The film takes place in Boston and the surrounding metro area, primarily in the South Boston neighborhood. Irish Mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) plants Colin Sullivan (Damon) as a spy within the Massachusetts State Police; simultaneously, the police assign undercover state trooper Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello's mob crew. When both sides realize the situation, Sullivan and Costigan each attempt to discover the other's identity before they are found out.
In the 1980s in Boston, Irish Mob boss Frank Costello introduces himself to a young Colin Sullivan.
Many years later, Sullivan has been groomed as a spy inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and joins the Special Investigation Unit (SIU). Another police academy recruit, Billy Costigan, is selected by Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam to go undercover as a criminal.
Costigan serves a term in prison for his cover and further commits several crimes. Sullivan begins dating police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden. Costigan manages to get Costello to recruit him into his organization. Over the next year, Costigan becomes increasingly involved. His mental state declines but Queenan and Dignam convince him to continue. Costigan begins seeing Madden professionally.
The MSP and Costello both realize they have moles in their respective organizations and task Costigan and Sullivan to find them. Meanwhile, Costigan learns that Costello is a protected FBIinformant, sharing his discovery with Queenan. He and Madden have an affair.
One night, Costigan follows Costello into an adult theater and witnesses him giving Sullivan an envelope containing information of his crew. Costigan is instructed to get a visual ID of Sullivan but is unsuccessful.
When Sullivan realizes he is being followed, he stabs a man, mistaking him for Costigan, and flees. Queenan suggests he follow Costello to find the MSP mole. Costigan calls Queenan and sets up a meeting to end the undercover operation, but Sullivan has Queenan followed, lying to the other officers that Queenan may be the spy. Sullivan also calls in Costello's gang to the meeting.
When Costello's men arrive, Queenan helps Costigan escape before being thrown from the building to his death. This causes a firefight between police and Costello's men. Angered by Queenan's murder, Dignam attacks Sullivan and is suspended. Timothy Delahunt, one of Costello's henchmen wounded in the gunfight, tells Costigan that he knows he is the mole before succumbing to his wounds.
Looking through Queenan's belongings, Sullivan discovers Costello is an FBI informant. A news report reveals that Delahunt was a Boston Police Department undercover officer, but Costello suspects it is a false claim so he would stop looking for the mole. Deciding to turn on him, Sullivan directs the MSP to tail Costello, and a gunfight erupts, killing most of Costello's crew. Sullivan confronts a wounded Costello, who admits to being an FBI informant. They exchange gunfire, and Sullivan kills him.
His assignment finished, Costigan goes to Sullivan to reveal his undercover status, unaware he is another mole. After Sullivan leaves the room, Costigan recognises the envelope from the theater on his desk. Realizing Sullivan was Costello's mole, Costigan escapes.
When Sullivan finds Costigan gone, he realizes he now knows his true identity so deletes Costigan's records from police computers. Costigan visits Madden, who has told Sullivan but not Costigan she's pregnant, knowing that Sullivan may not be the father, and hands her an envelope, instructing her to open it if something happens to him.
Madden finds an envelope in the mail from Costigan to Sullivan containing a CD of Costello's recorded conversations with Sullivan. Fearing Costigan has revealed their affair, she listens to it and leaves Sullivan. Costigan arranges to meet Sullivan on the same rooftop where Queenan was killed, then arrests him. Costigan calls Trooper Brown, an acquaintance from the police academy, but Brown pulls a gun on him when he arrives, unsure who to believe.
Saying he has evidence tying Sullivan to Costello, Brown lets Costigan take the elevator. Upon reaching the lobby, Costigan is shot dead by Trooper Barrigan, a friend of Sullivan's who is another of Costello's spies. Brown reaches the lobby but is also killed by Barrigan. Sullivan shoots Barrigan dead, so that he can frame him as the mole.
At Costigan's funeral, as Sullivan and Madden stand by his grave, she silently cries. He realizes they were involved, but when he attempts to talk to her, she ignores him. Later, when Sullivan arrives home, Dignam is waiting for him and, after Sullivan indifferently accepts his fate, Dignam shoots him in the head, avenging both Queenan and Costigan. The final shot shows a rat crawling on the rail of the patio with the Massachusetts State House in the distance.
In March 2004, United Press International announced that Scorsese would be remaking Infernal Affairs and setting it in Boston, and that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were slated to star.[15] Pitt, tentatively scheduled to play Sullivan, later declined to play the role, saying a younger actor should play the part; he decided to produce the film instead.[14] Scorsese's associate Kenneth Lonergan suggested Matt Damon, who grew up in Boston, for the part of Sullivan, and Scorsese asked Jack Nicholson to play Costello.[7]Robert De Niro was approached to play Queenan, but De Niro declined in order to direct The Good Shepherd instead.[16] Scorsese would later say that De Niro turned down the role as he was not interested.[17]Ray Liotta was approached for a role in the film, but declined due to a commitment to another project.[18]
Nicholson wanted the film to have "something a little more" than the usual gangster film, and screenwriter Monahan came up with the idea of basing the Costello character on Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger. This gave the screenplay an element of realism—and an element of dangerous uncertainty, because of the wide-ranging carte blanche the FBI gave Bulger in exchange for revealing information about fellow gangsters.[7] A technical consultant on the film was Tom Duffy, who had served three decades on the Boston Police Department, particularly as an undercover detective investigating the Irish mob.[19][20]
The Departed was officially greenlit by Warner Bros. in early 2005 and began shooting in the spring of that year.[13] Some of the film was shot on location in Boston. For budgetary and logistical reasons many scenes, in particular interiors, were shot in locations and sets in New York City, which had tax incentives for filmmakers that Boston at the time did not.[7][21]
Themes and motifs
Film critic Stanley Kauffmann said that for The Departed, Scorsese "was apparently concerned with the idea of identity, one of the ancient themes of drama, and how it affects one's actions, emotions, self-knowledge, even dreams." Kauffmann, however, did not find the theme conveyed with particular effectiveness in the film.[22] Film critic Roger Ebert compared Costigan and Sullivan's seeking of approval from those they are deceiving to Stockholm syndrome.[23] Ebert also noted the themes of Catholic guilt.[23]
In the final scene, a rat is seen on Sullivan's window ledge. Scorsese acknowledges that while it is not meant to be taken literally, it somewhat symbolizes the "quest for the rat" in the film and the strong sense of distrust among the characters, much like post-9/11 U.S. The window view behind the rat is a nod to gangster films like Little Caesar (1931), Scarface (1932), and White Heat (1949).[24] The film's penultimate scene at Costigan's funeral, when Madden walks straight past Sullivan and out of camera without looking at him, is a visual quotation of the famous closing scene from The Third Man.
Throughout the film, Scorsese uses an "X" motif to foreshadow death in a manner similar to Howard Hawks' film Scarface (1932). Examples include shots of cross-beam supports in an airport walkway when Costigan is phoning Sgt. Dignam, the lighted "X" on the wall in Sullivan's office when he assures Costello over the phone that Costigan is not the rat, the taped windows of the building Queenan enters before being thrown to his death, behind Costigan's head in the elevator before he is shot, and the carpeted hallway floor when Sullivan returns to his apartment before being shot by Dignam at the film's end.[25]
Reception
Box office
The Departed grossed $132.4 million in the United States and Canada and $159 million in other territories for a total gross of $291.5 million, against a production budget of $90 million.[1]
The film grossed $26.9 million in its opening weekend, becoming the fourth Scorsese film to debut at number one.[26] In the following three weeks the film grossed $19 million, $13.5 million and $9.8 million, finishing second at the box office each time, before grossing $7.7 million and dropping to 5th in its fifth week.[27]
Critical response
As per the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of critics have given The Departed a positive review based on 287 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Featuring outstanding work from an excellent cast, The Departed is a thoroughly engrossing gangster drama with the gritty authenticity and soupy morality we have come to expect from Martin Scorsese."[28] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, with 92% positive reviews based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[30]
Entertainment Weekly ranked it on its end-of-the-decade "Best of" list, saying: "If they're lucky, directors make one classic film in their career. Martin Scorsese has one per decade (Taxi Driver in the '70s, Raging Bull in the '80s, Goodfellas in the '90s). His 2006 Irish Mafia masterpiece kept the streak alive."[31]
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, praising Scorsese for thematically differentiating his film from the original.[23] Online critic James Berardinelli awarded the film four stars out of four, praising it as "an American epic tragedy." He went on to claim that the film deserves to be ranked alongside Scorsese's past successes, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas.[32]
Andrew Lau, co-director of Infernal Affairs, in an interview with 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."[33]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."[34] Although Lau said the script of the remake had some "golden quotes," he also felt it had a bit too much profanity. He ultimately rated The Departed eight out of ten and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam, he felt that the combination of the two female characters into one in The Departed was not as good as the original storyline.[35]
A few critics were disappointed in the film, including J. Hoberman of the Village Voice, who wrote: "Infernal Affairs was surprisingly cool and effectively restrained for HK action, but Scorsese raises the temperature with every ultraviolent interaction. The surplus of belligerence and slur reach near-Tarantinian levels—appropriate as he's staking a claim to QT's turf."[36]
The film marked the first time Scorsese won an Oscar after five previous losses.[42] Many felt that he deserved it years earlier for prior efforts. Some felt he deserved it for his prior nominations and the win was described as a "Lifetime Achievement Award for a lesser film".[43] Scorsese himself joked that he won because: "This is the first movie I've done with a plot."[44]
The Departed was released by Warner Home Video on DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray disc on February 13, 2007. The film is available in a single-disc full screen (1.33:1), single-disc widescreen (2.39:1) edition, and 2-disc special edition. The second disc contains deleted scenes, a feature about the influence of New York's Little Italy on Scorsese, a Turner Classic Movies profile, a theatrical trailer, and a 21-minute documentary titled Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and The Departed[46] about the crimes that influenced Scorsese in creating the film, including the story of James "Whitey" Bulger, upon whom Jack Nicholson's character is based.[47] The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on April 23, 2024.
Scorsese described the music as "a very dangerous and lethal tango" and cited the guitar-based score of Murder by Contract and the zither in The Third Man as inspiration.[50]
Canceled sequel
Although many of the key characters in the film are dead by the end, there was a script written for a sequel. This was ultimately shelved due to the expense and Scorsese's lack of interest in creating a sequel.[51]
^BBFC. "The Departed". www.bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved January 4, 2022. THE DEPARTED is a US gangster thriller in which a cop goes undercover with the Irish Mafia in Boston, who in turn have a informant working inside the police department.
^ abcdeKagan, Jeremy, ed. (2012). "Martin Scorsese, The Departed". Directors Close Up 2: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America: 2006–2012. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 50. ISBN978-0-8108-8391-8. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
^"2007". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 17, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
^James Wray and Ulf Stabe (February 4, 2007). "Scorsese takes top DGA honors". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
^"AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees"(PDF). Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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