Film Report
Professor Buckman
HRS 180
Film Report
Gangs of New York (2002)
Director Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York is truly a film that firmly places itself in the memory of the viewer forever. Its masterful use of filming techniques to achieve the correct mood for the film poses it as an eye catcher. Apart from the plot, the director’s choice and use of camera angles, lighting, proxemics, framing, editing, and shot-length enhanced the film and provided the perfect mood for the plot. Set in 19th century New York, the film starts in catacombs as Priest Vallon, (played by Liam Neeson,) is getting his gang of Irish immigrants ready for the famous gang fight of the Five Points in 1946, against Bill Cutting (The Butcher, played by Daniel Day-Lewis) and his gang of American-born “Natives” . Vallon is accompanied by his young son, Amsterdam, and the bloody, ferocious fight is concluded when Bill Cutting kills Priest Vallon and sends young Amsterdam to school to get an education. Sixteen years afterwards, an older Amsterdam appears, (played now by Leonardo DiCaprio) and he is obviously seeking to avenge the murder of his father. He is taken in by Bill Cutting, his presumed enemy, who teaches him as if he were his apprentice, not knowing of Amsterdam’s ongoing plots to kill him. Amsterdam meets and falls in love with a pretty pocket picker, Jenny Everdeane, (played by Cameron Diaz) who plays an important role in nursing Amsterdam to health after his failed attempt to kill Bill Cutting during a party. Towards the end of the film, the civil war breaks out, and the drafting process outrages many of the poor who cannot pay to waive the draft, and so mobs break out in the streets of the city amidst the spreading chaos. Amidst all of this, another great fight breaks out between the Irish gang and the “native” gang, ending with the death of Bill Cutting. The ending scenes show the mass destruction that resulted from the mob and the consecutive navy shelling of the city as
HRS 180
Film Report
Gangs of New York (2002)
Director Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York is truly a film that firmly places itself in the memory of the viewer forever. Its masterful use of filming techniques to achieve the correct mood for the film poses it as an eye catcher. Apart from the plot, the director’s choice and use of camera angles, lighting, proxemics, framing, editing, and shot-length enhanced the film and provided the perfect mood for the plot. Set in 19th century New York, the film starts in catacombs as Priest Vallon, (played by Liam Neeson,) is getting his gang of Irish immigrants ready for the famous gang fight of the Five Points in 1946, against Bill Cutting (The Butcher, played by Daniel Day-Lewis) and his gang of American-born “Natives” . Vallon is accompanied by his young son, Amsterdam, and the bloody, ferocious fight is concluded when Bill Cutting kills Priest Vallon and sends young Amsterdam to school to get an education. Sixteen years afterwards, an older Amsterdam appears, (played now by Leonardo DiCaprio) and he is obviously seeking to avenge the murder of his father. He is taken in by Bill Cutting, his presumed enemy, who teaches him as if he were his apprentice, not knowing of Amsterdam’s ongoing plots to kill him. Amsterdam meets and falls in love with a pretty pocket picker, Jenny Everdeane, (played by Cameron Diaz) who plays an important role in nursing Amsterdam to health after his failed attempt to kill Bill Cutting during a party. Towards the end of the film, the civil war breaks out, and the drafting process outrages many of the poor who cannot pay to waive the draft, and so mobs break out in the streets of the city amidst the spreading chaos. Amidst all of this, another great fight breaks out between the Irish gang and the “native” gang, ending with the death of Bill Cutting. The ending scenes show the mass destruction that resulted from the mob and the consecutive navy shelling of the city as