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GANGS OF NEW YORK Send This Review to a Friend
The demanding logistics of Martin Scorsese's epic "Gangs of New York" make the dip into the city's 19th century violent history an admirable contribution to the director's career, and accordingly, it demands special attention. That this is a movie steeped in raw violence reflects the period and the events covered. Scorsese doesn't flinch from reality. Instead, he makes events as bloody as they probably were, maybe even less so.
Where the saga falls down is in the love story between Leonardo DiCaprio as AmsterdamVallon, who as a boy saw his father slain in a gang fight and plots revenge, and Cameron Diaz as Jenny Everdeane, the tough pickpocket who is caught between Vallon and the man he is sworn to kill. While an epic has to focus on individuals, the relationship seems overly typical and weighs the story down even though both DiCaprio and Diaz act convincingly.
But the strongest acting turn is by Daniel Day-Lewis as the brutal gang leader William Cutting, known menacingly as Bill the Buthcer. It's a wickedly forceful performance that in words and lethal deeds burns up the screen. You'll never forget Day-Lewis in this role. His words chill and he makes men tremble. There's no limit to the violence he is ready to commit at the slightest challenge.
We get the feel of the film in the introductory years when gang warfare breaks out between Irish immigrants and Nativists who abhor foreigners on their turf, a rough area known as Five Points. A street fight with axes, knives--any weapon at the ready--breaks out and Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), Amsterdam's father, is slaughtered by Cutting as his son watches.
The film jumps to the Civil War years, when New York is rife not only with continuing gang violence but opposition to the draft. The well-heeled could buy their way out with $300, leaving the poor to be recruited for cannon fodder. Scorsese depicts the draft riot of 1863, which included rampaging against blacks involving lynching and burning. Troops are called in to put down the rebellion and ships fire upon the populace from the harbor.
Scorsese goes to town on the action sequences and the canvas is broad and bloody. Presumably well-researched, the screenplay is the combined work of Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, with Cocks also credited with the story. One senses that added threads should have been explored to put events in better perspective. But the filmmakers do succeed in giving the rough and tumble flavor of politics and corruption. The infamous Boss Tweed is played by Jim Broadbent, and there is a sequence showing people being dragged to the polls to vote more than once. Class differences are also underscored by scenes showing how the rich live in contrast to life in Five Points.
Other key cast members include Brendan Gleeson, John C. Reilly and Henry Thomas. The production team stars in its own right, as the visuals on the film are quite spectacular. Michael Ballhaus's cinematography gives us a startling view of New York's past, Thelma Schoonmaker's editing is dynamic and Scorsese uses music well to complement or contrast with the screen turbulence.
"Gangs of New York," inspired for Scorsese by his reading of Herbert Asbury's book, is a major work by one of America's most important directors. Don't let the violence put you off. This is history, and the more known about that period, the better. A Miramax release
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