The Departed
The Departed is a 2006 crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang; the character Colin Sullivan is based on the corrupt Federal Bureau of Investigation agent John Connolly, while the character Frank Costello is based on Irish-American gangster and crime boss Whitey Bulger. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, with Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson and James Badge Dale in supporting roles.
The film takes place in Boston and the surrounding metro area, primarily in the South Boston neighborhood. Irish Mob boss Frank Costello plants Colin Sullivan as a spy within the Massachusetts State Police; simultaneously, the police assign undercover state trooper Billy Costigan 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.
The Departed premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on September 26, 2006 and was released on October 6, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States, with Media Asia Distribution releasing in Hong Kong. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $291.5 million on a budget of around $90 million and receiving acclaim for its direction, performances, screenplay, and editing.
It won several accolades, including four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards: for Best Picture, Best Director for Scorsese, Best Adapted Screenplay for Monahan, and Best Film Editing for editor Thelma Schoonmaker. The film also received six nominations each at the 64th Golden Globe Awards and the 60th British Academy Film Awards, and two nominations at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Plot
In 1980s Boston, Irish mob boss Frank Costello introduces himself to a young Colin Sullivan. Years later, Sullivan has been groomed as Costello's spy inside the Massachusetts State Police and joins the Special Investigation Unit. Another police academy recruit, Billy Costigan, is selected by Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam to infiltrate Costello's organization.Serving a prison term as his cover, Costigan draws Costello's attention by committing several crimes, and is recruited into the gang. His mental state declines as he becomes increasingly involved in Costello's violent criminal enterprise, but Queenan and Dignam convince him to remain undercover. Sullivan begins dating police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden, who becomes Costigan's court-ordered therapist.
Costigan tips off the MSP that Costello will be selling stolen microprocessors to Chinese mobsters, but Sullivan helps thwart the attempted sting operation. Costello and the MSP both realize they have been compromised, and Costigan and Sullivan are each tasked to find the opposing mole. Costigan learns that Costello is a protected FBI informant, sharing his discovery with Queenan. He and Madden begin an affair.
Following Costello, Costigan sees him give Sullivan an envelope of information on his crew. Costigan is unable to identify Sullivan, who realizes he is being followed and mistakenly stabs a passerby before fleeing. Lying to his fellow officers to have Queenan followed, Sullivan realizes Queenan is meeting with his mole, and informs Costello's gang. Queenan helps Costigan escape as Costello's men arrive, but is thrown from the building to his death. Fatally wounded in the ensuing firefight with police, Costello's henchman Timothy Delahunt tells Costigan that he knows he is the mole before dying.
In the wake of Queenan's murder, Dignam is suspended after an altercation with Sullivan, who learns from Queenan's files that Costello is cooperating with the FBI. A news report identifies Delahunt as a Boston Police Department undercover officer, but Costello suspects this is a ruse to protect the real mole. Sullivan directs the MSP to tail Costello, resulting in a gunfight that kills most of Costello's crew. Sullivan confronts a wounded Costello, who admits to being an informant. They exchange gunfire, and Sullivan kills him.
His assignment finished, Costigan reveals himself to Sullivan, but recognizes Costello's envelope on his desk, deducing that Sullivan is Costello's mole. Costigan flees, and Sullivan realizes he has discovered the truth, deleting Costigan's police records. Costigan leaves an envelope of evidence with Madden, who finds a recording he mailed to Sullivan of Sullivan's incriminating conversations with Costello.
Meeting Sullivan on the rooftop where Queenan was killed, Costigan arrests him. Trooper Brown, Costigan's police academy classmate, arrives as Costigan holds Sullivan at gunpoint, declaring that he has evidence tying Sullivan to Costello. Taking the elevator to the lobby, Costigan is shot dead by Trooper Barrigan, who reveals he is another one of Costello's spies in the MSP. Brown is shot by Barrigan, who in turn is shot by Sullivan, framing Barrigan as Costello's only mole.
Sullivan recommends Costigan be posthumously commended, but after Costigan's funeral, a pregnant Madden leaves him. He arrives home to find Dignam, who shoots him and departs.
Cast
Production
In January 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures, and producers Brad Grey and Brad Pitt bought the rights to remake the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs from Media Asia Entertainment Group for $1.75 million. William Monahan was secured as a screenwriter, and later Martin Scorsese, who admired Monahan's script, came on board as director.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. 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. 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. Robert De Niro was approached to play Queenan, but De Niro declined in order to direct The Good Shepherd instead. Scorsese would later say that De Niro turned down the role as he was not interested. Ray Liotta was approached for a role in the film, but declined due to a commitment to another project.
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. 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.
The Departed was officially greenlit by Warner Bros. in early 2005 and shooting began on April 18 of that year. 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.
Warner Bros. Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film excluding the U.K., Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, the CIS, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. IEG sold the film to Entertainment Film Distributors in the U.K. and Ireland, TFM Distribution in France, Medusa Distribuzione in Italy, Belga Films in Belgium, Central Partnership in Russia and Ukraine, Media Asia Distribution in China and Hong Kong and Long Shong in Taiwan.
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. Film critic Roger Ebert compared Costigan and Sullivan's seeking of approval from those they are deceiving to Stockholm syndrome. Ebert also noted the themes of Catholic guilt.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, Scarface, and White Heat. 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 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. 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.
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.The film grossed $26.9 million in its opening weekend, becoming the fourth Scorsese film to debut at number one. It is the latest Best Picture winner to debut atop the box office. 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.