The Departed

Quintessentially Scorsese.

Siddharth K
ThoughtTrace
3 min readJul 1, 2018

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Rat meets Rat, The Departed

The Departed is like watching a poker game between gangsters and cops. Where you know who has what cards (or you at least are led to believe so).

The movie revolves around two informants. One on either side of the law — cops and criminals. While their initial motto is to help defeat the other side, they end up in a recursive loop of finding each other. The graceful twists and swirls in the narration make it an impeccable entertaining ride!

Wonderful acting and riveting story apart, the soundtrack blends into the movie like water in the sponge. And if this movie wasn’t Irish enough for you, wait for it. Scorsese is making “The Irishman”!

Culminating Cuts

Cuts in this movie are awesome. Multiple scenes beautifully culminate in their ultimate conclusion like a cocktail.

My favourite would be Billy‘s counselling scene. The way he narrates his psyched experiences are aided with appropriate moments. The scenes cut back and forth until Billy ends up asking Madolyn for coffee. Within a few minutes, you are completely blended with Billy’s life. You can feel the tremors inside the stability of Billy’s character when you see him witness effortless murders and bloodbath without panicking.

Captain Queenan’s death would be another such excellent example in the movie.

DiCaprio was epic as Billy. Matt Damon was convincingly conniving in his role. And Jack Nicholson, he was Costello!

“Epic Moment” Award

344 Wash. Or wait, was it 340 Wash!?

The movie contains layered ambiguities. I will give the “Epic Moment” award to one such ambiguity.

One of the guys (Timothy Delahunt) in Costello’s gang calls up Billy but gives him the wrong address. 340 Wash, instead of 344 Wash where Billy is actually meeting Queenan.

This subtle mistake stirs this scene beyond imagination. It was so subtle, I actually thought it was a mistake in the film and moviemakers forgot to rectify it!

It is only in the dying moments of Delahunt, that we think he might have also been an undercover cop. When he pulls Billy close and asks him how he turned up in the right place with the wrong address, an epic piece of ambiguity uncovered itself right there!

Parting Questions

There are too many.

Was Delahunt a cop? If he was, did he stop being a cop after a while? Or is he still a cop working as a backup for Queenan?

What was the deal between Costello and the FBI? The movie is apparently loosely based on famous gangster Whitey Bulger and corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, who grew up with Bulger.

I am certain you will leave with many more thoughts and questions after departing from such an engaging movie.

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