Gangs Of New York

Gangs Of New York 2002

Earlier tonight, and once again thanks to the joys of dvdsontap, PY and I watched Martin Scorsese’s 19th-century epic, Gangs of New York, on DVD. Apparently, Daniel Day-Lewis came out of a kind of retirement to film it.

The film tells us America was not quite the happy melting pot of modern thinking. It’s an interesting mix of epic cinema and a predictable story: DiCaprio seeks to avenge his father’s death and falls for Cameron Diaz in the process, while, all around, the poor (literally) fight for survival against the corruption of the powerful. The sight of the coffins brought back from the Civil War reminds us of another part of America’s past. If the movie is to be believed, Irish immigrants were marched off one ship to another, where they acquired uniforms and the promise of ‘three meals a day’ on their way to a death further south.

Gangs of New York looks stunning but fails to deliver. Day-Lewis has a Munchausen moustache, which is more absurd in pictures than it is in character, but still provides an amusing diversion. The movie is long, but apparently not as long as it was meant to be. A difficult film to decide upon.

On this day…