Antihero The Departed Show Don't Tell 1080p

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The Departed is a complex drama with multiple narratives it must tell.

[00:00:04]First and foremost, it must give us the perspective of the two main characters.

[00:00:09]Billy Costigan, the mole inside the mob, and Colin Sullivan, the mole inside the police force.

[00:00:15]The film must deal with the cat and mouse style pursuit of one mole after the other.

[00:00:20]It must deal with the organizations, the Irish-American mob run by Frank Costello, the special investigations unit [music] run by Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam.

[00:00:31]And it must deal with the relationships of Madolyn to both Colin and Billy.

[00:00:36]But in a movie where the majority of the story is about a chase, how do you slow down to allow the audience to relate to the characters and understand their needs and wants?

[00:00:56]Show, don't tell is an old writing adage that means you show the reader information rather than telling [music] them it.

[00:01:03]Given the visual medium of film with framing and timing, this is something most films do by design.

[00:01:10]But The Departed excels at it.

[00:01:12]And not just because its director, Martin Scorsese, is a master of the craft. But to keep up the pacing of the chase aspect, The Departed excels at showing not telling out of necessity.

[00:01:25]Some of the ways the film does this are so quick, it's hard to catch them all in the first viewing.

[00:01:30]Note the ways in which Billy and Sullivan's differences are presented.

[00:01:35]When we first meet Billy, it is pencil in hand [music] taking a test.

[00:01:39]The implication being he is academic, intelligent, precise.

[00:01:44]He fills the answers with confidence.

[00:01:47]When we first meet Sullivan, it is in a classroom.

[00:01:50]But he's learning about brain splatter while firing at the gun range [music] and playing rugby.

[00:01:55]He's more of a brute.

[00:01:58]We then see Billy running in a straight line with fellow cadets.

[00:02:02]He is orderly, plays by the rules.

[00:02:04]While Sullivan drinks beer on a park bench and [music] stares out at the Massachusetts State House, presumably dreaming about one day working [music] there.

[00:02:13]His friend says, >> Forget it.

[00:02:16]Your father was a janitor, his son's only a cop.

[00:02:20]>> In fact, this ambition is something that's used a lot to distinguish between the two characters.

[00:02:25]Sullivan is always in conversations with other characters about advancing his career.

[00:02:30]>> You're a worker.

[00:02:31]You'll rise fast.

[00:02:32]>> Like a 12-year-old's dick.

[00:02:34]>> Work hard and you'll rise fast and you're in the best possible position in the department.

[00:02:38]>> Are you a statey?

[00:02:38]>> Uh yeah, I am. I'm I'm actually going [music] to law school also.

[00:02:42]>> Hey, this will get Captain Alby on the 6:00 news.

[00:02:45]>> The one way that you get ahead.

[00:02:46]>> Marriage is an important part of getting ahead. Lets people know you're not a homo.

[00:02:50]Married guy seems more stable. People see the ring, they think at least somebody can stand the side of a [ __ ] >> Yeah, I'm going to need the identity of your undercovers.

[00:02:56]>> Blow me, all right? Not literally though, unfortunately there's no promotion involved for you.

[00:02:59]>> Contrast this to Billy, who when Sullivan tells him he's being nominated for the Medal of Merit, Billy responds, >> Oh, yeah?

[00:03:07]>> Yeah.

[00:03:09]>> It's kind of like a gold star around here, huh?

[00:03:12]>> It's the highest honor we got.

[00:03:15]>> All the work Billy has done undercover, and he wants no reward for it whatsoever.

[00:03:21]There's also a number of differences in how the two main characters relate to women.

[00:03:26]The different way women view the two characters is shown early on.

[00:03:30]With woman outside an office leaning forward and congratulating Sullivan, while she barely regards Billy at all.

[00:03:37]>> You can go in there now.

[00:03:40]>> And later on we see a scene where Billy looks up at a female nurse with interest, while she pretends he's not there.

[00:03:46]Meanwhile, Sullivan is on a date.

[00:03:49]>> You should see your face.

[00:03:51]>> Don't you?

[00:03:51]>> Of course I want to see you again.

[00:03:53]>> But the most interesting difference in the way they relate to women >> [music] >> is in the way they talk to Madeline.

[00:03:58]Sullivan is dating Madeline, but he doesn't seem to have gears beyond flirtation.

[00:04:03]>> So, why do you make as much as a guidance counselor?

[00:04:06]>> Because I believe in public service.

[00:04:10]>> He doesn't want to get into her beliefs.

[00:04:12]He wants the relationship to be playful and easy.

[00:04:15]Nor does he seem interested in where she comes from.

[00:04:19]>> All right, we're not having this out.

[00:04:20]>> What?

[00:04:21]>> Hey, you don't see any pictures of where I came from.

[00:04:24]>> Billy, on the other hand, on his date with her, only wants to know who she is, how she thinks, what she believes, how she really feels.

[00:04:33]>> You love him?

[00:04:37]>> It's a pretty serious relationship, yeah.

[00:04:39]>> Mhm.

[00:04:40]>> And when Billy sees that picture of her as a kid that Sullivan rejected, he puts it on the wall to be displayed.

[00:04:48]Just through these moments and actions, and the way the men are framed, we see their differences.

[00:04:54]We see that Sullivan is obsessed with advancing his career, but he never says outright what he wants. We have to discern that from the scenes he's in.

[00:05:04]>> If I did it full-time, law school, I'd be through in a year.

[00:05:11]If I wasn't a trooper.

[00:05:13]>> One of my favorite sequences of show, don't tell, is Billy's first meeting with Madeline.

[00:05:18]The cuts are between three sequences.

[00:05:21]In one, Billy is at home surrounded by his deceased mother's things that he has yet to remove.

[00:05:28]The bed his mother slept in is stripped and surrounded by boxes.

[00:05:32]Paintings and pictures are off the wall, leaning on more boxes in the corner.

[00:05:37]A pile of plates is in front of a stack of newspapers waiting to be packed away.

[00:05:41]One teacup is half-wrapped.

[00:05:44]Billy is looking at pictures of his mother as a baby, as a young woman, as an adult.

[00:05:49]He sorts them out on a table into a series of her life events.

[00:05:54]In another sequence, Billy is in his criminal role helping Mr. French kill someone.

[00:05:59]He gets hit in the head with a duck toy, which tells the audience the victim has kids.

[00:06:05]And in the final sequence, Billy tries to explain to Madeline how he feels.

[00:06:10]He doesn't know where to begin.

[00:06:12]It's a beautiful layering of Billy's state of mind.

[00:06:16]Visually showing us the foundation for Billy's emotions, while he tells Madeline about none of it and simply says, >> That's one thing I figured out about myself in prison, my hand does not shake.

[00:06:30]Ever.

[00:06:32]>> Which tells us that's how Billy is getting by.

[00:06:36]He appears fine on the surface, while beneath he's dealing with tremendous emotion.

[00:06:42]In 1 minute of run time, we are shown the troubling things Billy has to deal with.

[00:06:47]The loss of family and his mother, his solitude, and being forced into violence that he does not enjoy, that he is scared by, and all the while lying about it to the people around him just to keep himself safe.

[00:07:05]In just 1 minute.

[00:07:07]The Departed is 2 and 1/2 hours long, but it uses that time as efficiently as possible, showing us even more things to investigate as we watch.

[00:07:16]Keeping us curious, keeping us guessing until at last the investigations are done and its characters depart.