downtown skyline as backdrop (the fictitious "344 Wash" is actually an alley between Farnsworth Street and Thomson Place). The John Hancock Tower is referenced by Costello, who also makes an obscure but, according to urban legend, accurate reference to "the Fens"--a section of the Fenway—as a popular spot for gay cruising. Boston's Chinatown is also portrayed in a crucial scene which is somewhat inaccurate, as the neighborhood is no longer home to pornographic movie theaters. Characters are shown working in the striking, Brutalist Government Service Center downtown. The film includes the song "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys, an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Other references include state locations such as Route 128, regions such as the North Shore, there is a shot of the Park Street and South Station MBTA Red Line stops, local cities such as Worcester, Brockton, Gloucester, and Somerville while having turf wars with crew from nearby Providence, a cameo by the Lynn police, mention of the Dedham Mall (located in Dedham just southwest of Boston), and state slang like "Staties," a local nickname for Massachusetts State Police troopers. Also, Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, is referenced when Dignam points out that Billy was expelled from the school after assaulting the gym teacher (though in reality Deerfield, like most Independent Schools, has no gym class). Additionally, the label on Billy's prescription bottle shows a Beverly Street address in Boston. The University of Massachusetts, or UMass, is also referenced in several scenes.
The character Frank Costello was largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger, a real life Irish-American mobster in Boston who was secretly an FBI informant for over three decades. The revelation that the FBI had long protected Bulger and his gang from prosecution caused a major scandal in Boston law enforcement. Bulger was believed to have been seen coming out of a theater showing the film in San Diego in November 2006.[3][4] Matt Damon's character is based on John Connolly, the FBI agent who tipped off Bulger for years, allowing him to evade arrest. In real life, Bulger went into hiding and is still presumed to be at large, currently occupying a spot on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list; Connolly is currently imprisoned for his role in Bulger's criminal activities.[5] Billy's undercover role as a former State trooper who joins the Irish mob parallels the story of Richard Marinick, a former State trooper who later joined Whitey Bulger's crime syndicate. Billy also lives in Somerville, where Bulger's Winter Hill Gang began. Thomas Duffy, the film's technical advisor (he also plays the Governor at the State Police Academy graduation ceremony), is a former MSP major who was assigned to investigate the Irish mob upon making detective.
Reception
The Departed was highly anticipated when it was released on October 6, 2006 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The film is currently one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006 on Rotten Tomatoes at 92%.[6]
Popular critic James Berardinelli awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it as "an American epic tragedy." He went on to compare the film favorably to the onslaught of banality offered by American studios in recent years. "The movies have been in the doldrums lately. The Departed is a much needed tonic," he wrote. He also went on to claim that the film deserves to be ranked alongside Scorsese's past successes, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas.[7]
Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs, who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, said, "Of course I think the version I made is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture." Andy Lau, one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs, when asked how the movie compares to the original, said, "The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together."[8] Lau pointed out that the remake featured some of the "golden quotes" of the original but did have much more swearing. He ultimately rated The Departed 8/10 and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though "the effect of combining the two female characters in the [later film] into one isn't as good as in the original," according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam.[9]
The film also evoked some controversy in Boston. Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of the Southie memoirs All Souls and Easter Rising, wrote an op-ed piece for The Boston Globe[10] praising the film's ability to recreate the "strangulating" culture created by Boston gangsters, politicians, and law enforcement officials at all levels of local, state, and federal government - a culture of violent death and silence that led to years of young suicides and an epidemic of painkilling through heroin and OxyContin, the latter even shown in the film. The op-ed piece caused a stir in Boston, eliciting a missive from a South Boston state senator as well as letters from South Boston real estate agents concerned about the "negative" depiction of the "trendy" neighborhood of South Boston.[citation needed]
The film grossed $26,887,467 in its opening weekend, becoming the third Scorsese film to debut at #1. The film saw small declines in later weeks, remaining in the list of top ten films for seven weeks. The film grossed $132,384,315 domestically and $289,835,021 worldwide. Budgeted at $90 million, the film is believed to be the most commercially successful of Scorsese's features and is his highest-grossing film to date, easily beating The Aviator's previous record of $102.6 million.
Awards
The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Martin Scorsese) (The latter was thought to be long overdue, and some entertainment critics subsequently referred to it as Scorsese's "Lifetime Achievement" Oscar), Best Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), and Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan). Mark Wahlberg was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance, which he lost to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.
Top ten lists
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.[11]
- 1st - James Berardinelli, ReelViews
- 1st - Richard Roeper, Ebert and Roeper
- 1st - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- 1st - Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald
- 1st - Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
- 1st - Charlie Lyons, The Purcellville Gazette
- 1st - Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- 2nd - Chris Kaltenbach, The Baltimore Sun
- 2nd - Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
- 2nd - Kyle Smith, New York Post
- 2nd - Mike Russell, The Oregonian
- 2nd - Richard James Havis, The Hollywood Reporter
- 2nd - Richard Schickel, TIME magazine
- 3rd - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
- 4th - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
- 4th - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
- 4th - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
- 4th - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- 5th - Empire
- 5th - David Ansen, Newsweek
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- 5th - Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
- 5th - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
- 5th - Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post
- 6th - Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
- 6th - Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
- 6th - Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club
- 6th - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
- 7th - Nathan Lee, The Village Voice
- 7th - Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
- 7th - Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
- 8th - Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun
- 9th - Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 9th - Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
- 9th - Lou Lumenick, New York Post
- 9th - Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
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Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal, Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle, and Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer named it one of the top ten best films of 2006.[11] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times named it the best film of 2006.
Awards and nominations
Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards:
- Won: Best Gangstertainment
Soundtrack music
There were two albums released for The Departed, one presenting the original score composed for the movie by Howard Shore, and the other featuring earlier recordings, mostly pop/rock songs, which were used on the soundtrack.
Music from the Motion Picture album
The film opens with "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones and prominently plays "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys with lyrics written by Woody Guthrie, which gained the band some popularity. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" was also used in the CBS News radio brief the morning following the Oscars, with the intro of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" playing in the background as the awards were announced. Similarly, in an episode of The Simpsons ("The Debarted"), the song was used multiple times. The film also features a live version of "Comfortably Numb" by Roger Waters, Van Morrison, and The Band from the 1990 Berlin Wall Concert which was originally by Pink Floyd.
Although "Gimme Shelter" is featured in the film, the song does not appear on the album soundtrack. Also heard in the movie but not featured on the soundtrack is "Thief's Theme" by Nas, "Well Well Well" by John Lennon, "Bang Bang" by Joe Cuba and the Act II Sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
The movie closes with a cover of Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams," interpreted by Roy Buchanan.
Track Listing
- "Comfortably Numb" (Roger Waters Feat. Van Morrison and The Band, version from The Wall Concert in Berlin) – 7:59
- "Sail On, Sailor" (Beach Boys) – 3:18
- "Let It Loose" (Rolling Stones) – 5:18
- "Sweet Dreams" (Roy Buchanan) – 3:32
- "One Way Out" (Allman Brothers Band) – 4:57
- "Baby Blue" (Badfinger) – 3:36
- "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" (Dropkick Murphys) – 2:34
- "Nobody But Me" (Human Beinz) – 2:18
- "Tweedle Dee" (LaVern Baker) – 3:10
- "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" (Patsy Cline) – 2:34
- "The Departed Tango" (Howard Shore, Marc Ribot) – 3:32
- "Beacon Hill" (Howard Shore, Sharon Isbin) – 2:33
Original Score album
The film score for The Departed was written by Howard Shore and performed by guitarists Sharon Isbin, G.E. Smith, Larry Saltzman and Marc Ribot. The score was recorded in Shore's own studio in New York State.
Track Listing
- "Cops or Criminals" – 2:01
- "344 Wash" – 2:03
- "Beacon Hill" – 2:36
- "The Faithful Departed" – 3:01
- "Colin" – 2:09
- "Madolyn" – 2:14
- "Billy's Theme" – 6:58
- "Command" – 3:15
- "Chinatown" – 3:16
- "Boston Common" – 2:53
- "Miss Thing" – 1:45
- "The Baby" – 2:48
- "The Last Rites" – 3:05
- "The Departed Tango" – 3:38
DVD releases
The Departed was released by Warner Brothers on DVD on February 13, 2007 in Region 1 format and on February 19, 2007 in Region 2 format, and has also been released on March 14, 2007 in Region 4 format. The film is available in a single-disc full screen (1:33:1), single-disc widescreen (2:40:1) edition, and 2-disc special edition. The second disc of this film predominately contains features that concerned the crimes that influenced Scorsese with deleted scenes being the only feature that are actually film related. The Region 1 version has three available audio tracks: English, Spanish, and French (all of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1), and also three subtitle tracks (English, Spanish, French). The film was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray at the same time as the standard-definition DVD. The 2-Disc Special Edition was also packaged in a Limited Edition Steelbook. It also marked the first time that an Oscar winning Best Picture was released to the home video market only in the DVD format, as VHS was totally phased out by the start of 2006; the 2005 Best Picture, Crash, was the last Oscar winner to be issued in the VHS format.
Homages
- After Colin leaves the porn theater, the chase through Chinatown is a tribute to Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai, with the shot of the glass mobile recalling the famous house-of-mirrors scene.[13]
- The funeral scene, where Madolyn walks away from Colin without speaking to him, pays homage to The Third Man, directed by Carol Reed, where Anna walks away from Holly Martins.[14]
- When Madolyn opens the package sent from Billy to Colin containing the incriminating CD recording of Colin and Costello conversing, the CD case cover is that of Exile on Main St., by The Rolling Stones.
Potential sequel
In February 2007, Mark Wahlberg had an interview with Empire Magazine about The Departed 2. Although the film hasn't been greenlit yet, Wahlberg stated that there might be a sequel focusing on his character, Dignam, and they're considering bringing in Robert De Niro to play a corrupted senator or a congressman. Scorsese regular Harvey Keitel is also mentioned. He also stated that William Monahan is busy penning the script and that shooting could begin sometime in "the beginning of [2008] or end of [2007]."[15]
However, the film is said to be on hold, due to producer Brad Grey's involvement since he's now the head of Paramount Pictures and the film is a Warner Bros. project.[16] A prequel has also been mooted several times.
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
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