Seen: November, 2006
Format: Theater
Rating: 8
I'm happy for Marty Scorsese. While I'm no sycophant, I do respect his work. I like some, I dis-like some, but I respect it all.
The Departed is a classic film. The themes are long-standing in American Cinema, going back to the first days of organized crime. Embedded here is a classic war between declared good and evil, with the soldiers lined up clearly, or not-so-clearly, on each side. If you played Stratego as a kid, you'll get this film.
The plot is convoluted, but not unnecessarily so. We have a clear view, perhaps the only clear view, of them. There are a few surprises, but for the most part, we're on the outside looking in at the gyrations they cycle through, each with their two agendas, the one they display and the one they hold dear.
The Departed is, after all, about deception. The way we deceive our enemies, the way we deceive our friends and lovers, and ultimately the way we deceive ourselves. The characters tell themselves lies in order to act the ways they do. They each in turn do things they know they shouldn't, act in ways they find true, even unavoidable, but in their own minds, inappropriate.
No one remains untouched here. Everyone is pulled into the maelstrom. If there's any allegory here at all, it's that deception hurts everyone. It's completely indiscriminate.
The acting is, of course, superb. If anything, there may be so much talent here that some of it is simply under-utilized. I'm particularly happy to see Vera Farmiga here. She's a rising star in my opinion, and fits in very nicely.
Ultimately I must admit that I was a bit chagrined to discover that this film is a re-make of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. It seems that Hollywood is making a habit of taking good foreign films and Americanizing them. It's a shame that good foreign films can't stand on their own in the American market. And I know that American films have been "adapted" for years in foreign markets. I can't deny that The Departed delivers, but I wish that the film industry would stretch itself a bit, take some risks and be a bit more original.
I was surprised to hear that Scorsese was considering making two other films to construct a trilogy. Then I learned that Infernal Affairs was a trilogy and it made some sense. Perhaps there's more of this tale to come.
The Good: Powerhouse acting
The Bad: Hong Kong remake
The Ugly: Hoist by your own petard
2 comments:
I disagree that this is a 'classic' film. It's a shame that Scorsese received an Oscar, after all these years and after so many great films, for one that is very easily forgettable. It just goes to show that either the academy felt pity that he had never received an Oscar in the past or that the competition was so extremely thin. I believe it to be the latter, but who really knows? One of the largest disappointments of the film for me was taking the Jack Nicholson character and making him a rat. Did EVERYONE need to be a rat? You don't just rat up a Jack Nicholson character when you're trying to make him appear so incredibly tough and intimidating. Once I realized he was a rat, the whole 'wise-guy bad-ass' mystique was completely gone (and I for one don't believe that was the intentional result).
Just my two cents.
GO LEAFS GO!!
You're right, and I wasn't clear. I meant to imply that the themes of the film were classic, not that The Departed iself was a classic. I also agree that this wasn't perhaps the best film for which to award him. He actually refers to it as his "B-film".
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