Pt2 Scorcese's 'The Departed' -first reactions

Settings

The action in 'The Departed' is set in various areas of Boston, both street scenes and interiors. In the beginning, there are: some very grainy/archival pieces footage of the city some ten or more years before the main story starts, brief moments of civil strife and some tense, violent scenes in small family-run deli/takeaway businesses. There are the dingy bars favoured by the criminal gang led by Jack Nicholson's character, and the police college that Matt Damon and Leonardo's characters both go through. All this helps to establish background of main characters and some of the underlying reasons Nicholson's Crime Boss character is so eagerly sought as a prize by the Special Investigations Unit detectives.

Street and warehouse scenes: ordinary residents become almost invisible once the story forces your attention onto the activities of the gang vs the detectives, for the streets, alleys and abandoned warehouses are the haunts of the criminals and the beat of detectives. They are a mix of both for undercover cops, who perhaps have the most nerve-wracking jobs of all. Gun battles, ambushes, furtive signalling and dangerous meetings with unseen contacts. This film is full of so much classic material of crime dramas; Scorcese shows us his variations in pitiless detail and from many angles.

The main police station often doesn't look or feel like much of a refuge from the streets: intense and bitter rivalries, fraud at high levels, so many secret plots that often, if not always, threaten to undermine every undercover operation. There is one noticeable exception: the office suite of the in-house counsellor/psychiatrist, home to the one really significant female character. It is decorated in light colours, with large areas of open floor space, sleek furnishings and natural light coming through the windows. The whole suite is hers, making for a drastic contrast to the poky cubicles and compact briefing rooms used by the detective teams. Her own home isn't so spacious, but is decorated with personal photos and is still well-lit. This light is friendly, and at one time even seductively soft. Again, her world is set against the harsh street lighting, sweep of car headlights and garish neon signs that shine on but don't ever really illuminate what the criminals and detectives are doing to each other and to themselves.
********************
Pt3 next time, not sure yet whether it will focus more on story, characters or cast. NB: if you haven't seen the film yet, some of above comments may look like "spoilier" information.