OK (if you can get through it)

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2013)

Those who romanticize the lives of 19th century Americans and maintain Americana images of bustling city streets where innkeepers, aristocratic women carrying parasols, nannies, leather smiths, bankers, cobblers, bricklayers, market managers, and police officers (whose job involved no more risk than chasing down an occasional pickpocket)will have a hard time assimilating this version of U.S history. "Gangs of New York" gives the impression that in 1860's New York City anarchy reigned and the antisocial predominated.
Usually, movies that have characters that I would never want as neighbors also feature ones that I admire or envy, people who endure struggles and make decisions with which I empathize, but not this movie. It doesn't include any character I find likable - not even Leonardo DiCaprio's. I have to concede, however, that my feelings reflect to a degree the quality of the performances, since a viewer can't react with loathing and revulsion if the actors don't make themselves appear heinous and heartless. Daniel Day Lewis's acting, especially, affected me. As much as I wanted to put my arm around the flawed but generally decent man he portrayed in "The Crucible," I was hoping that someone would dismember "The Butcher."
"Gangs of New York" does deal with a very significant social-political issue, the strained relationship between the Irish and the English, but it can also frustrate because it does not teach much. If a viewer can withstand the many brutal killings and stay with the story to the finish, s/he will probably only have learned that when the Irish and English immigrated to this country they brought their mutual hatred with them.