Thursday, October 05, 2006
Review: The Departed
Adaptations of foreign materials to fit American screens have brought us some of the most bland films of recent memory. Often translating the text of their sources alone and failing to grasp the theme of the work with any competence, usually taking any of the discernable specialness that made the film work in the first place. The results of most of our forays into translating films for our audience have led to less than good feelings about the wisdom behind the act. So it’s equal parts refreshing and awe inspiring to see what happens when a true storyteller gets a hold of one of these properties, as Martin Scorsese (as masterful a storyteller as we have in cinema) did with the excellent Chinese thriller Infernal Affairs.
The Departed focuses on two undercover operatives. The first, Matt Damon is a kid from South Boston, recruited easily into Frank Costello’s (Jack Nicholson) Irish American crime family and eventually becomes a Boston City Police Officer to help Costello out. His counterpart is Leonardo DiCaprio. Splitting his youth between parents in both South Boston and the suburbs, he stands out as a conflict of cultures, split right down the middle. Being a brilliant student with a criminal family history, he becomes an elite officer and is eventually recruited as part of Martin Sheen’s undercover task force to bring Costello down.
Perhaps the most notably impressive thing that both the original film and The Departed do is deftly walk the line of such an absurd premise. Both Andy Lau and Alan Mak (Infernal Affairs’ directors) and Scorsese know how to not force the premise on either side, balancing the interactions so well that even the normally hard to take coincidences of the film flow so easily that we don’t even notice them. At no point does the audience need to stretch its imagination to fit the concept, and thank God, because with all of the thrilling action, we’d hardly have time. Both films have moments of intense tension (In the theatre I was in, people began to laugh at one completely unfunny point. They were laughing for catharsis, because of the awkwardness that intense tension brings about.), and both films play on the duality of the characters extremely well.
Where Scorsese’s film diverts most from Infernal Affairs is exactly where it betters it: the characters. Fans of the original will know that this isn’t an easy critique, Infernal Affairs has some great character build up, but The Departed ends up with some of the most memorable characters in film this year.
Jack Nicholson is as good a place to start as any. Nicholson’s Costello is one of the best villains that we’ve seen in a long time, and he shows a return to form from an actor who used to build iconic characters with impeccable ease. Nicholson plays his character as pure evil; within the first few lines, we know that if he has a good side, we’re not going to see it in this film. Costello plays through the film with no sympathy, an insane machine of criminal management, constantly in control of whatever he’s up to. It’s a reminder of what a great gift Jack has, and it makes me so happy to see him use it again.
As the leads, Damon and DiCaprio shine. Damon, a Bostonian in real life, carries his Colin Sullivan character as an outsider who desperately wants in to Boston’s upper crust, and the only in he’s found is crime. His desperations under the surface, Damon focuses on the puzzle he’s given at the moment and tries his best to manipulate the situation to put himself ahead.
DiCaprio’s Billy Costigan might be my favorite of Leonardo's characters. Wrought with frustrations of duplicity, he’s a man trying to find himself throughout the film. He’s torn from a class that he’s earned the right to be in and forced to live with the excised demons of his father’s failings.
All of this is shown in service to the story; not a frame of this film is wasted, and the economy of character study and story is nothing short of superb.
The supporting cast is great across the board. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg (also a Boston native) are excellent as police captains, using their natural charm to add some unexpected levity to the film. Their turns specifically make The Departed a much more entertaining film than you usually get when dealing with material this densely packed.
Vera Farmiga does a very good job as Damon’s love interest, and her struggles with truth and lies in their relationship lend even more weight to Scorsese’s look at the complexities of human personalities. Also notable are Martin Sheen’s Oliver Queenan and Ray Winstone’s Mr. French, solidifying an impeccable ensemble cast.
Arguably the best character in the film, however, is Boston. Sadly, the city couldn’t speak for itself as most of the material was shot in New York for budgetary reasons, but Scorsese knows that just as important as a city’s buildings are, a city’s personality really comes from its people. He straight out captures the eccentricities of the Boston attitude, seen especially through Damon and Wahlberg’s energy, who display the unique energy of that city’s lower middle class. This personality lightens the film’s mood while maintaining the integrity of its voice, and especially keeps the energy up during scenes where not a lot is happening, which stops the movie from ever bogging itself down, a bane of films as necessarily tense as one like The Departed.
Ultimately, this is as good as storytelling gets in the cinematic medium. The film is packed with great characters, powered by stunning performances, a great William Monahan (Kingdom of Heaven) script, Thelma Schoonmaker’s always-great editing, the as-always perfect use of music (this time featuring The Dropkick Murphys and Nas!) and of course the direction of the man himself. This is cinema firing on all cylinders. As an adaptation, it betters its source, as its own film, it tells a complex tale with great use of tension and crafted with as much skill as you’re going to find in modern film. As of right now, this film is 2006’s classic, a monumental achievement from cinema’s richest voice.
9.8 out of 10
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