Departed
Given that he (along with Francis Ford Coppola and his Godfather Trilogy) is probably best known as THE guy that came to shape and define the modern day gangster movie, it’s amazing to see how a guy like Martin Scorsese, a guy with such classics under his belt as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino, could return to that genre as late in the game as his career was in 2006, and come up with not only maybe the single best film of his career (and finally garner his long overdue first Oscar win for Best Director) but actually manage to pull off a gangster flick that felt completely fresh and original in its approach when it comes to storytelling, acting, writing, and even editing, especially since the earlier films (which all had starred Robert DeNiro) all had felt like companion pieces to each other in the ways that they had portrayed mob life. But, without DeNiro this time, we instead get a stacked cast at the top of their games telling a story that is set in Boston this time and concerns The Irish Mob (of which it is said was controlled by Joseph Kennedy Sr. in the 20s and 30s before he managed to “erase” his past and propel his sons towards their political futures), being loosely based on the real life exploits of one Whitey Bulger (whom after this movie was made was finally caught in California after being a fugitive for years), who ruled Boston with an evil iron fist for decades. It also finally showed the emergence of Leonardo DiCaprio from under the cloud of near outright hatred that had haunted him since his terrible, mannered, pretty boy performance in the megahit film Titanic as a legitimately great actor that had finally managed to hone his craft, much of which was under Scorsese’s tutelage like in Gangs Of New York, an okay movie with a bad DiCaprio performance that had been salvaged by Daniel Day-Lewis. This however turned out to be his grand redemption, and solidified him as one of the best serious actors of his generation. Here DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, a South Boston native who saw much of his family spend their lives working for the mob, only to decide to join the Boston Police force in order to separate himself from their reputation. Unfortunately, upon graduating the Academy, that very family background leads him to being recruited as an undercover cop and he’s sent out to go covertly as a member of the crew of the biggest gangster in town, and as time passes and he starts to lose any memory of who he’s supposed to be while living in constant fear of getting detected of his true identity and purpose and dying a presumably very painful death, he finds himself living, thinking, and talking on the edge with both the gangsters and the only two high ranking cops who know who he is, all the while wondering what’s taking them so long to have enough evidence and move in so that he can be safe, as he is being told that they need enough time to “build their case”. The issue at hand seems to be that these poor bastards are just dropped into these situations so they think they can do some good for society only to be forgotten about and left hanging out there to the point that they really do become de facto criminals by default not only to maintain their cover, but because it becomes the only life they know. The main gangster in question is Frank Costello, played by the one and only Jack Nicholson in his first ever collaboration with Scorsese and what will likely be remembered as his last great film role before rolling off into retirement. Nicholson’s Costello is both a man of the shadows (as seen in the early scenes where he’s only shown in darkness) as well as being a power crazed wild man, reveling just as much in engaging in relations with (much younger) hookers as he is with making deals for drugs, weapons, and advanced technology with Chinese nationals. He’s a guy who’s seen it all and heard it all (with some of the best dialogue in the movie), never seeming to show surprise at the twists and turns in his world while at the same time growing ever more obsessed with who the mole is in his organization, even as DiCaprio as the one junior member seems to be the most likely suspect, leading the two to actually form an uneasy bond as Nicholson grows more impressed by the kid’s balls and refusal to back down even when asked directly. To the purpose of discovering who the undercover rat is, it turns out that Nicholson has his own top golden boy cop working for him in the department, a kid he had known and practically raised since childhood before sending him to the academy. As played by Matt Damon (arguably the lead character in his own right), he finds himself walking as equally as fine a line as DiCaprio (albeit for the purpose of evil), making himself appear to the other cops to be “perfect” while getting on his cell and calling Nicholson (whom he calls “Dad” on the phone) every chance he gets to inform him of any possible movement against him. Damon’s challenge is that he successfully plays a villain who almost constantly must appear to others to be a good guy, to the point where (in a mirror image of DiCaprio) he must actually become a real cop at times to bring down the bad guys, if only to maintain his façade, while he and DiCaprio remain on a constant collision course for nearly the whole movie. Three great, rich performances but some notice has got to go to the supporting cast as well, starting with Mark Wahlberg who oddly picked up the only acting nomination in the Supporting category (even odder moreso considering DiCaprio and Nicholson’s work as THEY both cleaned up in many of the regional movie awards) as one of the superior officers aware of DiCaprio’s true identity. Wahlberg has some great lines with a hardon attitude who talks a lot of shit, but it turns out that he is loyal to his undercovers and protects their identities to a fault, and it would also seem that his experience in the field along with his actions in the final scene would indicate that he had once been a covert military operative (maybe an assassin) himself. Helping him out is Martin Sheen as the very grandfatherly head of the undercover department who engages in an interesting good cop / bad cop act with Wahlberg. Ray Winstone as Nicholson’s threatening right hand man is the one element that harkens back to the old days of Scorsese, a tough as nails, cold as ice enforcer type. Vera Farmiga plays the slightly older, yet very sexy, police psychiatrist who treats DiCaprio yet dates Damon and gets involved with them both, with DiCaprio’s case almost coming across as an example of sweet mercy for his tortured soul. And Alec Baldwin slides in there as Damon’s commanding officer, a clueless sort in many ways but still picking up a handful of great moments himself. As Scorsese has almost jokingly quipped that this is actually his first film that has a PLOT, the fortunate thing is that William Monahan’s Oscar winning script is rich with compelling, thought provoking dialogue for its tortured souls to spout, always having to make sure that they keep things close to the vest and not tell even those that they trust the most every little thing about themselves lest they be discovered, all unfolding to a satisfying yet shocking conclusion in the end, one which proved that not only did Scorsese have more tricks up his sleeve, but had made a film that didn’t just stand out from his earlier gangster flicks, but from just about every other film in that particular subgenre ever made, resulting in a brilliant piece of work from an old genius…
10/10