Blood without grit

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2006)

Martin Scorcese had wanted to make 'Gangs of New York' for many years; but given his exceptional track record as a director, it's a surprisingly middle-brow epic, albeit one that entertains throughout its great length. Like his best movies, it focuses on the criminal underclass, and contains considerable quantities of violence. But whereas Scorcese's most famous works are modern, naturalistic in feel, feature anti-heroes and debunk the myth of nobility and honour among thieves, 'Gangs of New York' is not only a period drama but also theatrical (in dialogue and construction), has a conventionally hero-centric story and indulges the myths that its predecessors iconclastically rejected. In fact, with a classic Hollywood love story, an interest in class warfare, some psychopathic villains, an apocalyptic backdrop to an intimate climax, and Leonardo diCaprio wandering round unconvincingly like a refugee from the 21st century, the film has even something of the feel of 'Titanic'; whereas the massed battles in hellish cellars and work-houses even bring to mind 'The Lord of the Rings'. The film is deeper than those two movies; the surprising thing is that the differences are so small.
One can point to a few oddities as well. Unlike most American films, the settled Americans (the "natives") are the bad guys (and the Irish immigrants the heroes); yet the lead native is played by (Irishman) Daniel Day Lewis, while (the American) diCaprio is chief among the Irish. And diCaprio's face shows a remarkable ability to recover from a supposedly disfiguring wound. These are minor points. The more substantive criticisms are more objections to the type of film Scorcese has chosen to make, rather than to its skillful execution: in telling the tale of a forgotten part of American history, he has done so symbolically, filming a story both grand and personal, but creating a world which never quite feels as real as that of 'Mean Streets' or 'Taxi Driver'. The result is a film that is fabulous in the word's original sense: a 19th century fable. But I prefer his grittier works.