In the 2005 crime thriller The Departed, Martin Scorsese moved A-list actors like Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, and Mark Wahlberg through the Best Adaptation script from William Monahan. A police officer infiltrates the gang of Irish Mob boss Frank Costello, while one of Costello’s mobsters infiltrates the police force. The film tracks both of these young men as they advance through their respective systems, exploring the lies they tell and the identities they take on as they ascend the power system.
If you’ve never seen The Departed, I don’t want to spoil anything for you. I will say that pretty quickly, the audience knows that Colin Sullivan (Damon) is the mob insider, while Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is the cop who works his way into Costello’s crazy schemes. Speaking of crazy, Nicholson as Costello serves up one of his best roles (the Joker, anyone?), managing to stay both insanely crazy while also being crazily insanely close to snapping or exploding on anyone and anything.
Inside the police force, Captain Queenan (Sheen) and his number one, Staff Sergeant Dignan (Wahlberg), play good and bad cop to Costigan while he’s inside Costello’s crew, as Sullivan becomes Captain George Ellerby’s (Alec Baldwin) guy to investigate the department. Both of them find themselves in the orbit of Dr. Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga), a counselor who they both taking a liking to pretty quickly. But romance isn’t the main focus of Scorsese’s camera. He’s most focused on what it means to be who you’re supposed to be and what happens when you lose sight of yourself.
The Departed is incredibly entertaining (and violent and profane). But it’s also an interesting investigation of identity, and the lies we tell ourselves. Can you be something you are not, so long that you aren’t yourself anymore? Can you tell so many lies that you can’t remember the truth anymore? In a world where the truth can be gaslighted and lies can be touted as the truth, The Departed still has something to say and now you can watch it in beautiful Ultra HD.
