The Departed
“Honesty is not synonymous with truth.�
When that phrase is uttered midway into The Departed, director Martin Scorsese’s best film in years, we are beginning to see the impact that lies have on two men of similar backgrounds, who have departed from the truth in service to different callings.
The two South Boston men become police officers with different motives. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks redemption from his family’s history of crime connections through taking a special assignment to infiltrate the Irish mob of Frank Costello. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), an orphaned altar boy, grows up admiring Costello and, at his bidding, joins the state police as Costello’s inside mole.
And it doesn’t take more than two minutes into The Departed to establish that Costello is what actor Jack Nicholson described his character to be: “the ultimate incarnation of evil.�
“When I was your age, they would say you could become cops or criminals. What I’m saying to you is this: When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?� Costello tells Sullivan, who is assigned to a special unit working to catch his mentor.
For the rest of the 2-hour-and-21-minute film, viewers become engaged with these and other rich and fascinating characters. The principal question becomes which man will find the other first. Questions of morality fly by like hurdles in a steeplechase.
Adapted from the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs by screenwriter William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven), The Departed deals with lies, betrayal and deception – none greater than the ways in which characters deceive themselves.
Living in a world of lies begins to impact each man in different ways. Sullivan’s glamorous apartment, which should have been a clue to his police colleagues that something was amiss, overlooks the state capitol and Beacon Hill. He dreams of gold and becoming a lawyer. Although cool and unfazed by police attempts to root him out, Sullivan is the more self-deceived of the pair, vainly hoping that his path will lead to respectability. Meanwhile, Costigan’s path first goes through prison in order to build confidence with underworld elements. Later, he suffers physically and emotionally for the crimes he commits with Costello’s gang in the hope of not blowing his cover. Ultimately, he searches in vain for the identity of the man he once was.
Despite the excitement, the film does have some flaws. It is a bit of a stretch that both “moles� sleep with Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), a psychiatrist who works with police officers and others who experience violence. (Although each man’s relationship with Madolyn does reveal insights into his inner character.) We can see that lying is difficult work for the moles, each carrying around two sets of cell phones and needing to keep track of which client is calling. (But it’s funny that the police never thought about listening in on the cell phone traffic to catch the mob’s undercover operative within their ranks.)
The film’s R rating comes for its pervasive foul language and brutal violence, although it’s not as graphic as Scorsesee’s Gangs of New York. And the language is very appropriate to the rich and vibrant characters in this film’s all-star cast, including Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg.
Although this graphic portrayal may be too much for some viewers, these honest depictions do communicate deeper truths about the nature of lies. Those who deceive may ultimately become easily deluded themselves about whether they’ve really heard the truth from others.
When that phrase is uttered midway into The Departed, director Martin Scorsese’s best film in years, we are beginning to see the impact that lies have on two men of similar backgrounds, who have departed from the truth in service to different callings.
The two South Boston men become police officers with different motives. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks redemption from his family’s history of crime connections through taking a special assignment to infiltrate the Irish mob of Frank Costello. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), an orphaned altar boy, grows up admiring Costello and, at his bidding, joins the state police as Costello’s inside mole.
And it doesn’t take more than two minutes into The Departed to establish that Costello is what actor Jack Nicholson described his character to be: “the ultimate incarnation of evil.�
“When I was your age, they would say you could become cops or criminals. What I’m saying to you is this: When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?� Costello tells Sullivan, who is assigned to a special unit working to catch his mentor.
For the rest of the 2-hour-and-21-minute film, viewers become engaged with these and other rich and fascinating characters. The principal question becomes which man will find the other first. Questions of morality fly by like hurdles in a steeplechase.
Adapted from the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs by screenwriter William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven), The Departed deals with lies, betrayal and deception – none greater than the ways in which characters deceive themselves.
Living in a world of lies begins to impact each man in different ways. Sullivan’s glamorous apartment, which should have been a clue to his police colleagues that something was amiss, overlooks the state capitol and Beacon Hill. He dreams of gold and becoming a lawyer. Although cool and unfazed by police attempts to root him out, Sullivan is the more self-deceived of the pair, vainly hoping that his path will lead to respectability. Meanwhile, Costigan’s path first goes through prison in order to build confidence with underworld elements. Later, he suffers physically and emotionally for the crimes he commits with Costello’s gang in the hope of not blowing his cover. Ultimately, he searches in vain for the identity of the man he once was.
Despite the excitement, the film does have some flaws. It is a bit of a stretch that both “moles� sleep with Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), a psychiatrist who works with police officers and others who experience violence. (Although each man’s relationship with Madolyn does reveal insights into his inner character.) We can see that lying is difficult work for the moles, each carrying around two sets of cell phones and needing to keep track of which client is calling. (But it’s funny that the police never thought about listening in on the cell phone traffic to catch the mob’s undercover operative within their ranks.)
The film’s R rating comes for its pervasive foul language and brutal violence, although it’s not as graphic as Scorsesee’s Gangs of New York. And the language is very appropriate to the rich and vibrant characters in this film’s all-star cast, including Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg.
Although this graphic portrayal may be too much for some viewers, these honest depictions do communicate deeper truths about the nature of lies. Those who deceive may ultimately become easily deluded themselves about whether they’ve really heard the truth from others.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home