Fine acting, spectacle.

Rating: 6/10 (30 November 2007)

Man, this doth bestride the world of 1860s New York like a colossus. It begins with a battle on the streets of the (now disappeared) Five Points of New York City, between the Irish immigrants led by Liam Neeson, head of the Dead Rabbits gang, and the nativists, led by Daniel Day-Lewis, sporting the most down-home working-class New York accent you ever heard, a real phoneme-mangler, and the waxiest mustache as well, playing Bill the Butcher.
Neeson is killed in battle, which stops the fight, as it did in ancient times, and Day-Lewis bellows out to the stunned mob, "The Dead Rabbits is gone forever. Let their name never be spoken from this time onward!" Neeson's son grows up to be Leonard DeCaprio and when he returns to Five Points he his taken under the wing of Day-Lewis, until his identity is revealed. Cameron Diaz is around here somewhere, swishing through bar rooms, half-built churches, and underground caves.
Another street battle is arranged. Coincidentally it takes place during the historic draft riots of the Civil War period. Day-Lewis is killed by DeCaprio, and the feud is buried.
I couldn't tell one gang from another but I loved their names. They are rooted in historical reality, I think, and they include not just the Dead Rabbits but the Chichesters, the Bowery Boys, and the Plug Uglies. The Plug Uglies derive their name, I understand, from a "volunteer fireman's group." There were thirty-seven such groups. There being no fire department to speak of at the time, volunteer groups were paid by the fire, which led to the expected results. Not only competition by rival groups to reach the fire first, but sometimes co-opting the fire by having a handful sit on the fire plugs and reserving them for their own group. (Arson by the firemen themselves also generated profits.)
That's the kind of detail that Scorsese jimmies into this movie. We get to see some historical figures, such as Boss Tweed, and we witness their machinations. But the director's real interests lie elsewhere -- intrigues among the gang members and their molls, revenge, murders, public assassinations, things like that. I know. It sounds like the Corleone family. Unfortunately that's probably the weakest part of the film. There is usually a great sense of "place" and "tribe" in Scorsese's work. The Five-Points set is splendidly done but I couldn't get a sense of what was where. Transitions from exteriors to interiors, and the relation of community features to each other, were confusing. And although Day-Lewis's character was nicely delineated, and our attitude towards him necessarily ambivalent, I wasn't itching for DeCaprio to off him and stand victorious over his body -- which is part of the gangs' code. ("Ears and noses are alright, but nobody touches this body!" That's another order from Day-Lewis about taking post-battle trophies. Another guy gets paid by the new notches he carves into his sheleghly or whatever it is.) Nobody in the film is entirely admirable, although just about everyone is treacherous. A black orphanage is burned down during the draft riots but this eludes mention. Also, okay, this is about the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhood in New York City. Day-Lewis is a butcher and Cameron Diaz is a hooker, but what kind of work do the others do? We don't see anyone making a living. We don't even hear them talk about it. To whom does Day-Lewis sell his lamb chops?
None of that detracts from the power of the images we see on the screen, or from some of the superb performances, the least effective of which come from DeCaprio and Diaz. The film paints a moving portrait of near anarchy. We only get to see one or two cops and they're thoroughly corrupt. Nobody balks, no committee is formed to investigate, when a battle between street gangs leaves dozens dead. The street has its own code. Plus ca change.