The Departed

[Franciscan]

The Departed,

I saw it yesterday. I was offended by the anti-Catholic scenes. Two priests and a nun are having lunch and the Main villian refers to them as c-ck s-ckers.
I didn’t get why they had to have the Catholic related parts of the movie.
Typical of Hollywood.
What if those were Muslim Imams eating lunch and he referred to them in a derogatiry way?There would be outrage.
What if a picture of Muhhamed was smashed over the head of someone?
If these actors and directors, producers, writers were really the tough guys that they pretend to be then they could have gone that route but no they know Chrisatians are easy to attack.
If someone would have told me about this anti-Catholic bias in the movie I would not have seen it.
But typical of us Christians–we just take the beating and ridicule and “turn the other cheek”.
Too bad its out of laziness and apathy rather than out of imitation of Christ.

 

[Martin_Le_Fay]

The Departed,

I saw it yesterday. I was offended by the anti-Catholic scenes. Two priests and a nun are having lunch and the Main villian refers to them as c-ck s-ckers.
I didn’t get why they had to have the Catholic related parts of the movie.
Typical of Hollywood.
What if those were Muslim Imams eating lunch and he referred to them in a derogatiry way?There would be outrage.
What if a picture of Muhhamed was smashed over the head of someone?
If these actors and directors, producers, writers were really the tough guys that they pretend to be then they could have gone that route but no they know Chrisatians are easy to attack.
If someone would have told me about this anti-Catholic bias in the movie I would not have seen it.
But typical of us Christians–we just take the beating and ridicule and “turn the other cheek”.
Too bad its out of laziness and apathy rather than out of imitation of Christ.

Isn’t it possible that in having the “main villain” describe the nun and the priest in such a fashion, that it wasn’t to be taken as praiseworthy?

 

[Franciscan]

Isn’t it possible that in having the “main villain” describe the nun and the priest in such a fashion, that it wasn’t to be taken as praiseworthy?

1. The main villian comes across as cool to most young guys.
2. It was totally gratuitous, not necessary that they were Catholic.

 

[Martin_Le_Fay]

1. The main villian comes across as cool to most young guys.
2. It was totally gratuitous, not necessary that they were Catholic.

But, he’s a villain. Villains don’t do good things. Villains are often gratuitous about the evil they do. Just from your explanation alone, the scene serves to establish how evil the villain is, so that in the context of the overall plot, the scene has a fairly good purpose.

 

[Franciscan]

But, he’s a villain. Villains don’t do good things. Villains are often gratuitous about the evil they do. Just from your explanation alone, the scene serves to establish how evil the villain is, so that in the context of the overall plot, the scene has a fairly good purpose.

I understand your point.

If you want to portray true evil (borderline satanic) then desecrate the Church, Holy Orders, The Eucharist etc.
This is a sign that those things are truly good.

1. But the problem is that this is a participation in evil. The ends do not justify the means.
2. Most people are not religious and are not aware of this contrast. Most people were not viewing that scene and saying, “Wow, he’s really evil and the Church, priesthood is truly good.”
   Instead, people probably thought he was pointing out the apparent hypocricy of the priesthood after the abuse scandals.
   It came across to me as gratuitous, and offense. “Let’s kick em while they’re down” type mentality.

 

[Ammonius_Saccus]

1. It was totally gratuitous, not necessary that they were Catholic.

Have you seen the movie it was based on, Infernal Affairs? It does some similiar things with Buddhist elements. This movie takes place in Boston. What religion do you think most cops and Irish mobsters are going to be in Boston?

 

[dessert]

Go to Knights of Columbus in the Wikipedia encyclop and go to pop culture movie, if you haven’t seen it will spoil it for you.
It is a slight on the church as they mention the KofC. But it is just a movie and with not so much facts. Dessert

 

[Martin_Le_Fay]

I understand your point.

If you want to portray true evil (borderline satanic) then desecrate the Church, Holy Orders, The Eucharist etc.
This is a sign that those things are truly good.

1. But the problem is that this is a participation in evil. The ends do not justify the means.
2. Most people are not religious and are not aware of this contrast. Most people were not viewing that scene and saying, “Wow, he’s really evil and the Church, priesthood is truly good.”
   Instead, people probably thought he was pointing out the apparent hypocricy of the priesthood after the abuse scandals.
   It came across to me as gratuitous, and offense. “Let’s kick em while they’re down” type mentality.

Forgive me, but I think you’re being overly sensitive and possibly scrupulous. If you mean to say that any movie that portrays any evil participates in evil, then we’re all left with watching Barney the Dinosaur. To form a broad moral assessment based on what “most” people “probably” took away from a movie based on only one scene whose merits or demerits are open to significant debate is loopy. At least link to some kind of statistic to back up this hypothesis of yours.

 

[Ammonius_Saccus]

Also, the movie is about betrayal and in Boston members of the Catholic Church betrayed many children.

 

[CathCentrist]

An awesome movie and a great movie experience! Scorcese deserved the Oscar.

 

[Dandelion_Wine]

An awesome movie and a great movie experience! Scorcese deserved the Oscar.

Pulllllleeeeeaaasssse. In the world of umpiring we call that a “make-up call”.

 

[Franciscan]

People want to argue but no one is addressing my points.
Bottom line the movie was good but you dont have to beat up on the Church just because it’s Boston.

If as a Catholic you had no problem with that scene you might want to re-evaluate your commitment.

 

[Ammonius_Saccus]

People want to argue but no one is addressing my points.
Bottom line the movie was good but you dont have to beat up on the Church just because it’s Boston.

If as a Catholic you had no problem with that scene you might want to re-evaluate your commitment.

Do you have the same problem with the Buddhist elements in the original? Should the re-make have just stripped any religious elements? If they are going to address religious elements in a movie set in a Boston state police office and an Irish gang, what religion should they use?

 

[OldAgeGuru]

I didn’t have a problem at all with that scene.

Come to Boston. People here are STILL heated about the scandal. I know people personally who have ties to those who were abused. While I don’t believe in bashing the Church, I understand those who have those feelings. It’s natural to be angry at an institution that tells you how to run your life but let’s even one priest loose to prey on young children. I understand that anger. Remove Priest and Church from that sentence, and replace with adult and justice system, and you would be just as angry.

Also check out Whitey Bulger who Jack’s character was loosely based on. I certainly wouldn’t call Whitey a “hero” He was a bad guy. A realllllllllllllly bad guy. Now while I can applaud his cleverness, because he was a reallllllllllly smart guy. I can’t condone his actions. He trolled Catholic schools and picked up high school girls for his prostitution rings. He killed people, he formed shady back room deals to take down the Boston Mafia with the FBI, but not to rid the city of crime, he did it to take over their territory. He managed to get prosecutorial immunity from the Federal Government for every drug deal, murder, gambling scheme he participated in EVER. He came across as a really good guy. A Boston Robin Hood, but now that so much has come to light, while he’s a legend,… it’s not a good one.

While I love Martin Sheen, what really offended me in the movie was his positively HORRIBLE accent. Boston is a hard accent to fake. It’s probably one of the hardest, everyone sounds like their mocking Kennedy, not talking like average residents. We don’t talk like we’re pahking the cah in Hahvahd Yahd (especially since you’ll get towed to Mehfehd). Wahlberg and Damon could do it since they’re from here, and DiCaprio’s was passable, but Jack didn’t fake the accent. I notice BAD accents worse than none

 

[Martin_Le_Fay]

People want to argue but no one is addressing my points.
Bottom line the movie was good but you dont have to beat up on the Church just because it’s Boston.

If as a Catholic you had no problem with that scene you might want to re-evaluate your commitment.

I repeat, I think you’re being overly sensitive and possibly scrupulous. The bottom line is that villains do bad things in movies. Villains do bad things, like say mean things about priests and nuns. None of what a villain does is meant to be emulated. One can’t write any stories if one has to take into account the overwrought reactions of every conceivable minority one might possibly offend even if the item in question is an implied non-endorsement of such behavior because it’s done by a villain. You may need to re-evaluate a few things and get over yourself.

 

[Franciscan]

I wish I had read this review before I rented The Departed…

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=5928&t=Movie+Review%3A+The+Departed+and+Scorsese’s+soul

This part is so true…

“… Scorsese never misses an opportunity to denigrate the Catholic Church and so we have a lunch scene where Costello bullies an older priest as a pederast and then his fellow younger priest for his sleeping with the nun who was dining with them. This is all done in the most vulgar terms, of course, and is mentioned again later on.”

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

I repeat, I think you’re being overly sensitive and possibly scrupulous. … You may need to re-evaluate a few things and get over yourself.

Is he being scrupulous or are you being indifferent?

Catholicism is Christ’s created Church. Christ * died* for me. The Church is His bride. If someone–whoever–called that about my friend’s wife, do you think I would be upset? Do I love Jesus less than my friend?

 

[Franciscan]

Uh definitely indifference…

Here’s another review where the reviewer raves about the films anti-Catholicism…

“Knowing that Catholic guilt and the idea of redemption are forever gnawing at Scorsese, I’d like to believe that with this film, he has finally given up the ghost and understands faith’s cruel trap. The Departed, a Boston story through and through (which means it’s also an Irish Catholic tale), has some wonderful jabs at the clergy (Costello humiliates a nun and two priests in a diner, as well as peppering numerous conversations with assaults on their lust for buggery) but more tellingly, seems to dispose of the very idea that there is anything left to believe in.”

this was at ruthlessreviews.com

 

[Franciscan]

Here is another review where the person revels inthe anti-Catholic scene…

“To begin with, we all know that religious institutions in general and the Catholic Church in particular are horrible and dangerous, so feel free to disparage them at every opportunity. In The Departed, see how Mr. Scorsese shows two priests and a nun drinking in a restaurant. Note how his character comments to the priests about pederasty and implies that the nun is sexually promiscuous. This is important in that it reinforces the viewer’s perception that the Catholic Church is inherently corrupt, and also brilliant on Mr. Scorsese’s part in that if he is ever accused of viewing the Catholic Church with hatred–which we know, ha, ha, he obviously does–he can simply claim it was the character making these accusations, not himself.”

This one was at Amazon.com amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B00005JPAD/ref=cm_rev_next/105-1914137-0855608?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=562436&s=theatrical&customer-reviews.start=31

Nice Huh.This is what your average joe is getting out of The Departed.

 

[cathgal]

It was anti-Catholic, plain and simple.

When the villain makes that vulgar remark, do you think about the person who said it or do you think about the remark? Does it click with Catholicism for its scandalous affairs? Highly likely that the audience focus on the remark. I mean…what purpose does it serve having that scene in the film other than denigrating the Church??