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BY MAGGIE SCOTT

Director Martin Scorsese has set the bar higher for all the talent churning out fanatically popular television series like “The Sopranos,” “Law and Order” and “CSI.” Scorsese has dabbled with mixed results in the genres of mobs and cops on three other occasions: with “GoodFellas,” “Casino” and “Gangs of New York.”

He has an eye and an ear for vividly bringing stories of corrupted good and redeemed evil to the big screen and such is the case with his new work, The Departed. It takes its core story from the Hong Kong action adventure, Infernal Affairs, adapted by screenwriter William Monahan, and does not soft pedal the brutal facts of the worlds of law enforcers and gangsters.

While there is guts and gore galore in the line of duties of Boston’s Special Investigations Unit and in the messy machinations of crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to preserve his status quo as Boston’s Irish godfather, the wallop this story packs comes from its characters.

Two young men from the same side of the tracks diverge from the same point of service to the public as Massachusetts State Policemen. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) has been groomed since childhood by Costello to be his eyes and ears in the Unit. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) has followed in the footsteps of his murdered father and walked right into an assignment to get embedded in Costello’s gang to help Capt. Queenan (Martin Sheen), Capt. Ellerby (Alec Baldwin) and Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) “build a case” for nailing Costello.

Sullivan appears to thrive under the pressure of being two-faced. Costigan starts fraying at the emotional edges under the pressure of the things he sees and hears and feels during the blood-splattered near-misses of botched sting operations. Both men find professional and personal solace with an Internal Affairs psychiatrist (Vera Farmiga) who places a high premium on the truth while being realistic about its scarcity in the world of crime fighting.

Although not nearly as fully formed a character as those whose better natures she’s attempting to motivate, Madolyn is a pivotal connection to the eventual face off between Bill and Colin. Neither side has much use for subtlety in how it gets the job done, and the consequences are macabre, cruel and ghastly; and, there are no guarantees that either violence or love will prevail.

While laboring under an epic structure that tangles the plot lines too often, this is a grueling saga of masterwork proportions.

A Warner Bros. release, rated R for graphic violence and language, strong sexual content and drug use.
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