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1* AdaptationDisplacement: The film was based on the Hong Kong film ''Film/TheInfernalAffairsTrilogy'' which was commercially successful in the Sinophone world and is very well known and popular among aficionados of Hong Kong cinema. Yet on account of GlobalIgnorance and language inaccessibility, most viewers outside of Hong Kong and Chinese-speaking regions, are unaware of it. Likewise, thanks to the fact ''The Departed'' has a much higher-profile director and cast, the original has been OvershadowedByAwesome. Having said that, the two films do have major distinctions that separate them despite sharing the same basic plot and dramatis personae. BigBad Frank Costello is based on real-life Boston mob figure Whitey Bulger and the film's plot also takes advantage of the unique multiple jurisdiction nature of American law enforcement as a ConflictBall[[note]]A feature that doesn't exist in Hong Kong at least not overtly, since the Feds in Hong Kong are the Mainland Chinese police and censorship would prevent Hong Kong film-makers from casting too critical a light on them[[/note]], the uniquely changed characters of Madolyn and Dignam, mean that the films feel very different.
2* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3** Costello [[spoiler:knows Costigan is a rat. The question is whether he's too old and psychotic to care or he believes that, as he's an FBI informant and has Sullivan's help, he is untouchable anyway. The fact that after Costello's death his lawyer contacts Costigan and gives him audio tapes incriminating Sullivan strongly leads credence to this theory.]]
4** We briefly see Sullivan as an Altar Boy in the opening montage and hints about his sexual trouble as well as the frequent jokes about "Catholic priest as pedophiles" suggest that maybe he was molested as a child. In an interview with the French magazine, Positif[[note]]Positif December 2006, interview by Michael Henry Wilson: ''"Il nous revenait de lui donner un tour d'écrou supplémentaire en imaginant, par exemple, qu'ils sont tous liés sexuellement, Billy, Matt, Madolyn et même Costello. Qui sait ce que Costello a fait à Colin enfant?"''[[/note]], Scorsese implied that he was molested by Costello as well. The character is in fact TheWoobie who is trying to make it out of the ghetto, go to Harvard and become a good guy and overcome his childhood, which means he's as much of a TragicHero as Costigan. Think of his final line to Costello, who Scorsese said might also have been a pedophile himself:
5---> '''Sullivan''' ''(to Costello):'' Is that what this is about? All that murdering, and fucking, and no sons.
6** Was [[spoiler:Delahunt]] really an undercover BPD officer or was that just made up by the department in order to get the heat off of Costigan? In the DVD commentary, Scorsese treats the notion that [[spoiler:Delahunt]] is a cop as a completely new idea to him and acknowledges it as a secondary interpretation of the actual events of the film.
7** Some viewers have interpreted Sullivan as being a closeted gay man. While his inability to perform sexually could just be genuine impotence, his attitude can often come across overcompensating masculinity, as he [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday tries to demonstrate an attraction to women in non subtle ways in front of others]], [[BoomerangBigot he's quick to demean other men by calling them gay]], and given Sullivan is a serial liar, it's not impossible that he'd be lying to others and himself by acting like a straight man when he's not. His sexuality is [[RapeAndSwitch made more interesting if you believe that Costello molested him as a child]], as the trauma of such a moment could be seen as a reason for him to hide any interest in men.
8** Did Ellerby [[spoiler:know or suspect Sullivan was the mole? Dingnam gets two weeks of paid suspension for assaulting a fellow officer, and when Sullivan says "I need those codes", Ellerby says "You ''want'' those codes." Alternately, he just felt Sullivan was too bent on nabbing Costello, out of ambition.]]
9* AwardSnub:
10** Many say that Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio should've been nominated for this instead of his work in ''Film/BloodDiamond''. It's been said that [=DiCaprio=] was hurt by voters not knowing whether to nominate him as a leading or supporting player, with him being up for major awards in both categories. Of course, there are some who believe the Oscars recognized the correct performance, and the nomination can be regarded as recognition for both in a way.
11** Quite a few people will say that Creator/JackNicholson should've been nominated in supporting either alongside or in place of Creator/MarkWahlberg. Given Nicholson not only had the bigger, showier role, but is also the most nominated male actor in Oscar history, most viewers unaware with the movie's award history would likely assume he'd be the more likely to get nominated. Much like [=DiCaprio=], Nicholson still managed to be recognized at many awards shows regardless.
12* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphys, and the ''[[Music/TheWall Live In Berlin]]'' version of "[[Music/PinkFloyd Comfortably Numb]]" featuring Music/VanMorrison.
13* BrokenBase:
14** Is this film a modern Scorsese classic? A good film but nowhere near his best? Or could it even be one of his weakest projects and undeserving of the Oscar buzz?
15** As mentioned below in ConsolationAward, many people believe the film only earned the Oscar for Best Picture to compensate for Scorsese’s numerous [[AwardSnub Award Snubs]] before then. But considering it was a critical and commercial darling, it’s obvious there were just as many audience members who believed the movie deserved its acclaim and awards.
16* CompleteMonster: [[TheDon Francis "Frank" Costello]] is an [[TheIrishMob Irish mob boss]] who controls Boston's organized crime. He uses his power to commit murders with impunity, laughing at how one of his victims fell over in flashback. In the present day, Costello has some government microprocessors stolen so he can con the Chinese government, killing his thief to cover it up. Soon after, he sends much-abused goon [[VillainProtagonist Colin Sullivan]] to [[TheMole infiltrate the Boston PD]], threatening to have his girlfriend raped if he fails. When [[AntiHero policeman Billy Costigan]] infiltrates Costello's mob, he tortures him to see if he's still a cop before sending him to torture and murder locals who don't pay their protection money. [[spoiler:After Costello is assassinated, it's revealed that he ordered all his records given to the police upon his death, intending his entire gang to be taken down with him.]]
17* ConsolationAward: Despite its 91% Website/RottenTomatoes rating, 86/100 Metacritic rating, and placing second of Scorsese's films on the Website/IMDb Top 250 (in the top 50), as well as being the highest ranked film of 2006, there are critics who believe the Academy Awards it received for Best Picture and Best Director were make-up calls for Scorsese's previous [[Film/RagingBull more]] [[Film/{{Goodfellas}} deserving]] [[Film/TaxiDriver work]] having been [[AwardSnub snubbed at the Oscars]]. Oddly, it's rare to find a comment suggesting this that specifically advocates any of the other nominees (with the arguable exception of ''Film/ThePrestige'', which failed to get a Best Picture nomination, though even that film's director, Creator/ChristopherNolan said that Scorsese would have been a deserving winner whether or not ''The Prestige'' was nominated). A handful of commenters posited that ''Film/{{Babel}}'' was a worthier candidate.
18* CrossesTheLineTwice: Costello commenting that the woman of a couple he just had executed fell funny? Dark. The hitman who killed them telling Frank he needs help? Hilarious.
19* EnsembleDarkhorse: Creator/MarkWahlberg as [[GoodIsNotNice Dignam]]. His [[HairTriggerTemper hot blooded attitude]], [[DeadpanSnarker witty remarks]], and [[SirSwearsALot colorful language]] make him one of the film's most memorable characters, and Wahlberg managed to snag the movie's only Oscar nod for acting.
20* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The movie often serves as a reminder that Mark Wahlberg really can, particularly after some memetic line deliveries in ''Film/TheFighter'' and ''Film/TheHappening''.
21* HarsherInHindsight: In 2018, Whitey Bulger, the inspiration for Frank Costello, was killed in prison due to his history of informing for the FBI. And Bulger's death wasn't quick either - his eye had been gouged out and his tongue had been severed.
22* HilariousInHindsight:
23** Creator/MattDamon is currently attached to star in a Whitey Bulger {{Biopic}} that will be directed by Creator/BenAffleck, although the film ended up in DevelopmentHell.
24** In 2016, Matt Damon starred with his ''Film/TheInfernalAffairsTrilogy'' counterpart Creator/AndyLau in ''Film/TheGreatWall''.
25** Mark Wahlberg's character has his famous line, "I'm the guy who does his job; you must be the other guy." Years later, he'd play alongside Creator/WillFerrell as a team of half-witted cops in ''Film/TheOtherGuys''.
26** In Frank Costello's racist opening narration, he compares black Americans negatively with Irish Americans: "Twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a fucking job, we had the presidency. May he rest in peace. That's what the niggers don't realize. If I got one thing against the black chappies, it's this - no one gives it to you. You have to take it." Two years after this movie came out, Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States, making Costello's comparison very short-sighted and outdated.
27* ItsNotSupposedToWinOscars: The last time a gangster movie or crime drama won Best Picture was in 1974 for ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'', and that film was a hybrid of gangster movie with period drama/family drama and HistoricalFiction, as opposed to a violent contemporary set film with several times the amount of profanity in all three ''Godfather'' films combined. Scorsese noted that he was surprised that this film won Best Picture.
28* LoveToHate: Frank Costello is quite the heinous gangster, but he's just too entertaining to truly hate.
29* MagnificentBastard: Sean Dignam is the foul-mouthed, abrasive, and cunning Sergeant of Boston's Special Investigations Unit. Heading up a variety of undercover ops with Captain Queenan, Dignam quickly and efficiently dresses down new recruit Billy Costigan and turns him into an undercover operative with a highly-developed facade. Using Costigan to gather all kinds of info on Frank Costello, Dignam keeps Costigan in line by threatening to erase his police file and leave him out in the cold. After Queenan and Costigan's deaths thanks to corrupt cop Colin Sullivan, Dignam uses his own deduction skills to sus out Sullivan as a traitor, and ends the film by ambushing and executing him just when Sullivan thinks he has gotten away with everything.
30* MemeticMutation: Thanks to this film, many people's first response to hearing someone ask for cranberry juice is "What is it, your period?"
31** Bily's [[http://mrwgifs.com/leonardo-dicaprio-goes-from-calm-to-angry-smashing-a-mug-on-a-guys-head-in-the-departed/ reaction]] is also a popular gif.
32* {{Narm}}: Costello imitating an actual rat at one point comes off as too over-the-top, [[LargeHam even for]] Creator/JackNicholson. The fact he's [[AsideGlance staring directly into the camera at the audience]] makes the moment even more jarring.
33** Speaking of rats, even people who love this film will often say that the final shot of a rat is just too on the nose to take seriously.
34* NarmCharm:
35** Alec Baldwin is tremendously over the top in his usual way but is all the more funny and enjoyable because of it.
36** Nicholson's performance. His unbelievable acting is completely hilarious, but it serves to make him so entertaining that the audience is forced to root for both him and the police.
37*** Going along with that, while Costello's rat imitation is unbelievably [[LargeHam hammy]], many do find it to be a legitimately funny moment. Helps that Nicholson seems to be going for intentional laughs there.
38** The rat has been called out for beating the audience over the head with symbolism, but you'll still find people who defend it and think it was a nice touch.
39* OlderThanTheyThink: The song "I'm Shipping up to Boston" is actually a cover of an unrecorded lyric by Music/WoodyGuthrie.
40* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/VeraFarmiga was still unknown when she played Madolyn and it wasn't until ''Film/UpInTheAir'' three years later that she truly became a mainstream Hollywood star.
41* RomanticPlotTumor: There's really no reason for both male leads to hook up with the psychiatrist, other than to have some kissing in the movie. It's distractingly-pointless towards the movie as a whole. [[spoiler: Unless you read into the scene where she tells Sullivan she's pregnant and Costigan is actually the father, especially since she and the baby lives while Sullivan and Costigan don't.]]
42* ShockingMoments: [[spoiler: Billy Costigan’s [[DroppedABridgeOnHim immensely surprising and anticlimactic]] [[BoomHeadshot death by headshot]]]] might legitimately be one of the most shocking moments in modern cinematic history. Even more so as the original scene in ''Film/InfernalAffairs'' [[spoiler:plays it much more dramatically with slow motion, rather than just coming right the hell out of nowhere]].
43* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
44** When Costigan is on the walkway at the airport and talking to Dignam on the phone, one shot shows what are clearly Northwest Airlines and United Airlines aircraft in the background. This narrows down the time period because the United planes are painted dark gray, when today they are painted white, while the Northwest plane bears a paint scheme that lasted from 2004 until the airline merged with Delta in 2010.
45** The preponderance of flip phones in the movie also dates it, since flip phones have mostly vanished by the 2010s in favor of single-screen smartphones.
46* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Ray Winstone's utterly bizarre and geographically schizophrenic attempt at mimicking his co-stars Bostonian accent. In the words of ''Esquire UK;'' "[Winston's] accent does an accent that manages to switch violently between Louisiana, via Boston, back to Essex, stopping in briefly at some unknown corner of Ireland." One seriously wonders if his character is even meant to be from North America.
47* WriterInducedFanon: [[spoiler:The idea that Sullivan was molested as a child by PedophilePriest and possibly Costello is one Scorsese has discussed in interviews. The film does suggest and imply it but it's not stated overtly.]]

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