In their own ways, all of the main characters in The Departed have a lot of ambition. Frank Costello wants to be the best mob lord he can be, and Colin Sullivan wants to rise through the ranks of the Massachusetts Police while also being a secret informant for Costello.
Meanwhile, Billy Costigan wants to do something great for the city of Boston by being a police informant who infiltrates Costello's organization. His original dream was to be a cop, but—oh, well. He'll have to settle for being a snitch.
On top of all that, director Martin Scorsese likes to use every opportunity to give us the ol' American Dream spiel to remind us how being a criminal is just as much as part of this dream as being President of the United States. It's not the first mob movie to suggest this, and it won't be the last.
Questions about Ambition
- Which character has the healthiest sense of ambition? Why?
- What's Frank Costello's general approach to life and ambition? To whom does he try to teach it?
- Does this movie portray ambition as a generally good thing or bad thing? Why?
Chew on This
In The Departed, we learn that ambition can lead to a person's downfall more easily than to his or her rise.
The Departed reminds us that there's not much point to life without ambition.