Fair Insight into New York City History

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2002)

I am a native New Yorker who was unfamiliar with Five Points' history. Although this film was not entirely accurate as a historical account, it was accurate enough - remember that films are stories that do take "literary license."
Some people have commented that there were no troops in New York to quell the draft riots, as they were all in Gettysburg. In reality, several regiments at least were sent to New York immediately after the Gettysburg victory at Mr. Lincoln's behest. It seems a bit unfair that General Meade was excoriated for not following General Lee when his army was parsed to quell civilian uprisings. George Gordon Meade may not have been the most brilliant military tactician or strategist in history, but I believe he took an unfair blame for this specific action.
Back to the film - There are a good many open questions in my mind about the gangs, the different police departments and fire services, the government structure. It was not intended to instruct, but to entertain, and it did that well. As an instructional medium, it succeeded in naming the questions about my native city that I will now search the internet to resolve.
Martin Scorsese did well - just to get this epic to the screen. It took acts of endurance to complete this project, but complete it he did.
The casting was excellent, and one actor of note did not receive first line billing, although his name deserved it: Liam Neeson. It is a testament to his character that he did not demand higher credit for an important - but small - role.
Daniel Day Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz discharged their roles well - even if the accents were less than stellar. This minor flaw did not detract from the overall quality of the film. 5/5