by Jennifer Lim

Created on: May 11, 2009   Last Updated: May 12, 2009

The Departed story is very similar to a Hong Kong film production. As a matter of fact, it is an adaptation of the smash crime thriller, Internal Affairs which uncovers corruption in the Hong Kong police force and its involvement with the triads and they subsequently made 2 sequels. Martin Scorsese put the story together in 2hrs 30mins.

The film started with a young lad doing errands for a notorious Irish Mob boss, Frank Costello. Years later, two trainee copper, Colin Sullivan and Billy Costigan was seen completing their final training. Colin Sullivan is assigned to the Special Investigations Unit and rises through the rank whilst Billy Costigan was assigned as an undercover to infiltrate and gather evidence against the Mob Boss, Frank Costello. Billy Costigan was ostracised because of his family ties with the mob which deemed him unsuitable for any other cop role except and as a undercover cop.

It became clear now that the young lad who was running criminal errands for the mob boss, Frank Costello is now the up and coming rising cop Colin Sullivan. He is now assigned to the organised crime division of the Special Investigation Unit and their main target is Frank Costello. He is actually Frank Costello plant in the police force as his attempt to always move a step ahead of the law and to evade arrest.

So the good guy is actually bad and the bad guy is actually good. It became a cat and mouse game when both men, Colin and Billy realised that their plans was constantly sabotaged. The attempt to uncover the 'rat 'reach fever pitch with Billy getting tortured to test his allegiance to Frank Costello. He managed to escape detection but was soon caught up by Colin who later kills him. Did Colin get away scot free?

The Departed, like the Internal Affairs closely addresses the relationship of the underworld and the Law enforcement personnel. In some countries, it is common knowledge the connection between the underworld and the government. Some examples are the Yakuza in Japan, the mafias in Italy and the triads in Hong Kong. As a saying goes, you need to be a crook to catch a crook, there are good cops and bad cops and some just cross the line, leading to a life of greed and corruption.

The Departed won Martin Scorsese, an Oscar for best director, 4 other Oscars and 50 nominations. There was never a dull moment in this film, there are several times in the film when you thought the end of the film is near and a new twist appeared.

The two problems about this film are there are too many characters in the film; it's like a parade of well known actors appearing one after another. Maybe it was Martin Scorsese ploy to keep on injecting new characters and new twists so that nobody could guess the final outcome till the end of the film.

Anyhow, a good storyline with fabulous casts such as Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and more, there is never a dull moment in the film,The Departed.

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