THE DEPARTED: Brilliant

It's raining remakes in Bollywood and despite the unfavourable reviews both 'Don' and 'Umrao Jaan' have received, the tide is unlikely to ebb in months to come. Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese, one of Hollywood's biggest daddies too has re-worked a Hong Kong action thriller called 'Infernal Affairs' into 'The Departed'. The difference is, while one hasn't watched the original film to make a fair comparison, given Scorsese's mastery over his craft and the spectacular performances he has drawn out of his sterling cast, the fact that he's done a remake, becomes an entirely irrelevant aside.

'The Departed' is a brilliant film in itself. Period. It has the pulsating quality of a spectacular thriller punctuated by razor sharp cuts, witty dialogues, heart-stopping action and innumerable twists to the splendid screenplay. Writer William Monahan transports the Hong Kong story to the Boston underworld where the bawdy, foul-mouthed Irish-American kingpin Frank Costella (Jack Nicholson) rules the streets. His opening salvo – "I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" – sets the tone for the drama to follow. His protégée –- one among a bunch of kids he's cultivated from a tender age -- Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) grows up and joins the Boston Police's Special Investigative Unit, but continues to work as a mob informant.

Simultaneously, another young man, Billy Costigan (Leonardo Di Caprio) wants to shake off his family's shady past and joins the police force. But he's promptly sent undercover to infiltrate Costella's outfit and help nab him red-handed. Thus begins the cat and mouse game of two moles, struggling to survive on either side of the law. It takes a while for both sides to realise they're being compromised, but when the hunt for the rats begins, the tension assumes nerve-wracking proportions. What's worse, both men fall in love with the same girl, Madeleine (Vera Farmiga), a police psychiatrist who is oblivious to their secrets.

Scorsese's magic touch is in evidence all through – notice the stunning sequence where Costigan follows Sullivan through the dark streets or the long, excruciating pause when the rats finally find each other on either side of a cellular phone call and neither dares to speak first. One of the most agonising scenes has a wicked, almost demented Costella trying to gauge if Costigan (frayed at the nerves from the constant blood-bath he witnesses) is the traitor in his gang. In a film stacked with half-a-dozen memorable performances, this scene has by far the best display of screen acting.

Nicholson's delightfully devilish portrayal of Costella invokes as much terror as his vulgar dialogues and body language draw guffaws. He's a chilling villain, much like Robert De Niro's psychotic Max Cady in Scorsese's 'Cape Fear'. Damon's crisply dressed, smooth-talking Sullivan is efficient, but gets clearly overshadowed by Di Caprio's tremendous act as the edgy undercover cop bursting with nervous energy. Equally delightful is Mark Wahlberg's cameo as the quick-tempered, foul-mouthed officer, Dignan who plants Costigan in the underworld.

The film's superb soundtrack uses snatches from Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb', The Rolling Stones and John Lennon to great effect, while Michael Ballhous's slick cinematography and Thelma Schoonmaker's impressive editing make every minute of this two and a half hour long film count.

'The Departed' has all the makings of a Hollywood classic -- a film that shows a master director at the top of his art.

Deepa Gumaste