Martin Scorsese and The Departed

When you watch The Departed, you understand why Martin Scorsese has finally won his Academy Award. While it will never pass the prestige of a film like The Godfather, it completely overshadows Scorsese's other masterpiece, Goodfellas. First you must learn to call this film a film and not a movie. There is a huge difference between a movie and a film. A movie is something you watch while eating popcorn and not being bothered to think while a film is a piece of art that makes you think and The Departed is the latter.

As with any good film, the performances are always the keys to its success. Jack Nicholson gives what I feel to be his best performance as an actor since Hoffa in 1992. His performance as Frank Costello is nothing short of brilliant and electric. Nicholson does not try to give his character any redeeming quality because as Nicholson has said, Frank Costello is the true embodiment of evil and has no redeeming qualities. The viewer will find itself wanting Costello to get his punishment and it goes to Jack Nicholson's talent as an actor to create this much venom against a character.

Matt Damon also gives a great performance in this film. I found it strangely amusing to listen to him talk in his native Boston accent, but it doesn't take away from his performance in the film. Leonardo DiCaprio also gives a strong performance in this film. As a matter-of-fact this is the first film I've seen him in that actually makes me think of him as an actor and not just some pin-up boy that my sister had a crush on when Titanic came out a decade ago. Watch the interaction between Damon and DiCaprio, because their characters are really what The Departed is all about.

One of my favorite performances in this film is the performance of Martin Sheen. I have only been a fan of Mr. Sheen because of his work on The West Wing, but he really does a great job in The Departed. The viewer really becomes interested in his character and that is also the hallmark of a great actor. Sheen's time on film is really not that much, but he really leaves an impression on the film that the viewer will not forget. There is one great scene in the film where Sheen and Nicholson actually interact; it's brief, but fun to watch these two powerhouses of acting come together on screen so late in both of their careers.

The biggest triumph of The Departed is the story. While it is a remake of a Japanese movie called Infernal Affairs, the story is pure American. The story is essentially based on that of James "Whitey" Bulger, an Irish-American gangster from the south side of Boston. Like I said, it is easy now to understand why Scorsese got his Oscar finally. If you have to see any one of the Best Picture nominees from this years Academy Awards, see the one that actually took home Oscar.