The Departed (2006) * * * *

Directed by:  Martin Scorsese

Starring:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga

"This is the first movie I've ever made with a plot," Martin Scorsese said once about The Departed, which is a remake of a 2002 Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs.     It's among his most challenging and satisfying films.      It's intricacies derive from the two leads, who are respectively a cop undercover as a hoodlum and a hoodlum undercover as a cop.     Then, the two men are ordered to sniff the other out as their organizations prepare for war.     It all sounds predictable, but The Departed goes in directions that one can't foresee.     Scorsese films usually provide the viewer with an insider's look at how something operates, whether it be the mob (Goodfellas, Casino) or 1870's New York high society (The Age Of Innocence) or Times Square late at night (Taxi Driver).    The Departed takes a different approach.     Many of the characters don't have the necessary information needed to find their way out of their dilemmas.   They don't know all the angles.    They act on what they know, which may not be enough to act correctly.    It costs many of them their lives.

I'll tread lightly when revealing plot points.     The film opens with Boston mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) providing voiceover narration of how he runs his organization.     That's the last narration we hear.    He handpicks a youngster named Colin Sullivan (Damon) to be his protege.   The protege will soon become a mole in the Massachusetts State Police, which allows Costello access to information that will keep him out of jail.      Meanwhile, Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), whose family dabbles in crime, joins the State Police and is immediately assigned in deep cover to infiltrate Costello's organization.    This occurs after a very tense interrogation from Sgts. Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Dignam (Wahlberg), both of whom have doubts that Costigan would be effective at anything other than behaving as a criminal on their behalf.     Dignam doesn't care whose feathers he ruffles, which causes Queenan to observe, "He has a certain style.   We all have to get used to it."     Queenan and Dignam keep Costigan's identity a secret and essentially disavow any knowledge of him as a cop.     Sullivan continually attempts to gain access to the undercover agents' files, which pisses off Dignam especially.

Costigan becomes an integral member of Costello's group, which causes great internal conflicts within him.     He must do bad things to people in order to keep up his facade, which doesn't sit well with him.     He falls in love with a police psychiatrist named Madolyn  (Farmiga), whom he visits as part of this cover.

Madolyn is also dating Colin, which can lead to deadly consequences for all involved.      Both men become further entangled in their webs of deceit and betrayal to themselves and others.     Much of the suspense in The Departed is generated from Costigan and Sullivan performing juggling acts to keep their covers intact.    Damon and DiCaprio both do this extremely well, so we're never quite sure what they're feeling or thinking.    In a crucial scene, a fellow Costello hood tells Costigan after committing a murder, "I gave you the wrong address, but you came to the right one."    What happens after is one of many logical twists the film offers. 

The Departed doesn't follow the plot threads to a tidy ending.    Things do not follow the way a typical police drama would've followed them.    Characters don't die or live in accordance with their billing on the movie poster.    An inevitable final showdown between Costigan and Sullivan does not end as expected, which further ratchets things up.     The Departed is not a simple film in which good is rewarded and evil punished.    Good and evil tend to blend into each other and most of the characters live according to situational ethics.     What else can they do?

Nicholson approaches Costello in a most un-Nicholson like way.    He is so accustomed to power and excess that he has no qualms about dressing down a priest who attempts to chastise him.     Gone is the Nicholson smile which allows us to be accomplices in his exploits.     He is intelligent, powerful, but lacking in the charm that accompanies most Nicholson characters.      He also guards a secret which shifts the nature of everything Costigan and Sullivan know about him.     In a sense, the betrayers become the betrayed, especially for Sullivan.      William Monahan's screenplay allows plenty of levity, especially in Dignam's profane speeches and with Baldwin as Sgt. Ellerby, who trades quips with Dignam.    

Costello sums up The Departed's themes in one line, "When someone's pointed a loaded gun at you, whether it's the cops or the crooks, what's the difference?"    Most of the people here know exactly what he's talking about, especially since they may not be able to tell the difference.