XDA

Went with Sheila to The Departed, the new gangster film by Martin Scorsese, and wow was that a good movie. Best movie of the year. Everyone in it was terrific. The plot was convoluted but not impenetrable and you cared about everyone but Frank Costello (Nicholson) so it kept your interest intellectually and emotionally. As with most Scorsese movies, you wanted to take a shower afterwards. Let's get to the nuts and bolts.

It's kind of a remake of a Hong Kong film Mou gaan dou (in Cantonese) Wu jian dao (in Mandarin) and Infernal (not internal) Affairs in English. As with a lot of HK movies which play up the duality of man's nature (good v. evil--cop v. criminal) and have these polar opposites embodied in the protagonists who are often friends; and ultimately ask boring questions about life, the universe and everything--think any John Woo film (but without the white doves), Infernal Affairs has a yin and yang vibe going with polar opposites in places where they don't belong.

Scorsese has been making films since the 1970s and many of them are quite good. I love Mean Streets (1973) and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) , admire Taxi Driver (1976), think Raging Bull (1980) was well made, love Goodfellas (1990)(and to a much lesser degree its sequel/companion piece Casino (1995)) but most of the rest are not that good and some of the recent ones are butt awful.

It's set in Boston rather than New York and it's the Irish mob (rather than the Italian one, Nicholson's name notwithstanding). There might be in it a little realistic violence, which is to say ugly violence, with head shot after head shot and a Hamlet like everyone dead on the floor but one end scene. DiCaprio carries and uses a Walther PPK in .380 while Nicholson seemed to have a Baretta Cougar also in .380. Ray Winstone (who almost always is great) had twice a Smith & Wesson 686 (in .357 magnum) but used a smaller gun actually to commit murder using the poor man's silencer (a 2 liter plastic bottle). Since I write primarily a review, that is, a piece for people who have already seen the film (as opposed to a recommendation/tease), there will be a lot of spoilers in the following paragraphs so stop reading if you haven't already seen the film.
The Boston mob has infiltrated the Boston Police, the Mass. State Police, who are much more than rural traffic cops back east (and perhaps the Feds) while the feds, staties (see just above) and perhaps the local police force have riddled the mob with informants--rats (the storied undercover cop). This is basically an anti-rat movie, echoing E.M. Forster's recommendation to betray your country before you betray your friends.

The connection between the yin/yang characters (Matt Damon, a mobster pretending to be a statie and Leo DiCaprio, s statie pretending to be a mobster) is the less than classically beautiful shrink Madolyn, played by Vera Farmiga--never heard of her. They both bed her and one of the unexplained (kinda) mysteries is who is the father of her fetus, baby or whatever. I go with DiCaprio because otherwise why would her last words to Damon be "and I thought I was the liar"?

Another unexplained mystery is why the gangster Delahunt (the same actor was space marine Drake in Aliens) tells DiCaprio he's made him as the rat but doesn't tell the rest of the gang. The news says he's a local cop rat in the gang but Nicholson dismisses that as disinformation so he'd stop looking for the real rat (DiCaprio). It's hard to believe undercover fed cop Delahunt would have been involved in crime long enough to be the number 3 man and would throw Martin Sheen off the roof. I can't recall the details of the photo with FBI liaison so it's a wash. Many believe it's real redemption or appreciation of DiCaprio's kindness to him. Pretty weak arguments. Delahunt told DiCaprio 314 but he shows up at 344. Wow the right block but the wrong commercial address. Close enough for government work. Where was 314, next door? Everyone is infiltrating the mob but the federal case is never made against Nicholson. I vote for Delahunt as FBI liaison and the local agents don't even know it. Finally, when the staties open up on the van, Delahunt doesn't shoot back. Explain that away, doubters.

Finally, the open on my death envelope. Because Leo only trusts Wahlberg after Sheen's death clearly it is info for Marky Mark (who appears to have had during the whole movie a hard on to humiliate or fight every single person he meets) to finger Damon as the rat. How else would Wahlberg show up dressed for murder? Details that mitigate against that solid belief. Why not just give the proof to Wahlberg? (Leo wants to make the bust--and there is the timing. He gives the envelope before he gets the proof). Why then did he tell his black 'friend' from the Academy to call Wahlberg when he meets Damon, and why didn't Wahlberg show? Actually Wahlberg has the worst (difficult to believe) scene in the film when he's ragging on DiCaprio, telling him all the reasons he can't be a cop. I think many people were asking why the instant hostility and why can't Leo be a cop--he just graduated? But you soon forget that mis-step.

Just enough mystery to keep it interesting. A little fill in the blanks at the end. I loved the homage to the end of The Third Man. Damon waits for the girl after the funeral of her true love and she walks by without a word or even a glance, but then I'm a hopeless romantic.