The Departed


Watched The Departed again. A truly excellent movie, where even Matt Damon gives a great performance. I have to say that each time I watch it it seems to be shorter and shorter as it becomes more and more psychological. I can’t help thinking that as we get more and more used to DVDs and watching and rewatching movies, we enter a state that is closer to that of the director/editor who watches their film countless times during its construction. Each time you revisit a classic movie like this you appreciate new nuances and depths.

This time I was struck by the parallel mental collapse of both central characters. Dicaprio’s is all in the mind, he’s in a permanent state of paranoid terror, while Damon’s is physical, he can’t have sex or establish relationships. And ultimately both characters are equally trapped and controlled by Jack Nicholson’s Mobboss.

And the glorious ending where everyone betrays everyone and everyone is in turn betrayed just gets more and more intoxicating each time I watch it. The tag line is that it’s his best film since Goodfellas, but I think it blows Goodfellas out of the cinema. This just blows your mind.