Sam has loaned me a few DVDs, and for the last week or so he has been bugging me to watch The Departed. Yesterday was his birthday, so I thought it fitting it was watched then. I went for a run, started to inhale my dinner, and began the movie. Not a good idea. I was a little distracted by some other things at first, but then when I really got into it, the food was ... just... not welcome.
I used to be fine with violence on-screen. One friend will even watch my face when we're in a violent movie, and when I stop grimacing she'll face the screen again. But a couple of weeks ago I saw Safe House and didn't cope too well, and last night didn't go swimmingly either. Well, I should clarify. I'm not ok with violence to extremities, especially hands. So when Leo is having his arm, only just now in plaster, bashed against a pool table, I was curled in a ball with my eyes averted. That reaction happened a lot. (This is a really good way to avoid eating too much of anything during a movie).
This is a movie I will need to see again - just not near a meal-time. I loved all the twists and turns, and the deception on both sides - it was quite Shakespearean. Especially the ending, where pretty much everyone is dead. And the last man standing is the character I liked the least for most of the time, but who was (I think) the only one who really was who he said he was.
Often when I see a movie with well-known actors, I know who they are the whole way through. There's no escaping some people, no matter what part they are playing at a particular time. I was surprised that I kept forgetting who these actors were, they did such a good job. And not just their acting skills, but the actual casting. Leo's face is so perfect for this role - trying to clean up, but able to look rough. Jack Nicholson (with hair - didn't recognise him at first) so godfather-like, but also similar enough in features to both Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio that he could have passed as a father to either of them. I knew Mark Wahlberg was in the cast, but with longer hair and not showing off his guns in most scenes, as well as really offensive language, it took quite some time for me to spot him. And Alex Baldwin and Martin Sheen, similarly, looking almost trustworthy but with enough sleaze you doubt yourself.
One thing that kept swimming around my brain today was the idea of environment and choice. It seems (from my movie and tv watching) that often, the bad guys are bad guys because of their environment. If you grow up in a gang neighbourhood, it's really hard to get out of that. If that's what you know, it takes a lot of guts to even see another way, let alone pursue it. As humans, we need to adapt to our environment and society in order to survive. It may not always be legal, but it's human. So, Leo's character is far more likeable because we can see that he is coming from a scumbag environment, but trying to be a better, more upright person. Matt Damon's character, though, once we find out "Dad" is in fact Costello (Nicholson), is far less likeable, as he's got the good upbringing but is putting it to waste by being a rat. And that's aside from the fact that he's not the right man for Vera Farmiga (who is becoming one of my favourite actresses).
But there's even more to it than that. In order for the law enforcement agencies to bring down Costello, there was such a web of deception. So many people were rats that it seemed all Costello's crew were actually undercover agents, and most of the law enforcement people were rats for Costello. Finding the right people to do your dirty work, as it really was, would be so hard - but then, actually being that person would be immensely hard. As we see with Leo's character. Trying to lead a double life, convincing both sides you're loyal to each of them, knowing this might get you killed, trying to 'keep things on an even keel' (a line which pops up a few times) and deflect suspicion - it does your head in.
And this really ties in with personal identity. Who are you? Are you a rat, a cop, an ex-cop, an undercover cop? One thing Leo says near the end is, Being a cop is not an identity. Which has only just got my brain ticking over. When is your occupation your identity? When is it not? How do you know who you are? Getting very philosophical here...
Other small things about this movie: Having visited Boston many years ago, I really enjoyed seeing that scenery, picking out those landmarks, pretending to be there again. A few of the phone numbers were not - I repeat, not - 555 numbers. (I guess they were real, then...). Music - there seemed to be very little, and what stuck in my head was the opera. IMDb tells me it was Lucia di Lammermoor, and also reminded me of all the Irish and Scottish music. Duh. I don't know if it's an actual thing, or a scheme set up by producers or something, but older bad guys seem to have a thing for opera. I wonder about the psychology of that. Does it make us think more highly of them? Is it intended to mess with out brains? Anyway... All in all - a very satisfying movie. Ooh, it does come with violence and language warnings though. Not one to watch with squeamish people, or one's parents.
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