Alec Baldwin shouting ‘Patriot Act’ in The Departed: a close reading

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        Alec Baldwin shouting ‘Patriot Act’ in The Departed: a close reading
            
                
            
            
                
            
            
                
            
            
                
            
            
                
            
            
                
            
    
    
        
            
            
            
            
            
        
    
    
         By: Kevin Nguyen
        Illustration: Ricardo Santos
    
    
        8.3.22
        Martin Scorsese’s gangster flick and its obsession with the American surveillance state
    



    


    


        

	
	
		Martin
		Scorsese’s
			
		vision
		of
		America
		plays
		out
		as
		a
		country
		of
		cops
		and
		robbers.
		Living
		in
		the
		US,
		you
		find
		yourself
		on
		one
		side
		or
		the
		other.
		Or,
		in
		the
		logic
		of
		his
		2006
		movie
		The
		Departed,
		“when
		you’re
		facing
		a
		loaded
		gun,
		what’s
		the
		difference?”

The difference, in Scorsese’s self-consciously post-9/11 gangster flick, is the movie’s obsession with the surveillance state. The Departed cribs the ludicrous setup of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs: the police have a mole in the mafia (Leonardo DiCaprio), and the mafia has a mole in the police (Matt Damon). Narrative destiny tasks them with finding the identity of their counterpart, a conceit that sets off a converging mouse hunt — or maybe, in this case, a rat hunt.

Outside of being a showcase of varying degrees of convincing Boston accents,1 The Departed is a movie about tracking identities, wiretapped phones, and the autocratic invasion of privacy. In one infamous scene, the police have the jump on a shady exchange between Jack Nicholson’s goons and an inscrutable Taiwanese gang in need of some microprocessors.2 More urgently, the meeting site has been staked out with surveillance equipment: video cameras and phone location tracking. It’s Alec Baldwin’s operation, and he’s about to finally nail Boston’s most notorious criminal. “We’ve been after this cocksucker for a long time,” he says, before grabbing his balls. Admiring the technologies and policies empowering his bust, Baldwin excitedly shouts, “Patriot Act! Patriot Act! Patriot Act! I love it! I love it! I love it!”

1 A real toss-up between Martin Sheen and Vera Farmiga for the worst one.

2 It’s suggested that they will use them for warheads against China. It’s as unclear as it is improbable. I’ve also wondered if the appearance of triads in The Departed is a deliberate nod to the movie’s source material. That said, it’s suggested that the Taiwanese gang is what triggers the presence of the feds and DHS funding.