the departed

every so often, i like to stop by dean duncan's office to get his thoughts on the movies and directors i've been watching.  when i brought up scorsese, dean commented, "he's a tribalist.  that's how he sees the world."  i thought that was interesting.

martin scorsese is one of the most acclaimed directors of modern cinema, creating masterworks that inspire the id.  i've seen most of his major works (and a few lesser-known as well), and, critically speaking, the departed is his best since goodfellas, although i still cast my best picture vote that year for babel.

the story is adapted from a hong kong movie, infernal affairs, which the international cinema showed last year.  scorsese is a technical master of the medium, and the departed was certainly better shot; but i've found myself preferring several elements of infernal affairs's story.

the premise is that a police force has an undercover agent (leonardo dicaprio) in the local organized crime syndicate, and that syndicate has a mole (matt damon) in the police force.  it's a setup rich with story and theme options, more than can be reasonably explored in two and a half hours.  the hong kong movie focuses more on the mentality of the criminal mole in the police force, watching the anguished torment of a man whose soul has been left in the fire.  scorsese shows us more of the undercover cop, examining the conflict of a man who is having to follow criminals in horrible acts, immersing himself into the lifestyle all in the name of justice.  like the prestige, it questions how can one play a role for every minute of their life without letting it consume you; further, in such situations, the line of law becomes nigh-impossible to discern.  personally, i find the hong kong's theme more interesting, but, in a movie like scorsese's, making that sort of villain the main focus could very well be too much.  still, his movie is a very intriguing character study, and played out with trust that the actors can allude to their thoughts, and trusting that the audience will follow.

at it's core, though, it is tribalistic.  this movie is primitive masculinity, evoking every connotation of the boston irish mentality.  the men on both sides of the law operate in largely the same way: gruff, vulgar, and aggressive.  there are constant struggles for power, authority, and dominion, and equal rebellions against it.  violence is almost always the first resort.  references to the iron-willed stubbornness of the irish are throughout the film, as are scoffs at variety of softer emotions.  the men are obviously deeply troubled, and it's no coincidence that the films only female role of any substance is a psychiatrist (the few other women even seen in the movie are referred to only in catcalls or similar).  she is caught between the two leading men, each of whom are leading extreme double lives yet never reveal any of this to her, leaving her isolated in confused.  in a world where men are this way, is it any wonder than a woman would have to devote her whole life to psychology to have even a chance at understanding them?  is it any wonder that the director has been married five times?

like most martin scorsese movies, there are numerous moments of cinematic lyricism, sequences where the camera and characters together move in choreographic ballet beauty; sublime examples of composition, lighting, and editing.  but woven continually throughout is primitive man, expressing only base emotion.  the film's characters could learn from the tagline of the year's leading contender for best picture, the humane babel: listen.