Gangs of New York
August 2003 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

There has been disagreement about how accurately Martin Scorsese portrays the people and places of 19th-century New York in Gangs of New York. Is Scorsese interested in recreating history, or using a historical event to frame the behavior of his characters? Gangs of New York is not a history-driven film as much as an observation of how people handled injustice and discrimination during a brutal time in American history. It is a character study, and New York’s Five Points is simply a backdrop for the story.

Bill the Butcher, Amsterdam Vallon, and Jenny Everdeane are not historically accurate characters, but composites of individuals that lived during the period. Bill the Butcher symbolizes the corruption of power and twisted patriotism, while Amsterdam is one of the many thousand non-native immigrants fighting for respect and tolerance in a new world. If you did not have political connections or a willingness to fight, then you would end up like Jenny -- a person forced to commit criminal acts to survive. Scorsese makes the point that culture, creed, and the time period do not matter. Amsterdam and Jenny could be Irish, Italian, Jewish, or Chinese. All immigrants faced similar types of resistance.

Scorsese filmed these acts of rebellion with bravado. A combination of grand crane shots and quick intercuts give the fighting immense gravity and scale. There are no digital effects, or gratuitous bloodshed. Showing the effect and not the cause of death implies the brutality of battle. Scorsese’s intent is to show that violence existed without glorifying it.

Gangs of New York falters in the experience of its primary cast. Only Daniel Day-Lewis is convincing as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting. The awkward but very effective cadence in his voice and his body language punctuates one of the most effective scenes in the film. Cutting is villainous yet sympathetic as he explains to Amsterdam how Priest Vallon was the only man he respected. Neither DiCaprio nor Diaz has the charisma or persuasion to communicate such subtlety of character. I found myself rooting for Cutting as Amsterdam and Jenny gnashed their teeth and screamed their lines.

Longtime Scorsese cinematographer Michael Ballhaus gives Gangs of New York a warm but hard look. Colors are a mixture of dirty reds and browns, which are offset by harsh lighting that reduces depth of field. It’s a look that reinforces the feeling of poverty and filth but also one that gives the impression of rebirth from a dark, but nourishing womb. The pictures are solid, and free of any distracting artifacts -- save some film grain in dark scenes. Perfect blacks support spot-on contrast. Whites are at times overblown, but give the sense of how it must have felt to awaken to such day-to-day misery.

Whether the filmmakers intended it or not, the flute-driven battle cry, which accompanied each conflict, proved to be very uncomfortable to the ears. The opening war between Priest Vallon and Bill the Butcher practically drove me out of the room. This strident quality is apparent in both the Dolby Digital and DTS mixes. However, the audio balance is clean and dynamic. The cannons in the third act are reproduced with a deep and concussive slam, while the detail in the background din of Five Points is always apparent.

I thoroughly enjoyed the features on this two-disc set. With the exception of the Discovery Channel special, each documentary had a very personal and realistic feel to it. This quality was mostly due to Martin Scorsese’s personable, down-to-earth nature. I did not feel like some aloof Hollywood executive was speaking to me. Rather, I felt as if the director was giving me a personal tour of the sets, the costumes, and his memories. I am always amazed by Scorsese’s bottomless knowledge of cinema. Listening to his commentary is a treat for anyone who values film history. I would give the feature set four stars for this experience alone.

Gangs of New York is a great-looking and ambitious film, which unfortunately needed more passion and credibility from two of its three leads. Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp come to mind as better choices than DiCaprio and Diaz. Still, Gangs of New York is worth seeing for the scene-stealing Day-Lewis and Scorsese’s surefooted and epic direction.

• Go Back