[.ca] The Departed [HD DVD]

The Morality of the Criminal World:
In this movie, the director, Martin Scorsese, has created a stunning portrayal of how the criminal mind works to justify its existence. The story describes the life and times of three characters operating within the Irish-Boston crime world: Costello (Nicholson), Sullivan(Damon), and Costigan (DiCaprio). Each of these persons brings a sense of their own morality or justification to the role they play in the movie. Costello is the ruthless, Nietschean-style crime boss who lives by the pragmatic motto that if it works it must be right. Meanwhile, his understudy, Sullivan, a corrupt police sergeant, believes that moral reality lies in appearing to be right even if it means leading a double life. Then, there is the wild card in Costigan, the undercover cop, who believes that being right might call on him to commit wrong for the greater cause. With this setup in mind, Scorsese produces a movie that proceeds to interweave these three protagonists in a complex and convoluted web that is both fascinating and disturbing. This is a tale that involves a fight to the finish as to which of the above positions will win out. To no one's surprise, none of these three win except maybe the internal affairs psychologist. It is here job to analyze the likes of Costigan and Sullivan as they visit her office on a regular basis in a vain attempt to find out who they really are in this world of upside-down values. Great movie for triggering philosophical discussion. Beware of the violence and rough language.