Gangs of New York-A Complete Triumph!!

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2003)

Gangs of New York Rating **** Out of ****!!
Forget all those film critics out their somewhat bashing Scorese's new Epic historical crime saga saying its not worth the wait. This film is worth the wait. Just because critics like to compare this film with Scorsese's prevous works, it's not fair. It's Passionate, lurid, graphic, and bloody as sunday, Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" peers deeply into the side of American history poisoned by ethnic and racial hatred. The sprawling, bare-knuckled drama takes place in a squalid quarter known as Five Corners where people lived in desperate poverty, brute force was the law and battle-ready gangs ruled the streets.
The most ferocious is Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis), a native-born American who uses his criminal syndicate to oppress and exploit the immigrants he despises. He rankles most over the ever-growing ranks of Irish Catholics, including the gang leader Priest (Liam Neeson), who dies in a brawl while his son watches. On one level, the movie is the personal story of that son as a grown man. After years in an orphanage, now calling himself Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio), he returns to extract revenge. To get close, he joins Bill's gang, but finds himself seduced by the magnetism of Bill's power ,and by a pretty pickpocket named Jenny (Cameron Diaz).
Scorsese's more urgent interest is in the tumultuous, tragic history that is the backdrop to Amsterdam's story. While the people of Five Corners deal with gangs, corrupt politicians and poverty, the Civil War is raging. Immigrants are being conscripted by the thousands, while the affluent can buy their way out of the draft with $300. Scorsese summarizes the immigrant plight in a superb, uncut shot of new arrivals stepping off the boat into the arms of military officials who hand them citizenship papers and uniforms, then march them straight onto a transport ship as battlefield coffins are unloaded alongside them. Resentment over this system climaxed with the New York draft riots, a murderous, four-day rampage that left more than 100 people dead.
Scorsese depicts the riots in graphic, punishing detail. This kind of violence is hard to watch, indeed, but the director's aim is not mere sensation. He is making a fierce demand on the audience to understand the savage fury that attended the nation's long, tortured birth. "Gangs of New York" is a stunning visual spectacle,a complete triumph.

Scorsese spares no grim detail in painting a portrait of the degradation in Five Corners invoked by history, imagination and urban folklore. Nor does Scorsese neglect to invoke the power of religion, one of his signature themes. For instance, when the gangs are preparing for their final showdown, we see leaders of both sides fervently invoke God's favor.Such moments define "Gangs of New York", a work of harsh and fearless artistry from a master at the top of his form.