Movies

The Departed, is one of the movies that has been hailed as a great piece of work in the new millennium. The star studded cast of actors and actresses alike under the directorship of renowned film director Martin Scorsese have come together and produced a marvelous piece of work. Some of its star casts include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and the effervescence Matt Damon among others.  

The movie is screened in Boston where the police force is waging a spirited war against organized crime. The star actor Leonardo DiCaprio who acts as an undercover cop known in the film as Billy Costigan, is assigned the duty of infiltrating the notorious mob syndicate run by the kingpin Costello whose real name is Jack Nicholson. The movie has a lot of twists and turns with one of them being the rise of a Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) through the ranks of the police department where he had infiltrated as an informant for the syndicate.

Another highlight of the movie is the confidence that the gang chief is gaining on the undercover cop. The movie becomes interesting as both the police and the gang learn about the existence of moles in both their organization and this leads to each of the two informants to do all they can in order to save their lives. The movie is truly a great piece of work and the coming together of Scorsese the director and DiCaprio the actor provides the perfect scenario for the theme of the movie to be greatly amplified (LoBrutto, 383).

The director in his wisdom and knowledge approaches The Departed differently from his previous gangster trilogy pieces. As one author directly puts it he has given the crime film a genre leaning rather than the personal influence that characterized his earlier works (LoBrutto, 384). The strength and appeal of the movie highly relies on the cast and the expertise of the director.

The mise-en-scene of the film has been considered a perfect one and this has mainly been enhanced by the use of blue skies and a superb use of light which ensures that the movie is in no way less appealing. The funny dialogue which at times references the Shakespeare marvelous piece of works also finds itself in the movie. Another striking characteristic of the final product is the use of mobile phones which missed in the previous remake of the film the Hong Kong Thriller.

The Departed has been described by some quarters as the return of the veteran to his glorious days. These sentiments are in more than one way clearly highlighted by the narrative of this exceptional work of a true genius. The narrative that the director uses in his movies, which revolves around crime stories often portrays his command and masterly on the subject. Credit however, does not only go to him but also to the star cast which includes the renowned Leonardo DiCaprio who is famed for his Titanic role.

One of the striking themes that the movie centers on is the loyalty and power that both Billy and Costia find themselves in. both find themselves in situations where they have gained trust from the enemy while at the same time working to fulfill their primary missions of being moles. The stage is set for a confrontation when both the gang lords and police force discover that there is a mole in their organizations and this leads the two men to take measures in order to protect their identities.

Another great aspect that greatly depicts the film as a superb work of a genius in the world of film industry is the inception of veteran cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Even though this exceptional cinematographer was well versed with high-end digital correction as a writer preferred to put it, he did an exceptional piece of work with the film. He perfectly knew what was entailed of him and as he admitted Im used to this process from doing film to tape transfers for home-video releases. With this type of commitment, the cinematography had to be perfect (Kadner, 2). Some of the effects that are clearly highlighted in the cinematography are the amazing manipulation of colors which were at times used to make the actors brighter or darker so as to enhance the theme of the movie.

Even though the veteran cinematographer admits that The Departed was his first feature digital intermediate (DI), the quality of work he produced is undisputable. One of the attributing factors that he found fascination in, when working on the film is the fact that the DI gave him more control. The cinematographer also admits that they did not spend a lot of time on specific scenes and rather gave the whole film equal attention which in the end turned out to be the main reason for their success.

Although the film has been described as one of the perfect pieces of work in modern times, the fact that it takes after a similar version the Hong Kong Thriller the originality part of it is wanting. However, this has certainly been up by the inclusion of renowned actors and especially the union between the director and DiCaprio in which many fans and critics alike have described as the perfect recipe for success (Ebert, 856).