Last week on the 26th of September marked the 10 year anniversary of The Departed, one of Martin Scorsese’s most successful films to date. It is now time to look back at this thrilling Boston crime epic and understand why it still deserves praise.
From a storytelling standpoint, The Departed is an incredibly thrilling film that contains themes familiar to the crime genre, but are delivered in an expert fashion. The classic concept of identity within a criminal enterprise where characters are willing to do anything to survive the challenging lifestyle of being on the edge. Another prominent theme is a father and son motif with the crooked mob boss Costello (Jack Nicholson) acting as a surrogate father figure for Sullivan (Matt Damon) and police captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) for Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio).
With running ideas about loyalty, truth and dominance, the film operates under a fine line of familiarity but also brings enough to the genre to be a thrilling original crime epic, despite being an American remake of Infernal Affairs. An interesting choice is the change of setting to Boston, wrapped in the gritty control of the Irish Mob.
It seems audiences felt a draw to the film’s top quality story, cast, editing and direction, with its success at the box office of $289.8 million from a $90 million budget. It was also received well by critics with Rolling Stone describing The Departed as:
“a defiantly uncompromised vision of a society rotting from the inside”
At awards season, The Departed also did not go unnoticed with the prestigious Academy Awards honouring the film with four Oscars, including Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Scorsese’s first win for Best Director and even the biggest reward for Best Picture.
Though it may not be the most highly regarded film from Scorsese, The Departed’s haunting tone however proves his dominance within the industry and that age certainly does not affect someones ability to create thrilling cinema.
From personal experience, one of my friends saw the film for the first time and analysed it. As a result, it made me watch the film again with this analysis in mind, having missed out on deeper themes and ideas. Like any great film, The Departed draws audiences to it multiple times to discuss and re-evaluate. Ten years latter, the film is still incredibly engaging and proves how good American cinema can get. If you feel hesitation towards the film, suggest giving it another chance.
What are your thoughts about The Departed? How do you think it has lived on? What is your favourite part?