Finally.

I have been waiting for a movie like this for a long time.

Martin Scorsese, one of the greatest directors in the history of film, once again tells us a story in a mob setting. Only this time, the cops get equal screen time. The film is a remake of a popular Hong Kong film called “Infernal Affairs,” which follows a mob informant working for the police and a police informant working for the mob. As things progress for these two young hotshots in their new careers, their duty becomes identifying the “rat” in their organizations, all the while trying to hide the fact that they are of course said “rat.”

It may sound complicated, but it is fairly straight forward and Scorsese paints a masterpiece with this film. He has assembled a perfect cast with Jack Nicholson portraying mob boss Frank Costello, Matt Damon playing his guy on the police force and Leonardo DiCaprio as his new mob associate, a young punk kicked off the force and looking to make some cash in the old neighborhood. In addition to these stellar performances, the film greatly benefits from appearances from Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg and Vera Farmiga, as a psychiatrist who falls for Damon’s Colin and counsels DiCaprio’s Bill. There is not a weak performance in the bunch and even supporting cast members hit all the right notes.

While “The Departed” functions as a straight, cops and robbers film, it makes its mark and succeeds as one of the best films of the year because it is about so much more than that. It is also fathers and sons. Colin follows Costello because the man acted as a father figure during his formative years, giving him grocery money and teaching him about the way he viewed the world. Bill was who he was because his father never sold out to Costello, while the rest of the neighborhood did. Eventually, Costello becomes a father figure for Bill, as does Sheen’s Captain Queenan. They offer protection and guidance, but they want results too and perhaps Colin and Bill are merely soldiers in an unending war. The film is also about identity. Do your actions make you who you are or is it the results your actions produce? What makes a good guy good and a bad guy bad? Scorsese shows that the answers aren’t always easy to find.

“The Departed” is nearly perfect. It is shot beautifully and once again Scorsese’s use of music is incredible. Think about the songs you hear in the film and where they were played in relation to the story and you realize just how good he is. Like many of his other mob movies, “The Departed” is violent and a lot of the violence is graphic and hard to watch. It should be. Violence of this level should not be easy to stomach. It does give the movie an edge though and Scorsese escalates the tension for close to two and a half hours. You’d never know it was that long though – just another nod to the master and his work.