mahen1

The Departed is one of the best cop moves in years. I hadn't heard of Infernal Affairs before watching The Departed, and had only a vague inkling that The Departed was based on some Hong Kong film. For the first 90% of its length The Departed promises to be a classic, an all time great. It's a film of restrained violence that serves the plot. A cop (DiCaprio) is planted as a mole in a crime gang headed by Jack Nichoson. His task to report on the gang's activities with the eventual object of nabbing the whole bunch including Nicholson.

The ingenious touch is that Nicholson too has a mole (Damon) in the police. Damon's task is to report to Nicholson on the police investigations on his gang, so that Nicholson knows when to go ahead with a deal, when to keep low or in some cases Damon would clear the way of police so that Nicholson can go ahead with his plans.

Both these moles have been operating in their respective roles for years. So much so that Damon is actually becoming quite a good cop with a moral dilemma, while DiCaprio is becoming quite a bad ass with an equally desperate dilemma - he knows if he plays gangster too long he might actually be one for the rest of his life.

DiCaprio is desperate to get out of his predicament and begs the only two cops who know of his identity as a mole (Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg) to let him back into the police. Before his career as a mole began his records with the police were all deleted. Without Sheen and Wahlberg no one could identify Dicaprio as a cop.

This already tense situation is compounded no end when each side discovers at around the same time that each has a mole in the other's ranks. To ensure their own survival Damon and Dicaprio work feverishly to find out each other's identity, and the tension grips you.

We are taken through several set piece sequences to what seems likely to be an unbearably tense finale but at this point the move lets us down. There is one too many killings at the end, and I was left wondering whether the serious film-making I had witnessed approaching the end was meant to be taken seriously as the end sequences are almost comic.

Nevertheless the ingenious plot device, the powerhouse performances by the leading cast led by DiCaprio make this a very good, highly watchable film. But I was a little disappointed by the ending.

Not long after I found out that this was based on the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs (made in 2002) and proceeded to get my hands on it. My main motive was to find out if the ending was handled any better.

Since this is a review of The Departed I'll keep my comments on Infernal Affairs very brief. Suffice to say that the latter is much the better film. It's 50 mins shorter, but in no way loses out in terms of character development. As far as I can see The Departed was 50 mins longer only for the sake of character development. The ending of Infernal Affais is more restrained, and far more effective. Indeed Infernal Affairs is one of the great cop movies in history in any language. The Departed cannot be considered as anything other than a remake. All the key set pieces are copied wholesale from Infernal Affairs as of course is the plot.

Martin Scorcese is long overdue for an Oscar, and as everyone knows is nominated this year for The Departed. For a Director who has made such original classics as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to win for this would be almost an insult. No doubt he feels differently.

The story of a white trash early 30s woman (Swank) determined to be a good boxer and the veteran coach (Eastwood) who reluctantly takes her on board. The tale is narrated by Eastwood's gym buddy Freeman.

Solid direction from Clint, and a surprisingly good acting performance from him too. Swank does nothing wrong, and Freeman brings his usual trademark quiet dignity to his role. The story is simple. Swank surprises everyone with her boxing talent, Eastwood develops paternal feelings towards her and the two of them strike a father-daughter relationship. Swank's lack of a father figure in her life, and her clearly trashy family makes her relationship with Eastwood whose own daughter is estranged from him all the more relevant.

Alas in time Swank gets bested by a top hardcore boxer, and she has to contend with her shattered dreams. Taking a philosophical angle, she contents herself with the thought that despite her career ending defeat and serious injuries she lived a lot more and made more of an impact in her world than she would have if she never got into boxing. Better to live a couple of years with intense passion than a lifetime as trash.

Freeman won his long overdue Oscar, but this again highlights that Oscars are not about the best performances or best pictures. He is as usual good in his role, but he has given more impacting performances in more demanding roles in the past. Somewhat ironic then that he should win his first Oscar for this one.

There is the obligatory sideline goings on at the gym, which feel a bit contrived. However Eastwood's direction is very good, and the three principal leads know what they are doing.

My issue with the film's best picture win is less a criticism of the quality of the film than the politicking going on at the Oscars. Simple effective films like this have won in the past (like Ordinary People deservedly in 1980, Terms of Endearment undeservingly a couple of years later). But the best picture winner must feel like the best picture of the year. That Million Dollar Baby ain't. Eastwood has obviously built up a web of alliances in Hollywood, and is one of it's most influential figures.

I suppose the fact that this film won Best Picture shouldn't be particularly surprising. Almost everyone knows that the Oscars are not about the best. It's about what looks good, what reflects the style and power play of Hollywood the best.

David Lean's sweeping epic and his second best film after Laurence of Arabia. Great performances all the way and exquisite cinematography and music. Lean handles the vast canvas admirably well.

Based on Boris Pasternak's famous novel, this is a thinly veiled criticism of the Bolshevik revolution and its aftermath under the entertaining and touching guise of a love affair between the film's two leads - Omar Shariff's Dr Yuri Zhivago and Julie Christie's Lara. Indeed theirs is one of the great love affairs in the history of cinema. But herein too lies one of only two weaknesses in this movie. The sentimentality between the two leads is so overt that on repeated viewing it tends to jar a bit. The second weakness is the ending. It is contrived and in no way adds to the film positively. Perhaps Lean was getting affected by the very sentimentality that he helped create.

The supporting cast feature some great actors. Alec Guiness as the important Bolshevik official who is also Yuri's half-brother, Geraldine Chaplin as Yuri's understanding wife (whose attitudes some of us may dearly wish for in our girlfriends or wives!), Tom Courtenay as Lara's sensitive husband whose driven over the edge by the momentous events of the revolution, and most of all Rod Steiger as Lara's family friend, a complex character who is manipulative and predatory but not altogether a bad man. Steiger nearly steals the film with his performance - no mean achievement as a support player in a 'epic' movie.

Maurice Jarre's celebrated score heightens the emotions aroused by the powerful story and the cinematography is wonderful. The film is so overflowing with wonderful shots and colour that sometimes you expect it to burst on screen.

What more to say except that Shariff and Christie too are very good in one of the great epics in movie history. Watch this.