Strong and Entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2003)

Martin Scorsese's movie is close to the best American commercial cinema can get. I do not know to what extent the events described in the movie are true, but they come really alive on the screen. A whole world is brought to our eyes - powerful, violent, colorful and you can really philosophize and say that you understand where the violent power and fascination of today's New York come from. This world seems to come directly from the books of Dickens or Hugo. If the American literature did not have a novel writer of that stature to describe the 19th century society, here comes Scorsese, and re-creates that world one and a half century later on a different media.
I am no fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, but he is at his best in this film. Daniel De Lewis has already an Oscar on his shelves, and would have deserved a second one for his creation in this movie. There are a lot of other well acted strong characters in this film, and you can feel the hand of the master in directing the actors, as well as in the camera work. One may say that violence is not always justified by logic but by artistic needs, but these were the times, and there are a few memorable scenes to pay back for this.
9/10 on my personal scale for this strong and entertaining film.