Deception for Protection

Paper by Yoel Govrin. Viewed on DVD.

Few movies this past decade has drawn audiences to such thrills as did the movie The Departed. This 2006 crime and drama film, directed by Martin Scorsese, had won four academy awards including best picture, and features a dream-team star line up with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, along with other mentionable names. The film was actually a remake of a 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs, yet some critics believe Scorcese’s version topped that. The Departed takes place in Boston, Massachusetts and it’s main premise deals with two undercover informants, one from the police and one from the mob, who simultaneously infiltrate their adversary’s team. Throughout the film those two main characters, Costigan and Sullivan, have used lies and deception to hide their true identities. Deception, an overarching theme, is an important way the characters protect themselves, for when they are exposed they find themselves vulnerable and in danger. In the scene following mob leader Costello’s death, Costigan reveals his true identity to Sullivan and shortly discovers that Sullivan is the man he has been hunting: The ‘rat’ of the police force. Sullivan’s realization of this occurrence causes him to delete Costigan’s identity from the computer database, and Costigan concurrently sets off to expose Sullivan and destroy him as well, proving that deception is critical for one’™s own protection. The mise-en-scene and classical Hollywood narrative plays a large role in empowering this theme and its effect in the plot by creating a mood of dramatic proportions.

The scene in the police office after Sullivan killed Costello is not only a turning point in the progression of the movie and its outcome, but has ironic attributes as well. Up until this scene, the two characters were searching to find out each other’s identity, and when this finally happens it occurs under different circumstances than once thought. Costigan, rather than being discovered by Sullivan or the gangster crew, actually comes forth into the office and reveals himself, believing that he is safe at last after Costello’s demise. Yet the discovery of Sullivan as the rat has undertaken a new dynamic in the plot, for Costigan is thereon all for destroying Sullivan with the knowledge of his traitor identity, and Sullivan does likewise in order to protect himself from prosecution. The Mice-en-scene has attributed greatly to this drama, for Sullivan must act as the police hero while knowing he is a fake- a leech in the police force. The lighting is low in this scene to render a balance in the identification of the characters’ identity, and to promote a feeling of some vital occurrence in plot that is yet to come.

In the first shot Sullivan is applauded by his colleagues; aided by solemn music and police sirens to portray the irony and wrongness of the situation. The director decided to amplify this phenomenon and theme of injustice by having a women colleague thank Sullivan specifically, showing great admiration for this false hero. In addition, the audience is undoubtedly concerned for the well being of Costigan, and is worried when they see him sitting in Sullivan’s office, open and willing to share his identity to the rat as the undercover cop.

The next shot is inside Sullivan’s office where Costigan is waiting for Sullivan. Costigan sits in the chair looking tired, concerned, and fed up with his current identity as the undercover. All topics that the two discuss are eventually directed to Costigan retaining his previous identity. Sullivan continues to deceive, hiding the fact that he is the rat when Costigan brings up the subject. It is at this point in the scene when Costigan tells Sullivan his real name in order to let him access his files. This gives Sullivan the upper hand in the situation, for Sullivan now owns Costigan’s identity in his hands.

The next and final shot in this scene is when Sullivan is examining Costigan’s files profusely in the next room while Costigan waits. Sullivan is first shown typing away at the computer, bringing up Costigan’s file and clearly showing a ‘delete’ button on the monitor, hinting at a possible foreshadow. Subsequent to this, Costigan notices something on the desk, and the slow moving shot emphasizes a significant moment occurring. The close up on the envelope that exposes Sullivan as the rat is complemented by Costigan’s frantic look on his face in response to this realization, and the dramatic music in the background helps emphasize the direness of the situation. Costigan approaches Sullivan at the computer from behind simply to observe the rat infiltrator for a moment, and then flees the premises.

After returning to his empty office, Sullivan can sense something is wrong. Noticing the envelope misplaced on the desk, Sullivan realizes the situation at hand: he has been discovered. This event is significant in that the ‘game’ has changed as all the cards are now on the table, and the severity of Sullivan’s situation is accented by the frantic look on his face as well as rain noises in the background. Suddenly both men’s identities are discovered and known to each other, and they are vulnerable. For instance, immediately after Sullivan learned that he had been discovered, he goes into the database and deletes Costigan’s file in order to protect himself. Costigan in the next scene sets out to protect himself by giving his therapist a confidential envelope with vital prevalent information, and setting out to destroy Sullivan’™s name.

Previous to this dramatic occurrence in the plot, the characters were both protected by their deviousness and craftiness in the roles they played. This deception in identity is a key theme occurring throughout the film, and yet it is all driven by a certain means. This means is brought through the Classical Hollywood Narrative that characterizes this film, for there are always goal orientations, conflicts, and difficulties that the characters face in complicated stories and narratives such as this one. The main goal of Sullivan and Costigan throughout the film is to protect themselves while accomplishing the task their employers gives them. Costigan, working undercover in the mob must do all he can to keep his false identity believable so that he wont get killed, while still doing the task his boss tells him (wear a wire, observe the mob’s activities, find the ‘rat’. Sullivan’s goals are similar, as he aims to serve his boss Costigan while keeping his false identity and reputation in belief. The ‘private goals’ of these similar yet opposite characters is, like in a typical Hollywood Narrative, a romance. It is pretty ironic how both men fall for the same woman, the psychologist, and how she plays a role in deception just as much as the others by having sexual associations with both men. As seen, deception seems to seep through any phase of this film and engorge the totality of the narrative.

Deception goes hand in hand with identity, for it is primarily oneâ’s identity that is being concealed and lied about in this film. Yet as the deception gets more and more intricate and complex, so does the ability to retract from that role. In other words, the stakes get higher as a function of the deception. An hour into the movie, Costigan, who had been undercover for a year now, meets with Sgt. Queenan and Dignam to discuss the progress of the operation. Costigan complains that he is fed up with the operation, that ‘I can’t be someone else every other day.’ Costigan has been working as someone else for too long and it makes him edgy (proven by the medication he has been prescribed), for any slip up can cost him his life. Dignam, who likes to provoke conflict, tells him that he and Queenan are the only two people who know he’s a cop. He relays his power over Costigan by theorizing that he can easily delete his police file, which would make Costigan just another ‘soldier for Costello’. Costigan attacks Dignam for this statement because he feels threatened that his identity is at risk, for underneath the deception as an undercover all he truly has is his identity. In this Hollywood Narrative, these men are the only assistance Costigan has in resolving the conflicts he faces. Because these two cops are the only people that know he’s a cop, the fact that they know his true identity makes him powerless to them, and as we see later he becomes very vulnerable if something were to happen to them.

The cause-and-effect progression in this narrative is unified, for each scene logically leads to further plot development. Such is the case of the importance the characters place on securing their identity while discovering their adversary’s identity. In the first portion of the film, the characters know they can only infiltrate their assigned group by hiding their identity. Yet when it has become aware that there is an adversary informant on their true identity’s side, it becomes clear that they are vulnerable to discovery, and ultimately in danger. Thus starts the trend of the characters and the form in the film to search for the rat and to deceive in order to protect themselves.

The most significant cause-and-effect progression in this form of the film begins when Sullivan asks Costello to attain his mob’s personal information (real name, social security, bank account information, etc.) so that he can look them up on the police database and find out who Costello’s rat is. Costigan, aware that it would expose him and put his life in danger, refuses to give his information. Costigan, then on his own hunt to find the police department’s rat, follows Costello to an adult movie theater where the rat is meeting him. Significant to the dramatic facet that revolves this film, Costigan follows the rat (Sullivan) out of the movie theater and just barely misses discovering his identity. The chase was a thrill for the audience, as Sullivan stabs a man thinking it was his follower, and there was slow motion filming at the point where Costigan may have just seen Sullivan’s face, yet people walking by just block it from view. The music is dramatic and low lighting portrays mystery, pertaining to the concealing of identity. If Costigan had seen Sullivan’s face, or visa versa, this seen would have been a turning point, yet the form continues as the identity was concealed and the hunt for the rat goes on.

Trust and mistrust is an obvious sub factor in the theme of lies and deception, and it plays a significant role in the progression and form of the film. In Costello’s attempt to decipher if Costigan is his rat or not, he sits down and speaks with him at dinner. Probable audience anticipation occurs as accusations are made and a gun is drawn on Costigan, yet his witty dialect saved him and resulted in Costello trusting him. Costigan later meets with Queenan on an abandoned building rooftop to discuss the current situation and to divulge Costello’s drug trafficking information. Costigan becomes worried that his main goal of securing his false identity wont continue for much longer, stating that ‘sooner or later heâ’s going to find out who I am and he’s going to kill me’. Queenan promises Costigan that he will get him out of the situation and back to his original identity. In the dramatic chain of events that follow, Costello’s mob permeates the building and Queenan is killed. Succeeding this event, Dignam takes a leave of absence, and Costigan finds himself in a dire position: The only people he could trust and know his true identity are gone, and Costigan is not only stuck in his own deceptive role and identity in the mob, but he is vulnerable for there is no one he can truly trust.

Trust and mistrust go a long way, and in either direction. For example, Sullivan finds a hint in Queenan’s notebook that Costello may be an informant for the FBI. Nervous that Costello would turn Sullivan to the FBI, Sullivan uses Costigan’s Intel to create a police ambush that lead to the demise of Costello and his mob. After the office scene where Sullivan and Costigan learn of each other’s identities, Sullivan is sent a CD that shows evidence of Sullivan’s role in Costello’s organization. Sullivan calls Costigan and Costigan explains that Costello’s FBI leverage- his immunity from prosecution if he were to get arrested, was bestowed upon Costigan after his death, for Costigan was the only person Costello really trusted.

Due to Costigan’s impeccable deception in his identity in the mob, it seems he had fostered a way to protect himself from Sullivan’s destruction of his police files. Costigan uses the CD as leverage to meet with Sullivan at the same rooftop where Queenan was killed. All is on the table now, for both men’s identities are revealed, and Costigan handcuffs Sullivan to arrest and prosecute him with the evidence. Yet as their elevator reaches the bottom floor, Costigan is shot and killed by police Trooper Barrington who states that he is Costello’s second police informer, that Costigan was going to turn them both in, and that him and Sullivan must stick together. Barrington’s trust in Sullivan turned to be his mistake, for Sullivan momentarily pretended to accept his request for solidarity, and then killed Barrington in order to fathom the situation on his own. Sullivan manipulated the crime scene and deceived the press into believing Barrington was the lone rat in the police force, leaving him home free. Lesson learned on all ends that revealing one’s true identity creates vulnerability, and vigilance with trust is important for one’s protection.

The office scene where Sullivan and Costigan discover each other’s identities exemplifies how revealing one’s true self leaves that person vulnerable. Lies and deceit are an efficient way to protect oneself, yet once trust or mistrust come into the equation it makes it very difficult to sustain that protection, for it is difficult to know if that person will ultimately be there on our side. In the course of the film, Sullivan and Costigan’s true identities were concealed, giving them a protection in the group they were infiltrating. Each of them had a trusted guide: Costello to Sullivan and Queenan to Costigan, yet once mistrust or unreliability occurred, as Queenan’s death left Costigan alone and Sullivan had suspicions of Costello’s FBI affair, then the characters became vulnerable with nothing to fall back on but themselves. The thrill the audience experiences is engender by a rollercoaster of the intricate narrative and accompanied by the stout mise-en-scene, and the illumination of the character’s true identities to each other fashioned a duel that could only conclude with an epic climax. The office scene is a causeway to understanding just how critical ambiguity and deception is to our protection, for in the end both characters were exposed, and both characters were killed.

Works Cited:

“The Departed (2006) – IMDb.” The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 12 Nov. 2010.


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