Scorcese's signature style births another masterpiece

October 9, 2006 —

Martin Scorcese's The Aviator is the first movie I ever reviewed. If Scorcese's The Departed were to be the last, I could resign happily. This movie has it all: a compelling rat maze of a story, excellent acting by excellent actors, and that unique Scorcese mood all coming together for a movie of such quality that it can easily stand alongside masterpieces like Goodfellas.

A reinterpretation of the Chinese film Infernal Affairs, The Departed is a story revolving around mob bosses, double lives, and law enforcement officials - both corrupt and dedicated ones.

This movie also features one of the most stacked casts in recent memory, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, and Martin Sheen among several others contributing. There is no performance here that isn't above average, and DiCaprio outdoes himself again, surpassing his role in The Aviator to claim what is thus far the performance of his career.

DiCaprio plays a deeply undercover Boston police officer who is part of an operation to take down local mob boss Frank Costello, played by Nicholson. On the other end of the spectrum is Damon, playing an officer who is actually a mole for Costello.

Progressing from almost random scenes of outrageous violence and profanity into a deeply nuanced cat and mouse in which all the cats are mice and all the mice are cats, one becomes more used to the edge of the seat the further the story continues. This is a film filled with dangerous individuals, all of whom are allowed to develop into characters the audience knows intimately by the end of the movie.

Nearly all of the main characters lead some sort of double life. Even Costello has his secrets, and the teetering balance between order and chaos that is rested on for the majority of the film depends on these secret lives remaining as such from the other characters. DiCaprio's brilliantly portrayed Billy Costigan perhaps has his identity trod upon the most, and actively struggles with it more than anyone else.

It prompted me to reflect on whether or not any of these characters really knew themselves. It's heartbreaking when in one of the final tumultuous scenes DiCaprio insists to another officer: "You know who I am!"

There is little that cannot be appreciated in The Departed. The original core story may be adapted (A cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" rather than the original is fittingly included as recognition of this), but this is most assuredly a Scorcese film.

That is, The Departed is a product of one of the most consistently excellent directors of all time. This is my pick for the best movie of the year. Watch it, and go watch it again before viewing anything else in movie theaters.