Analysis

Here Lies the Faithfully Departed- Lies, Sacrifice, and Betrayal

Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film, The Departed follows the war between the Boston State Police Force and the Irish American Organized Crime. The film starts with Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) the head of the Irish mob talking about how the Irish came to run South Boston and how you nothing is given to you, you have to take it. Costello recruits Colin Sullivan, played by Matt Damon to work for him, which leads to this strange father-son dynamic that ultimately leads to their destruction. Colin joins the State Police Force where he will become Costello’s informant and climbs the ladder of success quickly. While in the Special Investigations Unit Colin falls for police psychologist, Madolyn.

Another key character in this film is Billy Costigan, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Billy is a trooper who got kicked out of the academy and went to jail to further his story as a criminal so that Costello would trust him. Billy was questioned by Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dingham (Mark Wahlburg) as to why he was trying to appear to be a cop, considering his families long and torrid history in organized crime. Seeing how he was a “double-kid, upper middle class during the week and dropping his R’s with his daddy on the weekend” they used this to get an informant in Costello’s crew. Billy feels over-whelmed by the role he is playing in this whole thing; he goes to see Madolyn for help, there he finds more than help, he finds someone he can be himself with, someone who is just as messed up as him. Thinking things are turning around he realizes Costello is an FBI informant and tries to meet up with Queenan who is being followed by Collins guys, and is killed. Seeing Queenan die, Billy uses this as an out, and tries to get his identity back by setting up Costello. Colin, fearing that he would inform on him to the FBI, kills Costello yelling out “Die, you rat prick.” Now that he is safe from Costello, Billy tries to get his identity back but while waiting in Colin’s office he sees an envelope linking him to Costello realizing that he was Costello’s informant. Seeing a way to turn him in and avenge Captain Queenans death, he tries to arrange a meeting with Colin, where he arrests him and is leading him to a car but gets shot by Colin’s partner who was also under Costello’s payroll. Trying to figure out how to get out of the mess he is in, Colin kills his partner and blames him for everything while also putting Billy up for the Merit of Honor. The film ends with Colin walking into his apartment and seeing Sergeant Dingham standing in his living room with a gun pointed at him, Colin’s, who has always been able to talk himself out situations like this before begins to talk but is shot by Dingham, who is avenging the death of not only Captain Queenan but also Billy Costigan.

        Many of Scorsese’s’ films focus on Organized Crime and the affects it has on the characters. The Departed is the first film he had directed that follows a plot and talks about both organized crime and the police aspects of it. It follows the lives of Billy Costigan and Colin Sullivan and how being an informant leads to lies, sacrifice, and betrayal.

While being an informant involves lies on a daily basis, Scorsese shows you some of the more un-needed and hurtful lies throughout the film. One of the biggest lies is when you find out that Frank is an FBI informant and never told Colin about it. This lie is detrimental to their relationship because Costello was like a father to Colin and may have been telling the FBI about his two-sided allegiance and could have ruined his police career and future political aspirations as well. Another relationship altering lie was when Madolyn didn’t tell Colin about her and Billy. Because she never told the truth about them she sabotaged her happiness and perhaps even Billy’s.

Sacrifice was also another reoccurring theme in this film. Like mentioned before, because of Madolyn’s lie she sacrificed her happiness and Billy’s. She was so focused on how corrupt Billy looked to society and how she would rather an up-and-coming state detective be her Childs father that she gave up on the true happiness that comes with being with the one that’s right for you. Billy and Queenan sacrifice their lives in this film while trying to do pure and honest police work. They represent the good that was battling the evil in this film, although they themselves didn’t get the satisfaction of putting an end to organized crime, they did “marginally disrupt” it.

The last theme of this film was betrayal. Betrayal is a major linking factor for all these characters. Costello betrayed Colin, Colin Betrayed Queenan, Madolyn betrayed Colin, and Billy betrayed Costello. All of these deceptions were for the simple act of self preservation, each trying to protect themselves from someone who could potentially hurt them. But also from self protection comes self- interest. These people betrayed ones that they cared for so that they could reap the rewards, whether it is security from prison time, happiness from a dying relationship, or just trying to do their job, all these characters have a link to one another.

Martin Scorsese’s’ The Departed follows the mold of his other films such as GoodFellas and Mean Streets by showing you the live of organized crime and those that it affects every day. This film also set a new standard for Scorsese to beat because it had depth and plot that he followed all the way to the end. The Departed had many reoccurring themes such as; lies, sacrifice, and betrayal that were demonstrated throughout the lives of the Billy Costigan and Colin Sullivan.

Bibliography

The Departed .Dir. Martin Scorsese. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson. Warner, 2006. Film