Effing great!. Review on The Departed Movie

As an Indian brought up on stale stuff where kuthey-kameeney made your mom close your ears, there is something about movies that are filled with swear words that just makes you effing love 'em. Of course it would be puerile to like a movie just because the characters spout c, d and f (if you know what I mean!) at every available opportunity - it would seem like a high-school playground. It's how about how these words are played out in the larger canvas of the story that really makes you say 'What a effing director this Scorsese guy is!'.

The story is set in Boston where crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) not only rules the mafia kingdom but also manages to plant one of his protégés, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) into the police force. The police force doesn't lag behind planting William Constigan (Leonardo Di Caprio) into Frank's trusted coterie. The predictable turns happen and each camp realizes they have a mole in their midst. To further add to the drama both men fall in love with the same woman police psychiatrist (Vera Farmiga). The movie then proceeds to unravel how each character meets their destiny with a rather not-so surprising ending. The real strength of the movie lies in the way the director makes you want to see how a particular character dies since years of seeing desi-flicks gives one a fair inkling of which character would not make it to the credits.

Every character just plays their part without much fuss. Jack Nicholson stands out and just takes complete screen space in the scenes he appears, nothing surprising with that. The real treat is the fantastic screenplay liberally garnished with dry humor. Some of the lines in the movie are sure to become quotable quotes.

This movie would surprisingly fit into a nice Bollywood drama. It has everything that Indians love in a movie - action, a bad villain, a likable heroine and the heroes mentor who dies in the middle. Add a mother, three songs you have a hit. Farhan, where are you?