A stunning and powerful classic

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2003)

*SPOILER ALERT*
All the build-up/hype/reviews I've seen for this movie have been about whether Scorsese, greatest American director etc, can overcome various production difficulties and deliver a masterpiece. I have to say, I let all that boring commentary wash over me, waited for the movie to open and bought my ticket.
It starts bloodily, the crisp white snow in New York's Five Points becoming stained with the blood of dozens of men slain in a battle between rival gangs - the immigrants (led by Liam Neeson's Priest Vallon) versus the naturalized New Yorkers (led by Daniel Day-Lewis's Bill the Butcher). The idea, in the modern world, that there is any such thing as a native New Yorker in a city founded by immigrants, populated by descendents of immigrants, is fanciful. But in NYC in 1846, it was a reason for significant and regular bloodshed.
Anyway, the Priest's son, played as a grown-up by Leonardo DiCaprio, emerges from an institution fifteen or sixteen years after he is orphaned to avenge his father and kill the marble-eye wearing Butcher who put him there. Vallon Jnr infiltrates the Natives' inner-circle and falls for Cameron Diaz, who turns out to be connected to his father's killer.
The movie builds to its inevitable climax slowly, but every second is fascinating. Some have criticized the indulgent run time - just short of three hours does seem excessive on paper - but the characters are all well drawn and each has an identifiable personality. I loved the realism, the detail and the craft that invests every scene and every shot. It's vivid, realistic and human through all the sets, costumes, dialogue and characters.

There was some disquiet about the closing third featuring two distinct story lines (the corruption and unfairness leading to the 1862 draft riots and the quest for revenge by young Vallon) that Scorsese never quite manages to marry together. I disagree, feeling instead that they are absolutely part of the same period and mentality. Seeing the whole city explode in to violence and dissent towards the end is an attempt by the director to explain the drive of the gangs, and the fact that anyone repressed and unloved is on the precipice of violence. These men and women, he is saying, are what some of us could have been had we lived 140 years ago. Don't look down on them, he pleads. Understand why they did what they did - because, identically to the draft rioters, they felt they had no alternative. Corruption, inequality and social exclusion give the down-trodden little reason to respect their laws and institutions.
For sure, you can sit through the movie and notice parts that should have been cut, but this director is a craftsman and I haven't ever looked at a painting and complained that the artist should have cut three inches from the border because it's too big. Trust Scorsese to include what he feels is right - the result is a stunning, epic history of the America that gave birth to all our lives.