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The Departed

Date: Dec 14 2020

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

A couple of weeks ago, director Martin Scorsese won an Oscar for his awesome film The Departed. This film is based on the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson all play parts in this complicated Boston story about the Irish mob and the Massachusetts State Police.

Despite the violence in the film, there is a lot of unexpected humor. Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin are really funny, and Jack Nicholson is so perfectly evil he’s hilarious.

This film definitely deserved the recognition it got at the Academy Awards. Listen to Mason and Amanda chat about it.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Amanda

Mason: What was your favorite scene in The Departed?

Amanda: Well, what an all-star cast, huh? Leonardo DiCaprio?

Mason: It’s… Yeah. One of those, uh, ensemble things.

Amanda: Well, it’s interesting. He’s come far, far away from, uh, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Arnie?

Mason: The lanky little boy in, uh, in, uh….

Amanda: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

Mason: Well, yeah, but what was that TV show? The, uh…

Amanda: The Titanic.

Mason: TV show. Uh, with, the… Kirk Cameron.

Amanda: Growing Pains?

Mason: Yeah.

Amanda: He was in Growing Pains?

Mason: He was in Growing Pains! He was, like, the scrappy…

Amanda: What character was Leonardo DiCaprio?

Mason: He was the scrappy kid that… No, no, no. He came in, like, later on. He was the scrappy kid that they took off the streets.

Amanda: I don’t remember that.

Mason: Well, it’s…

Amanda: But in The Departed...

Mason: Uh huh.

Amanda: He was solid in that role.

Mason: Solid, like…mmmm. He’s beefed up.

Amanda: He is mature and he is a man. He is all in his manliness.

Mason: Mm hm, mm hm.

Amanda: That was one of the first love scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio that was actually believable.

Mason: You didn’t like the hand on the window?

Amanda: That didn’t do it for me because he looked like he was 13, with Kate Winslet.

Mason: OK.

Amanda: That’s why that was not believable and a little bit creepy for me.

Mason: I gotcha.

Amanda: This one, he’s a man with all the facial hair…

Mason: This and this and…

Amanda: Throwing her up on the kitchen counter.

Mason: That… Uh, yeah. That wasn’t necessarily a highlight for me but, uh…

Amanda: Woo.

Mason: I was actually, I think, the most surprised by Alec Baldwin in the film.

Amanda: Yes.

Mason: ... Who, uh, brings a lot of much needed comedic levity.

Amanda: Levity.

Mason: That’s gonna be my word of the day.

Amanda: Levity.

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Discussion

Amanda thought everyone in The Departed was great. She really liked Leonardo DiCaprio in all his manliness.

Amanda didn’t realize that Leo was on Growing Pains. That was a long time ago. He was just a kid.

Mason really liked Alec Baldwin in the film. Baldwin’s role in the film is pretty small, but very memorable.

Have you seen The Departed?

Have you seen Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong film that The Departed is based on?