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The Departed October 16, 2006 |
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“The Departed”, Martin Scorsese’s energetic new film, his 20th feature length picture in a brilliant career, picks up thematically where his classic “Goodfellas” left off 16 years ago, with the examination of deception, and the psychological effects identity overhaul has on the culprit. In “Goodfellas” it was life-long mobster Henry Hill, having just ratted his friends and bosses out to the Feds, staring at us from an anonymous suburban tract house in the witness protection program, equating symbolically the taste of lousy store bought tomato paste to the rich, authentic Italian sauce he served while part of the mafia, and in that conclusion we see a man who has nothing left but his information bought freedom, his name, wealth, and friends flushed away for what essentially is the good of the law, but to him means nothing but deception and shame. That his bosses were going to kill him anyway, before he gets busted with cocaine, is moot, when you turn on your friends, your “family”, you’re the rat for the rest of your government protected life. In “The Departed”, Scorsese switches things up a bit, taking the plot fabric from 2002’s Hong Kong masterwork “Infernal Affairs”, he present us with two rats, both grown internally from the opposing sides to milk information for the bosses, and the effects the constant deception and intense pressure of literally being somebody else, of showing a mean poker face on the outside while subduing a pounding heart on the inside, is psychologically frustrating and altogether a dangerous way to make a living. The film is once again set amongst a gangster setting, but unlike the stark Italian Catholic themes of “Mean Streets”, and to a lesser extent “Goodfellas”, Scorsese this time shifts to Boston gangsters and Irish Protestant police detectives, where young mob trainee Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) rises in the ranks of the police department with an ear to the local mob boss, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), while trying to maintain a normal life as an upstanding middle class Protestant young man, wooing a pretty psychologist (Vera Farmiga), and pleasing his other bosses, police captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen), and special ops boss Lieutenant Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). Meanwhile, on the same wave length as Sullivan, but less sure of himself, or his dangerous assignment, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a smalltime cop just out of the academy with a family history of lowlifes and hoods, is put into the system as a mob informant with the task of earning Costello’s trust while reporting back to Queenan, and Mark Wahlberg’s skeptical, hard-edged detective Dignam, about Costello’s criminal dealings. Both of these assignments are incredibly dangerous, but of the two, Costigan’s is the most life threatening, considering the rigorous course he has to take to garner Costello’s trust, including numerous beatings and potential murders, and the strain it puts on him mentally, as Costello begins to suspect a rat in his inner circle, drives him to the brink of collapse, and to the arms of Madolyn, the police shrink, and Sullivan’s fiancé. In this story nearly everything is connected by one string or another, but the fascinating thing is nobody ever knows who is pulling those strings, and the ghostlike identities of Sullivan and Costigan in their adoptive environments, not to mention their sharing of the same woman’s ear, and bed, makes for a kind of cat and mouse game where the cat can sense his prey, but knows not how to secure it for the kill, because doing so may ultimately spell his own demise as well. Like “Goodfellas” and “Casino”, “The Departed” is another one of Scorsese’s gangster epics that takes its time establishing it’s characters, themes, and ambitions, but the lengthy running time is never a hinder to the entertainment value of witnessing arguably America’s best living director revel once again in the violence, profanity, and metaphysical underpinnings of the gangster genre, loading up on double crosses, mental burnouts, and more than a few strategically placed rock songs along the way. In fact, if ever there was a case for permanently retiring the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” to the opening credits Hall of Fame it’s here, as Scorsese brilliantly introduces us to Nicholson’s redoubtable Frank Costello, with a menacing, highly ironic voice over and lighting better suited to the Prince of Darkness (that’s who he’s playing anyway), as Mick’s classic vocals and Keith’s famous guitar riff plays us into the mood perfectly, much like the famous “Be My Baby” opening of “Mean Streets” introduced us, with accompanying voice over, to Harvey Keitel’s guilt riddled anti-hero in that New York classic. Nicholson is fun to watch as he obviously enjoys once again playing the Jokerish bad guy, but the best performance, out of a ridiculously star-studded cast of famous names, comes from DiCaprio, Scorsese’s modern day DeNiro, as the intense pressure and dangerous nature of Costigan’s deception within Costello’s mob forces him into a mental state of anxiety that could cost him everything he has. As he gets older, with each successive performance, it’s clear that DiCaprio has become one of our best actors, and if this entertaining film gets the notice it deserves from the Academy this winter, I wouldn’t doubt a nomination is in his future, and if he sticks with Scorsese, many more to come. “The Departed” is playing at the Movie-Plex 59. by Adam Suraf
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