Is Frank The Devil In The Departed?

While The Departed is another mobster movie from Martin Scorsese, it could be way more than that, as it’s hinted that Frank is the Devil.

The Departed is one of many great mob movies from director Martin Scorsese, but it might be way more than that, as the movie drops a few hints that Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) could be the Devil. The 2006 movie follows Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), an undercover cop who infiltrates Frank’s crew, and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), an FBI agent to whom Frank is a father figure. Both of their jobs are to track each other down, as both organizations know they have a mole. Frank is the reason why both of them end up dead, and he doesn’t feel any kind of remorse for any of his actions.

The movie features one of Jack Nicholson’s best roles, as Costello is as evil as they come, and while Scorsese has told stories about some vicious and brutal characters before, such as Tommy in Goodfellas, nobody comes close to Frank’s sadistic nature. However, there might be more than meets the eye to the depraved Boston gangster, as there are clues scattered throughout The Departed that he could very well be Satan himself. Between some pretty obvious music cues and directly quoting Lucifer, some of the choices Scorsese and writer William Monahan made clearly intended to raise some suspicions about Frank’s origin.

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Frank Hates “The Church”

It’s no secret that The Departed is steeped in a Roman Catholic worldview, and there’s so much talk about faith between the characters, especially from Captain Charlie Queenan, who is the complete opposite of Frank in many ways. However, Frank is constantly criticizing the church, and while The Departed is full of great quotes, most of Frank’s dialogue is insulting people’s faith or trying to change people’s beliefs. In one of Frank’s monologues, he explains, “Church wants you in your place. Kneel, stand, kneel, stand. If you go for that sort of thing, I don’t know what to do for you,” which couldn’t sound more like the Devil.

Sullivan Sold His Soul To Frank

The beginning of the movie is set decades earlier when Frank meets a young Billy Sullivan, who is barely a teenager at this point, for the first time. They meet in a grocery store, and Frank offers to buy Billy his groceries, along with a couple of comic books, and Frank even gives him the change too. This is the moment when Billy sold his soul to the devil. Following that transaction and all the way up to when Sullivan is murdered in The Departed’s ending, Sullivan lives his whole life working for Frank, just as anybody who sells their soul to the devil does.

Throughout The Departed, Frank orders Sullivan around and makes him do his dirty work, and he’s constantly under pressure to do things he doesn’t actually want to do. His whole life is based on what Frank wants, including joining the police force. But most of all, Sullivan repeatedly tries to bargain with Frank, and Frank never once gives in, just as the devil wouldn’t. Between meeting Billy, being critical of the church, and the general mise-en-scene that has the character constantly drenched in red lighting, the suggestion that Frank is way more than just another one of Scorsese’s evil mobsters is extremely heavy-handed.

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