Martin Scorsese’s next collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio looks to be another winner, if the script is any indication. Come on in and we’ll talk about it maybe. Or I’ll talk, and you’ll read, and no one will discuss fandom in any way, okay? Okay?
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that The Departed, as written by William Monahan, is gonna be a hit in one form or another. It’s got Oscar-bait written all over it. Good guys becoming bad guys, bad guys pretend to be good guys, and bad guys who are just bad guys and don’t really pretend to be anything else. Lovely. The cast list alone would be enough to guarantee watchability for me, at least. Combined with this script, this director, and this cast, though, I feel pretty confident that I’m going to love this movie.
Whether or not you will is another story. Let me tell you what I know. According to this draft of the script, The Departed revolved around two cops in Boston on opposite sides. Colin, to be played by Matt Damon, is a rat working for the Irish Mafia. He’s a golden boy in the police force and considered above reproach. Billy (DiCaprio) is working undercover as a mole for the police. Neither man knows of the others existence at first. As the story unfolds their lives cross over one another repeatedly. Billy must struggle with his actions as he works his way into the criminal underbelly of his home town. Colin faces an identical struggle.
I’m not going to give anymore away in terms of plot, because I enjoyed this script and I’d rather not detract from the audiences viewing pleasure with spoilers. The Departed deals with the concept of personal identity and what happens when you violate that concept to achieve your goals. For example, if you perceive yourself to be a good person, what would happen if you had to behave like a complete douchebag to get what you needed? Would you now be a complete douchebag or just someone who pretended to be one for a little bit? Does the fact that you were pretending matter? Now imagine how it would feel if you did this every day for years. The line wouldn’t be there anymore and you couldn’t rely on a weakened self-image to get you through it anymore. It would be psychologically damaging to say the least. And it is for both Billy and Colin.
I’ve read that undercover work is a dangerous task on multiple levels. Beyond the concept of personal security, you have to deal with the constant temptations you must surround yourself with as well as the emotional consequences of assisting people you’d rather just shoot in the head and be done with it. What sort of person can walk away from that unscathed? You’d have to be superhuman. This is not going to be a summer blockbuster. It’s not meant to be, of course. It will be another marvelous notch on Scorsese’s cinematic bedpost, to be sure.
I haven’t seen Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong hit that inspired The Departed, but I’m going to give it a shot based solely on this script. If you can’t wait for The Departed’s 2006 release date, just rent Infernal Affairs to hold you over until then. That’s what I’m going to do.
Steven Dougherty walks the fine line between douchebag and douchebag who drinks a lot.
