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The Departed is an Academy Award-winning 2006 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin. A remake of the popular 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Siu Fai Mak, the film's screenplay was adapted by William Monahan from the original script written by Felix Chong and Siu Fai Mak. The film takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, where Irish mob boss Frank Costello implants Colin Sullivan as an informant within the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the police assign Billy Costigan to infiltrate Costello's crew. When both sides of the law realize the situation, the two men are dispatched to discover each other's identities.
PlotSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The movie begins in the 1970s in South Boston during the Boston race riots, when Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) takes very young Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) under his wing preparing him to be a mole for his crew. Years later, the audience finds Sullivan training for the Massachusetts State Police, with classmates, including Barrigan (James Badge Dale). Brown (Anthony Anderson) and Billy Costigan (Leonardo Dicaprio) are similar classmates on another class. Meanwhile, the cool and collected Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and the aggressive and foul mouthed Staff Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) of the Undercover Division assign Costigan to infiltrate Costello's crew. Image:CostiganvsWahlberg.jpg Costigan and Dignam. Sullivan is soon promoted to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) headed by the humorous Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin). Costigan gains notice of Costello and becomes a member of his crew. Meanwhile, Sullivan begins a romantic relationship with criminal psychiatrist Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga), who is also having sessions with Costigan as a part of his probation for assault. Unknown to Sullivan, Costigan begins a relationship with Madolyn. During one of his heists, Costello, through Sullivan, discovers that there is a police informer in his organization. In order to catch the insider, he requires each member of his organization to fill in his particulars in a form, including social security numbers. Costigan (the insider) knows that this envelope will end up at the hands of Costello's man in the police. He follows Costello (who has the envelope) into a porno theater, where he witnesses Costello handing over the envelope to the police mole (Sullivan), whose face is hidden in the dark theater. In order to discover the mole's identity, Costigan shadows him into the streets, only to lose him.
Image:Departed1.JPG The letter "X" appears at various points throughout the film as a homage to Scarface[citation needed] At the police precinct, a fist fight breaks out between Dignam and Sullivan over Queenan's death. Sullivan orders Dignam to hand over the information on his undercover, which Dignam refuses. Ellerby, who takes over for Queenan, orders Dignam off duty with pay for two weeks. Still trying to find the police mole in Costello's crew, Sullivan calls Costigan with Queenan's phone pretending to be the new agent assigned to the latter's case. A few days later, Costello and his crew are tailed to an old warehouse where they aim to retrieve drugs. When Costello demands it, Sullivan disengages the tails and instead sets up a police ambush at the scene. Costello's entire crew is killed in the ensuing shoot-out, Costigan slips away; Costello also escapes only to be confronted by Sullivan himself. Costello confirms that he is a FBI informant, after which Sullivan shoots and kills him. Back at the station, Costigan finds incriminating evidence on Sullivan's desk and flees. Costigan later sends Sullivan recordings of Sullivan and Costello's conversations, with a phone number. Madolyn hears one of these recordings and ends her relationship with Sullivan. Sullivan calls the phone number and speaks to Costigan, who reveals to Sullivan that Costello was the source of the recordings, which Costello kept as insurance to use as a possible legal immunity if he was arrested. They arrange to meet. Image:Departedhostage.JPG Trooper Brown confronts Costigan Sullivan attends Costigan's funeral, where a tearful Madolyn shuns him. Much later, Sullivan returns home to find Dignam waiting in his apartment, who shoots him dead and leaves. As the film ends, the camera pans out and a lone rat crawls across the balcony railing, silhouetted against the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House. Spoilers end here.
Cast
ThemesFilm 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-knowledge, even dreams."[1] The father-son relationship is a theme throughout the film. Costello acts as a father figure to both Sullivan and Costigan and Queenan acts as Costello's foil in the role of father-figure presenting both sides of the Irish-American father archetype.[2] Soundtrack musicThere 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 movie opens with "Gimmie Shelter" by The Rolling Stones and prominently plays "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys. It 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 "Gimmie Shelter" is featured in the film, the song isn't on the album soundtrack (because the Rolling Stones don't allow their music to be on soundtracks). Also heard in the movie but not featured on the soundtrack is "Thief's Theme" by Nas, "Well Well Well" by John Lennon and the Act II Sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Tracklisting
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. Tracklisting
Boston settingSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Image:Departedtrailerbostonskyline.JPG 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 Image:Departed onset 7.jpg Martin Scorsese and Matt Damon on the set of The Departed. The character Frank Costello was largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger, a real life Irish-American mobster in Boston; Whitey 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; Connolly is currently imprisoned for his role in Bulger's criminal activities. 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. Spoilers end here.
ReceptionThe 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 93%,[5] the sixth highest on Metacritic, and the twelfth highest on Yahoo! All-Time Top Movies (as determined by users).[6] As of March 22, 2007, The Departed is also the 2nd highest-rated film of 2006 on IMDb's Top 250, coming in at #68 in the all-time rankings,[7] and is among the highest-rated films of the decade on IMDb's "Best of the 2000s" List at #15.[8] 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.[9] Indeed, many critics such as Berardinelli felt that the film will eventually be recognized as Scorsese's masterpiece of the 2000s, as the previously mentioned films are considered masterpieces of their respective decades. However, Los Angeles Time Critic Kenneth Turan was unimpressed with The Departed, giving the film only two stars, calling it one of Scorsese's weaker films. 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."[10] 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.[11] 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[12] 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 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 first 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 has grossed $132,384,315 as of March 222007 and grossed $287,887,315 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 besting The Aviator's previous record of $102.6 million. The film won four Academy Awards at the 79th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Martin Scorsese), 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. DVD releaseImage:Thedeparted2discedition.jpg 2-disc DVD cover for The Departed Image:Thedepartedsingledisc.jpg Single-disc DVD cover for The Departed 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. Three subtitle tracks are available: English, Spanish, French. The three available audio tracks are: English, Spanish, and French, all of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1. The film was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray at the same time as the standard-definition DVD. The features on the 2-disc include: Disc 1:
Disc 2:
Blu-Ray:
HD-DVD:
Moreover, Future Shop and Best Buy stores released limited edition steelbook DVD packaging that contains all the features of the 2-disc version, plus some postcards. An exclusive Target edition included the original screenplay, in a booklet sized to match that of the DVD case. The movie was also released as a "rentable" movie for download from Xbox Live Video Marketplace in both High Definition and Standard Definition formats Awards and nominations
Boston Society of Film Critics:
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Broadcast Film Critics Association:
Chicago Film Critics Association:
Directors Guild of America Awards:
Las Vegas Film Critics Society:
Producers Guild of America Awards:
Southeastern Film Critics Association:
Toronto Film Critics Association:
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association:
Writers Guild of America Awards:
MPAA RATING: R (RESTRICTED) See also
Notes
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