A Career in Review: Martin Scorsese

"There is no such thing as pointless violence. City of God (2002), is that pointless violence? It's reality, it's real life, it has to do with the human condition. Being involved in Christianity and Catholicism when I was very young, you have that innocence, the teachings of Christ. Deep down you want to think that people are really good - but the reality outweighs that." - Martin Scorsese

No modern day director has as many accomplishments as Martin Scorsese. Although he has just recently won his first Oscar for The Departed (2006) he has had a wide array of accomplishments beginning with Mean Streets (1973). Although he directed several films prior to this one it was Mean Streets that left its mark on audiences. Among his most endearing films are Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), just to name a few of his earlier films.

Scorsese was born in 1942 in Queens, New York who had aspirations to go into seminary school before enrolling at New York University where he graduated with a film major. In film school he directed several short films that eventually caught the eye of maverick filmmaker Roger Corman who would help produce his first feature Boxcar Bertha (1972), which would soon be followed by Mean Streets. It is in these early films that Scorsese's signature style of complex stories with loners with inner demons that showcase unrelenting violence. This can be seen in New York Stories (1989), Good Fellas (1990), and especially in Gangs Of New York (2002) and The Departed.

Not one to bark away from controversy especially when it comes to The Last Temptation of Christ or Kundun (1997), Scorsese has also done his share of remakes with Cape Fear (1991) and The Age of Innocence (1993) and the resent The Departed, which is a loose American remake to the Asian Infernal Affairs trilogy. He is also no stranger to the documentary format having directed The Last Walz (1978), Lady By The Sea: The Statue of Liberty (2004), and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005), to name but a few.