My wife and I have just seen "The Departed" tonight and we thought it was an interesting movie. It provoked us to write this review which says something! My wife is a teacher and she has taught "The Age of Innocence" and while they are very very different there are some hallmarks of similarity such as the analysis of deception and the way powerful groups within society operate and manipulate. For example Scorcese seems to observe and comment on the Catholic Church, Police and Criminals to name a few. There is of course a commentary on the Irish and how poverty tends to push individuals into crime and abuse. Scorcese is always looking at contrasts and paradoxes. There are mirrors operating. There are two groups: the good and the bad but are they all that different? In the so-called good ie. the police there is the mole, Matt Damon. In the bad ie. the criminals there is Di Caprio. Is this a commentary on the human psyche? ie. are we a mixture of good and bad? It is about people living out a role, a pretence and not exposing the full truth. The psychiatrist is also living a double life. The only "truthful" person was Costello(Nicholson) because at least he was authentic ie. what he said he would do he did etc. Not that we admire this. He appeared as a Macbeth-like figure emerging from the back room with blood on his hands. The other aspect was that there were likeable aspects of some of the criminal characters and nasty aspects of the police eg. the initial interviews of the police graduates, Damon and Di Caprio by a destructive detective(I think he was called Dignum). It is in the end a violent and confronting examination of human personality and not just a commentary on the good guys versus the bad guys. We think it is saying something about the contrasting aspects of our personality as humans. In us all there is a mixture of aspects we are happy to own and some we are not eg. in the U.S. you are having to adjust to the fact that an Evangelist leader has been exposed as not the perfect picture he presented to the nation and it seems to be a shock. It is also saying something about the importance of being "real", being oneself and how difficult that can be because of influences that we locate outside ourselves but in fact are located internally. We have said enough. We look forward to others commenting on our review. Martin Scorcese if you are out there get back to us please. Rosemary(Schoolteacher) and Paul(Psychiatrist).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul David,

Not sure I will like this movie. I might take a look at it when it comes out on DVD. Great write up!
Donna A.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Paul David:
There are two groups: the good and the bad but are they all that different? Is this a commentary on the human psyche? ie. are we a mixture of good and bad? It is about people living out a role, a pretence and not exposing the full truth. It is in the end a violent and confronting examination of human personality and not just a commentary on the good guys versus the bad guys. We think it is saying something about the contrasting aspects of our personality as humans.

[Your point on the good/bad dichotomy is well taken and well stated. I am not sure they are easily differentiated in the individual, but seem to meld together making each of us complex, a truth Scorcese skillfully employs. This is a complex movie; as soon as you identify with one character you are exposed to another that begs for your sympathy. I think you are right: It is a relevant examination of our humanity, which we would love to be able to categorize into the good and bad. However, we change character from moment to moment, circumstance to circumstance. This movie leaves the viewer disturbed because Scorcese refuses to give us heroes and villans, or saints and sinners. For Scorcese it seems to be both/and, as opposed to either/or. This an "end justifies the means" form of morality enacted by each character and their personal agendas. Those who like films where good triumphs over evil will be disappointed. In this movie no one really wins, except for the viewer willing to admit they live in every character. Accepting that truth is what leads to greater self-examination as individuals desiring to be moral and as a society trying to define morality . Scorcese forces us question how self-honesty and genuine morality are intimately related.

has anyone in the film ever discussed about the title of the movie? i was wondering about it since it seems to be concerned about death rather than falsity so I was wondering what it referred about.

Matt Damon uses the title in a line, with the police all around a table at work, where he asks about a dead guy, "the departed". Before I saw the movie, I didn't think it was a good title, but it obviously turns out to be a very appropriate title.