Editor’s note: In this series, RedFence Sr. Writer and Filmmaker James Roland takes a tour of this year’s five Academy Award Nominations for Best Picture. His reactions will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays leading up to the awards ceremony, Feb. 25.
Best Pictures Part Two: The Departed
by James Roland
The Departed is loud, fast and violent; it mixes intense performances with award-worthy editing and covers the whole thing with a nice layer of Irish-punk soundtrack.
Except for Brokeback Mountain, never in the history of cinema has a Best Picture nomination been so completely saturated with hot, sweaty testosterone.
Take for example Leonardo DiCaprio, who has chosen this year to begin his acting career. Mastering a South African accent for Blood Diamond and two urban Boston dialects for The Departed was only the beginning. The real miracle is that he actually seems manly. He glares and glowers like Hayden Christensen and the rest of that ilk, but now DiCaprio actually has the chops to back it up.
His character, Billy Costigan, is coerced into becoming an undercover cop just days after graduating the police academy. He enters a world of betrayal and mayhem while Colin Sullivan (played with perfect sleazy charm by Matt Damon) burrows his way into a Sergeant position in the Boston police force, working undercover for the local mafia honcho Frank Costello (played with The Shining‘s fervor by Jack Nicholson).
If the first twenty minutes seem complicated, the rest of the film is a joy to watch unravel. Costigan and Sullivan quickly become aware of one another’s presence but are unable to catch each other in the act. They enter into a game of Cat and Rat that speeds toward the final, bloody conclusion.
Watching this movie made me wonder exactly why Martin Scorsese received any honors for the uneven Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. While they carried a sort-of sporadic brilliance, The Departed shows the thumb print of a master; it maintains a professional Hollywood polish without losing its indie heart. It breaks rules and sets new standards for American thrillers.
