The Departed Essay

Two men are undercover in the Massachusetts State Police, and the Irish mafia. Crime and violence pursue after things are discovered. Two moles are then placed within the police and mafia to find out who their enemies are. A lesson about gangs is they are not as simple as they seem to be. They’re complex and consist of structure, violence, and corruption.

Gangs have been portrayed in many ways throughout history. One film that analyzes gangs is, “The Departed”. This film depicts organized crime by an irish gang, in South Boston. The main character, Frank Costello is the gangs boss. The film is based on the real life gangster, Whitey Bulger, an infamous Boston mob boss and FBI informant. The main theme throughout this film is violence, rivalry, and leadership. This film is of two cops each on a different side of the law. In order to find out information they go undercover. The police place a mole inside the organization and

the organization places a mole within the police. Throughout the movie the characters display various behaviors. There’s also strengths, weaknesses, and insight on gangs themselves.
“The Departed” integrated various gang behaviors that are displayed by the many characters in the movie.

One behavior portrayed throughout the movie is violence. Gangs in reality are violent not only to prove themselves, but to also keep order. In the movie Frank Costello the boss often is shown beating other characters to get answers. Another behavior is rivalry and leadership. Not only does Frank show leadership because he’s the gangs boss and calls all the shots, but he expresses the ownership of a bar he walks into and many other establishments. Leadership is also expressed through the officers in the police department. There’s also a lot of deceit which is a gang behavior that comes with many consequences. When gang members are deceitful they are dealt with. In “The Departed” deceit is portrayed through the mole (Sullivan) who’s placed within the Massachusetts State police, and the police place Costigan within the gang to infiltrate Costello’s crew. These characteristics portray strong values when relating to gangs and their many

behaviors.
In this movie there are some strengths and some weaknesses. Overall, the plot of this movie was strong. They did well with portraying gangs and how violent they can be. Another great strength was being able to integrate a true story, which was based on the real life gangster Whitey Bulger. There was also a good example of power. Most gangs in some way have political power. This movie used the Capital Dome, which not only exemplified political power, but greed and violence. Although, there were many strengths within this movie there were also weaknesses. One weakness was it was a hard movie to follow because the plot was complex. Also some things the police were doing would be illegal in reality, such as protecting a murderer. Also it was too easy to kill Frank the boss.
Overall, this movie did a good job portraying gangs and their characteristics. From the violence, symbolism, rivalry there was some aspect of each of these portrayed throughout the film. Many gangs that exist focus on something whether it is drugs, human trafficking. This movie focused on a gang that focused on organized crime. In general, this movie did a good job integrating true facts into the film. It educated its audience on gangs and their basic characteristics and lifestyles. Personally, the knowledge I’ve gained about gangs has given me some insight when watching this film. The movie expressed a type of gang and its focus, which was organized crime. It also illustrated a behavior that some gangs try to portray. In the beginning, Frank spoke about the American dream and some of the ideals. Furthermore, gangs often integrate kids into gangs because of their influence. Frank used Sullivan as a child and introduced him to organized crime. These are just a few of the many things that this movie portrayed relating to gangs.