The Departed

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Departed
Directed by	Martin Scorsese
Produced by	Brad Grey Graham King Brad Pitt Roy Lee (exec.)
Written by	Original Screenplay: William Monahan 2002 Screenplay: Felix Chong Alan Mak
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Jack Nicholson Mark Wahlberg Martin Sheen Vera Farmiga Ray Winstone and Alec Baldwin
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Michael Ballhaus
Editing by	Thelma Schoonmaker
Studio	Plan B Entertainment Vertigo Entertainment Media Asia Films
Distributed by	United States: Warner Bros. United Kingdom: Entertainment Film Distributors France: TFM Distribution Taiwan: Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company Italy: Medusa Distribuzione
Release date(s)	October 6, 2006
Running time	151 min.
Country	United States
Language	English, Cantonese
Budget	$90 million
Gross revenue	$289,847,354 (worldwide)

The Departed is a 2006 American crime-thriller 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, Mark Wahlberg and Ray Winstone. The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards, including the 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.

[edit] 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 (Conor Donovan), who enters into Costello's criminal underground at a young age. Years later, Colin (now played by Damon) completes his training for the Massachusetts State Police, graduating as a state trooper. Colin, 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, Colin's express intent is to serve as a double agent for Costello within the police force.

In another State Police training program is William "Billy" Costigan Jr. (DiCaprio). After his graduation, Queenan and Dignam interview Billy, convinced that his family ties with the Boston underworld make Billy unsuitable for anything other than undercover work. Billy 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 Billy; he serves a jail sentence, is placed on probation, and attends mandatory psychiatry sessions. Billy's police academy record and file are concealed from the department, leaving only Queenan and Dignam with any knowledge of his true identity.

Both Colin and Billy are able to infiltrate their chosen organizations, with Billy 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 Colin in SIU for a records check. The information, including social security numbers, is collected on paper and placed in a distinctive envelope. Billy follows this envelope, predicting it will lead him to SIU's mole, and observes the handover between Costello and his mole (Colin) in a porno house. Because of where he's sitting, though, Billy, cannot directly identify Costello's mole, and is forced to follow him out into the streets into the Chinatown district, where Colin becomes alerted to Billy's presence. Despite a protracted game of hide and seek leading to the stabbing of 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 Ellerby (Alec Baldwin), beguiled by Colin's "immaculate record," assigns him to investigate SIU troopers and locate the moles. Colin 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. Colin, realizing Queenan must be meeting with Costello's rat, calls in mob enforcers, who arrive before Billy and Queenan can escape. Queenan orders Billy to flee, and stays behind to confront Costello's crew alone, leading to his death when he is beaten and thrown out of an upper story of the building.

In the aftermath of Queenan's death, Colin orders Dignam to "unlock" the files on undercovers for him; Dignam, knowing that this will expose Billy's identity, refuses violently. Ellerby steps in and places Dignam on a two week probation with pay, but Dignam chooses to resign in protest instead. Colin 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. Colin, disturbed by the possibility of Costello's informant identity, stages a police ambush there (using intelligence from SIU's mole, Billy). Costello's entire crew is killed, Mr. French committing suicide after crashing his car, and he himself is badly wounded, but he manages to slip away and attempts to contact Colin for aid. Colin, however, confronts Costello about his status as an informant in the FBI, and demands to know whether Costello has alerted the FBI to Colin's criminal activities. After a heated exchange, Costello attempts to kill Colin with a concealed pistol, but Colin shoots first, killing him after emptying his clip on Costello.

At the station, Colin is showered with praise from his co-workers. Billy, who has come in after Costello's death to regain his identity, meets with Colin for the first time. While Colin leaves the room to retrieve Billy's file, Billy notices the distinctive biographical-information envelope on Colin's desk; he flees the station. Colin, upon realizing he's been discovered, erases Billy's police record and file from the department database.

Colin receives a piece of mail from "WM Costigan," containing audio recordings of Colin and Costello's private conversations, along with Billy's phone number. When called, Billy explains that the tapes, Costello's immunity from prosecution insurance should he be arrested, had been bequeathed to him upon Costello's death, as Billy was the only man Costello truly trusted. Using the tapes as leverage, Billy orders Colin to meet him later that day at the building where Queenan was killed.

On the building's rooftop, Billy confronts and handcuffs Colin, intending to arrest him and reveal his part in Costello's organization. Billy is determined to do so even as Sullivan reveals that he has erased his record. Though Colin's SIU colleague, Trooper Brown (Anthony Anderson), arrives and demands that Billy stand down, Billy convinces Brown (his former classmate in MSP training) that Sullivan must be the mole and backs Colin 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 Billy to just kill him then and there. Costigan replies bluntly: "I am killing you". When Billy's elevator reaches the ground floor, though, he is gunned down by Trooper Barrigan (James Badge Dale), who then proceeds to shoot and kill Trooper Brown. Barrigan explains that he too was in Costello's employ, and appeals to Colin for solidarity, stating that they "gotta take care of each other" to survive. Instead, Colin executes him and then manipulates the crime scene. Colin's official report states that Barrigan, Costello's lone mole, entered the building and shot both Billy and Brown, whom Colin was unable to save. Colin closes by recommending William Costigan Jr. for the department's Medal of Merit.

After attending Billy's funeral, Colin returns home to find Dignam waiting in his apartment. Dignam, knowing of Colin's treachery and escape from punishment, shoots him through 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.

[edit] Cast

• Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William Matthew "Billy" Costigan Jr.; undercover State Trooper
• Matt Damon as Staff Sergeant Colin Sean 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

[edit] 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]}

[edit] Homages

• In homage to the 1932 film Scarface (a film by Howard Hughes, directed by Howard Hawks), Scorsese inserted the X (a symbol of death, or departure) in various shots to signify those who would become "the departed." In several cases, the "X" appears multiple times for a character. This is most prevalent after the title "The Departed" first appears on screen, as a wave of Xs can be seen layered over Colin at his apartment, and through a fence over Billy while he walks the prison halls. Other instances include Xs in the windows at the moment of Queenan's death, and on the bridge above the construction yard at the time of Costello's death. Before Costello and his gang get killed there is an X in duct tape on the cocaine package. There are also X's in the structure outside the window of the Terminal where Bill Costigan is contemplating flying away, a very obvious placing of one on the envelope of the note with social security numbers, and on the floor outside of Colin's apartment. Though it is considered that the most prevalent of all is when Billy has Colin handcuffed in the elevator just prior to his death. A black X can be seen in duct tape on the wall behind them. Also before Officer Brown is killed, you can see a white X in his elevator wall which his head passes by in the same spot where Barrigan shoots him in the head.^[3][4] And when Sullivan walks to his apartment at the end of the film, there are red Xs on the carpet, just before he is shot.

• 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.^[5]

• 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.^[6]

• 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 Street, by The Rolling Stones.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Music from the Motion Picture album

The Departed
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	November 7, 2006
Genre	Rock Country Pop
Label	Warner Sunset
Producer	Jason Cienkus
Professional reviews
Allmusic link

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 and Van Morrison 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

1. "Comfortably Numb" (Roger Waters Feat. Van Morrison and The Band, version from The Wall Concert in Berlin) – 7:59
2. "Sail On, Sailor" (Beach Boys) – 3:18
3. "Let It Loose" (Rolling Stones) – 5:18
4. "Sweet Dreams" (Roy Buchanan) – 3:32
5. "One Way Out" (Allman Brothers Band) – 4:57
6. "Baby Blue" (Badfinger) – 3:36
7. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" (Dropkick Murphys) – 2:34
8. "Nobody But Me" (Human Beinz) – 2:18
9. "Tweedle Dee" (LaVern Baker) – 3:10
10. "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" (Patsy Cline) – 2:34
11. "The Departed Tango" (Howard Shore, Marc Ribot) – 3:32
12. "Beacon Hill" (Howard Shore, Sharon Isbin) – 2:33

[edit] Original Score album

The Departed
Soundtrack by Howard Shore
Released	December 5, 2006
Genre	Soundtracks Film music
Label	New Line
Producer	Jason Cienkus
Professional reviews
Allmusic link

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

1. "Cops or Criminals" – 2:01
2. "344 Wash" – 2:03
3. "Beacon Hill" – 2:36
4. "The Faithful Departed" – 3:01
5. "Colin" – 2:09
6. "Madolyn" – 2:14
7. "Billy's Theme" – 6:58
8. "Command" – 3:15
9. "Chinatown" – 3:16
10. "Boston Common" – 2:53
11. "Miss Thing" – 1:45
12. "The Baby" – 2:48
13. "The Last Rites" – 3:05
14. "The Departed Tango" – 3:38

[edit] 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 towns such as Brockton, Worcester, 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 Costigan 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 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.^[7][8] 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.^[9] Costigan'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. Costigan 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.

[edit] 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%.^[10]

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.^[11]

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."^[12] 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 original into one isn't as good as in the original," according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam.^[13]

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^[14] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006.^[15]

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.^[15] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times named it the best film of 2006.

[edit] Awards and nominations

London Film Critics Circle:

• Nominated: Film of the Year
• Nominated: British Producer (Graham King)
• Nominated: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)

Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards:

• Won: Best Gangstertainment

Toronto Film Critics Association:

• Nominated: Best Picture
• Nominated: Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
• Nominated: Best Supporting Male Performance (Mark Wahlberg)
• Nominated: Best Screenplay (William Monahan)

[edit] Home video 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 Metal 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.

[edit] 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]."^[17]

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.^[18] A prequel has also been mooted several times.

[edit] See also

• List of American films of 2006
• Infernal Affairs
• Infernal Affairs II
• Infernal Affairs III
• Irish American
• Irish Mob
• 79th Academy Awards
• Plan B Entertainment
• The Debarted
• Triad [underground Societies]

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Brad Balfour (2006). "MARTIN SCORSESE, LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, MATT DAMON, VERA FARMIGA AND WILLIAM MONAHAN (records two 40-minute press conference sessions)". PopEntertainment.com. http://www.popentertainment.com/scorsese.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-10. 

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Departed

• Official website
• The Departed at the Internet Movie Database
• The Departed at Allmovie
• The Departed at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Departed at Metacritic
• The Departed at Box Office Mojo
• The script at imsdb