The Departed

In the 1970s South Boston, young Colin Sullivan is introduced to crime by Irish-American mob boss Frank Costello. By 2006, Costello has groomed him as a mole inside the Massachusetts State Police (MSP). Sullivan is accepted into its Special Investigations Unit, which targets organized crime. Before graduating from the MSP's academy, William "Billy" Costigan Jr. is recruited by Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam to go undercover, as his family's ties to organized crime make him a perfect infiltrator. His cover story is that he is an MSP academy dropout who served time in prison on an assault charge; he subsequently joins Costello's crew.

Sullivan begins a romance with police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden. Costigan also sees her as a condition of his probation, and they begin a relationship as well. After Costello escapes a sting operation, each mole becomes aware of the other's existence. Sullivan is promoted to the State Police's Internal Investigations unit and tasked by Costello to find the rat. Costigan follows Costello into a porn theater, where Costello gives Sullivan an envelope containing personal information on his crew members. Costigan chases Sullivan through Chinatown, but neither man sees the other's face.

Sullivan later has Queenan tailed to a meeting with Costigan on the roof of an empty building. Costello's men arrive, and Queenan makes Costigan leave to preserve his cover before confronting them alone. They drop Queenan to his death before engaging in a brief shootout with police. Crew member Delahunt subsequently dies from a gunshot wound, after telling Costigan he knew he was the informant. Television news states that Delahunt had been an undercover cop, but Costello recognizes this as a ploy to protect the real informant. With Queenan dead, a furious Dignam is ordered to take a leave of absence after a fight with Sullivan, but he resigns instead.

Using Queenan's phone, Sullivan reaches Costigan, who refuses to abort his mission. Sullivan learns from Queenan's diary that Costello is a protected FBI informant, causing him to worry about his own identity being revealed. Costigan learns, from a bank robber he is sent to brutalise, that Costello is an FBI informant. With Costigan's help, Costello is traced to a cocaine drop-off, where a gunfight erupts between the crew and the police. Most of the crew are killed. Costello, confronted by Sullivan, admits he is an FBI informant, and Sullivan kills him.

With the operation wrapped up, Costigan goes to Sullivan to restore his true identity, but he notices the envelope from Costello on Sullivan's desk, realizes he's Costello's mole and flees. Recognizing Costigan's revelation, Sullivan erases Costigan's records from the police computer system. Costigan forwards the recordings of confidential conversations that incriminate Sullivan as a mole to Madden, prompting her to abandon Sullivan.

Costigan arranges to meet Sullivan at the building where Queenan died, where he holds him at gunpoint. Trooper Brown, a friend of Costigan's from the academy, also arrives at his behest, but he has not brought Dignam as requested and instead treats him with suspicion. Trooper Barrigan from Special Investigations arrives and kills both Costigan and Brown, revealing that he was a second mole for Costello. Sullivan then kills Barrigan and frames him as the only mole.

At Costigan's funeral, Sullivan notices that Madden is tearful. She ignores him when he attempts to speak to her. Later, Sullivan arrives home to his apartment and is confronted by Dignam, who kills him. As he leaves, a rat races across the balcony.

In January 2003, Warner Bros., producer Brad Grey, and actor/producer Brad Pitt bought the rights to remake the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (2002) from Media Asia for $1.75 million.[7][8] William Monahan was secured as a screenwriter, and later Martin Scorsese, who admired Monahan's script, came on board as director.[8][5][9]

In March 2004, United Press International announced that Scorsese would be remaking Infernal Affairs and setting it in Boston, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were slated to star.[10] 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.[9] 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.[5]

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.[5] 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.[11][12]

The Departed was officially greenlit by Warners in early 2005 and began shooting in the spring of 2005.[8] Although some of the film was shot on location in Boston, for budgetary and logistical reasons many scenes, interiors, in particular, were shot in locations and sets in New York City, which had tax incentives for filmmakers that Boston at the time did not.[5][13]

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." Kaufmann, however, did not find the theme conveyed with particular effectiveness in the film.[14]

The father-son relationship is a motif throughout the film. Costello acts as a father figure to both Sullivan and Costigan, while Queenan acts as Costello's foil in the role of a father figure. Sullivan addresses Costello as "Dad" whenever he calls to inform him of police activities.

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 (1931), Scarface (1932), and White Heat (1949).[15]

Throughout the film, Scorsese uses an "X" motif to foreshadow death in a manner similar to Howard Hawks' classic film Scarface (1932). Examples include (but are not limited to) shots of cross-beam supports in an airport walkway when Costigan is phoning Sgt. Dignam, 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.[16]

The Departed was released by Warner Brothers on DVD in 2007. The film is available in a single-disc full screen (1.33:1), single-disc widescreen (2.40:1) edition, and 2-disc special edition. The second disc contains deleted scenes; a feature about the influence of New York’s Little Italy on Scorsese; a Turner Classic Movies profile; and a 21-minute documentary titled Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie and The Departed[36] about the crimes that influenced Scorsese in creating the film, including the story of James "Whitey" Bulger, upon whom Jack Nicholson's character is based.[37]

The Region 1 version has three available audio tracks: English, Spanish, and French (all of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1), and three subtitle tracks (English, Spanish, French). The film was released on HD DVD and Blu-ray at the same time as the standard-definition DVD. The 2-Disc Special Edition was packaged in a Limited Edition Steelbook. It marked the first time that an Oscar-winning Best Picture was released to the home video market in DVD format only, as VHS was phased out by the start of 2006.

There were two albums released for The Departed, one presenting the original score composed for the film by Howard Shore, and the other featuring earlier recordings, mostly pop/rock songs, which were used on the soundtrack.

Although many of the key characters in the film are deceased by the movie's end, there was a script written for a sequel. This was ultimately shelved due to the expense and Scorsese's lack of interest in creating a sequel.[39]

• List of American films of 2006
• "The Debarted", an episode of The Simpsons that parodies the film.

• Brad Balfour (2006). "Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Vera Farmiga and William Monahan (Transcripts of two 40-minute press conference sessions)". PopEntertainment. Retrieved September 10, 2007.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Departed

• Official website
• The Departed on IMDb
• The Departed at the TCM Movie Database
• The Departed at AllMovie
• The Departed at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Departed at Metacritic
• The Departed at Box Office Mojo