Back in 2002 when I took a module called "US Media and Society", the only thing I remembered about this movie was when the lecturer had cited this movie as a showcase of how New York in the 19th century was like, and urged us to watch it if we had a chance. He then asked us, by a show of hands, who had watched this already. A few stray hands rose from the lecture floor that comprised of a 70-plus strong audience. My lecturer, one of the best in the faculty, shook his head in amazement and said, "Leo is really losing his appeal with girls".

Yup, yup, I nodded my head in agreement. I'd still nod my head in agreement now cos I never liked Leonard DiCaprio then and I still dun like him now. But looking from another perspective, I firmly believe that the reason why he's losing his appeal among the girls now is because he is no pretty boy now. I believe Leo has been doing a pretty good job in selecting his movies and maturing into age-appropriate roles. Gangs of New York is one such example.

I have no idea about the historical background to the movie, but from whatever knowledge I have about New York in the 19th century, I do believe that the situation was probably just as bad, if not worse, than what was depicted in the movie. Basically, it tells of the struggle between gangs that ruled New York, particularly between the Natives (Americans born and bred in America) and the Dead Rabbits (which consisted of Irish immigrants fighting for their right to have a place to live in the already overcrowded New york city). As described by a netizen on IMDB, it was "a place teeming with rival gangsters, pickpockets, corrupt politicians, lawbreaking policemen, and even firefighters so obsessed with matters of jurisdiction that they do physical battle with rival departments while an unattended building goes up in flames behind them. This is a world where life has no value and where a man's existence can be snuffed out without so much as a by-your-leave or a single person left behind to mourn him. The members of these rival gangs make the Sharks and the Jets - who would make their appearance on the same turf a full century later - look like mere pantywaists in comparison." All this is set against the background of the civil war, where improverised new immigrants from Ireland, Germany and other parts of Europe are, with the freshly liberated Blacks, sent to fight for a country they barely got to know.

The movie was visually stunning, and it did made me feel emotionally for the hard lives these people, natives or not, had to go through just to eek out a living and to make sure that they could live to see the next sunrise. It was also heart-wrenching to see how these people were taken advantage of by the rich politicians in the raging civil war, sacrificing these new immigrants, some who were drafted just the moment they stepped foot on the American soil, for a war that never involved them in the first place. I liked how director Scorcese juxtoposed the civil war against the massive gang rivalry which permeated not only through the civilian front but even to the political arena, leaving me in awe at the kinds of living conditions in 19th century New York. And I just loved that final scene, where the cityscape changed over the years while the graves of those involved in the bitter rivalry remained in the foreground, untouched and forgetten.

But peel that layer off and what u get is really a cliche story about gang rivalry and a boy's revenge for the death of his father. Leo is Amsterdam, son of Priest Vallon who was killed in a bloody gangfight by Bill Cutting, aka The Butcher, who led the Natives. After the death of Vallon, Bill grew in power and ruled the Five Points of NYC with brutaliy and fear, while Amsterdam fled into oblivian. Years later he returned, and hiding his true identity, came into the good books of Bill who took him as a beloved apprentice. Alas, he was betrayed by a good friend (Henry Thomas) over jealousy of a pickpocket, Jenny, (Cameron Diaz) and was scarred for life. Under the care of Jenny, he rose again to rebel against Bill, only this time the fight had involved the whole of the Irish and minority population, not only against Bill's gang but also towards the politicians.

If there's one thing that truely impressed me it was the sheer amount of star power this movie had. What other movie could attract such an array of well-known and acclaimed actors? Leo, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Henry Thomas, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reily, Gary Lewis, Liam Neeson... The list is quite astounding to me, really. But the one actor to look out for really is Daniel Day-Lewis, who shone as the unpredictable, brutal, yet tired character of Bill the Butcher. I have mixed comments about Leo's performance thou, I couldn't decide if he was good or just helped by the story and his character, thou I must say that his character worked well in the movie. I guess Daniel Day-Lewis' performance just outshone him and everyone else - for me, that is. And please cite ONE recent movie where Liam Neeson doesn't play the fatherly mentor who gets killed before the end of the show!!! He's good in roles like this but please... a little overdose ya?

Recommended watch? Sure is. If u can get past the bloody scenes of torture, murdering, fighting and mass killings, I think Gangs of New York is worth watching, especially for those interested in movies based heavily on history. In fact, if u can get ur hands on the DVD, go watch the Discovery documentry on the Real Gangs of New York. Very very interesting piece of history, kinda reminded me of the formation of secret societies in early Malaya and Singapore. Only gripe is that they seemed to have only included the 1st half of the documentry, cos it ended abruptly after the commentor said something to the effect that "the troubles hadn't ended". Highly unsatisfying. I'm motivated to find out more about NYC's history now.

But nope, I'm still not a Leo fan.


Trivia (from IMDB.com):

The film was conceived in 1978 and originally intended to be produced sometime in 1980 or 1981, but the box office failure of Heaven's Gate (1980) made studios wary of expensively ambitious historical dramas and the idea was shelved.

19th century New York was recreated on the lot of Cinecittà studios in Rome. When George Lucas visited the massive set, he reportedly turned to Scorsese and said that sets like that can be done with computers now.

Hell-Cat Maggie and most of the gangs mentioned by name in the movie were real gangs of New York during the 19th century. The character Bill "The Butcher" Cutting is based largely on real-life New York gang leader Bill Poole, who also was known as "the butcher" and had much the same prestige as Day-Lewis's character does in this film.

According to Harvey Weinstein, Day-Lewis was taking time off to work as a cobbler in Florence, Italy when he, director Martin Scorsese and 'Leonard DiCaprio' lured him into coming back to New York "on false pretenses" so they could eventually persuade him to accept lead role in Gangs of New York (2002).

Daniel Day-Lewis said in an interview that he listened to the music of Eminem to prepare for his role.

During the scene at the Chinese theater, Bill the Butcher calls for his boys to play some "American Music" and extols it as "patriotic." The tune they play is "Garry Owen," a Gaelic drinking tune, which became the Regimental song of the 7th United States Calvary, chock full of Irishmen, and infamous for their defeat, along with their commander, George Armstrong Custer, at Little Big Horn.

While the Draft Riots depicted in the film are largely accurate, the real-life Bill "The Butcher" Poole (the basis for Daniel Day-Lewis's character, Bill Cutting) was actually killed several years before the riots took place.

Tobey Maguire was at one time considered for the role of Johnny Sirocco (played by Henry Thomas).

The original cut of the film ran an hour longer.

Many of the characters portrayed in the movie are actually buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The view of the skyline shown at the end of the movie would not be visible from this location, but rather from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.