Martin Scorsese’s The Departed is mainly set in Boston.
The 2006 crime thriller follows two men working undercover from opposite sides of Boston’s criminal world: state trooper Billy Costigan infiltrates a gang, while Colin Sullivan secretly reports to crime boss Frank Costello from inside the Massachusetts State Police. Their identities create the film’s central conflict.
Boston is more than a backdrop in the movie. The story uses the city’s police institutions, Irish-American organized crime, neighborhoods, accents, and local culture to establish its atmosphere. The screenplay was adapted from the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, but the remake relocates the story and reshapes its characters around Boston’s setting.
A common mix-up is confusing The Departed with Scorsese’s earlier New York-centered crime films, such as Goodfellas or Mean Streets. The Departed is specifically associated with Boston, although some production filming also took place elsewhere in Massachusetts and in New York.