After five previous nominations, director Martin Scorsese finally picked up the Oscar he so richly deserved for this crackling, taut thriller, based on Alan Mak and Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs. Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, spotted as a kid by gangster Frank Costello, who grooms him to become a successful cop, Frank's eyes and ears inside.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, who comes from a family with previous. Enlisting into the police force, he is sent undercover into Costello's gang.
Both sides know they have an informer in their midst and both use their man to try and uncover the identity of the other. As each gets closer to their target, the tension on both sides rise.
The Departed is a Film programme that first aired in 2006 and has been classified a 18 certificate.
