Great spectacle, but ...

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2006)

I have read only the first few comments on this film, so may be repeating what someone else has said. So far I have not noticed anyone comment on the relationship between Bill the Butcher and Amsterdam, which is one of the core pieces of the plot. Not knowing who he is, Bill comes to see him as the son he never had, especially after Amsterdam saves his life - later he thinks this is only because he wants to take it himself, but I think Di Caprio gives the suggestion that he is, unwillingly, drawn to Bill as a father figure, nd pleased that he respected Amsterdam's own father, whom he killed (and who had previously beaten Bill but spared his life). The theme of a man taking in his enemy's son, who later is driven by the inexorable laws of feuding to kill him, appears in at least one of the Icelandic sagas, and this is an indication of the primeval nature of the plot - it is an epic or saga.
Of course Day-Lewis gives a marvellous performance as Bill the Butcher; but Di Caprio's does not really get us so close to what he is really thinking - what I have written above is very much my own impression. Day-Lewis's accent was not the only one that was all over the place; a lot of the time, Diaz seemed to be sounding Irish - but why would she, if brought up by a 'native'? Bill's hostility to the Irish is, of course, because he is a (bigoted) Protestant and they are Catholics.
I was pleased to learn from a review that some details of the Draft Riots as shown were the 'artistic licence' of the writer and director. But I agree with those who think that the presentation of the New York of the day was marvellous, creating a believable if rather alarming world. The battle scene at the beginning, if not wholly realistic or true to the actual nature of gang fights, was absolutely tremendous. But the whole thing dragged rather in the second half - and Di Caprio recovers *remarkably* quickly from a knife wound in the stomach!