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GANGS OF NEW YORK

One of Scorseses latest film adaptations is dedicated to the creation of the Big Apple, or New York
City as we all know it, from a small and remote laid back Dutch community of early settlers, to the
biggest city in the North American hemisphere.
In the beginning, to use this eternal and epic phrase that is the start of the Holy Bible and the
Genesis chapter, New Amsterdam, as the settlement was called by its original European
inhabitants, was nothing more than an old fashioned fortified citadel of first generation early Dutch
colonizers.
Scorsese pays very little tribute to the original and native tribes of Red Indians who initially called
this their own natural habitat, however, this is a story committed to glorify and clarify the adaptation
of the Europeans into the new World, as well as their challenges and experiences of arriving in the
Promised Land.
However, had he committed himself to portray the Natives, this would have been a movie of state
sponsored genocide and crimes against humanity against the White hordes, who literally
exterminated the real Americans.
Anyway, one wonders very early on why the Red Indians were never even considered to be a part of
the whole Melting Pot idea, as they were deliberately wiped out to provide in the pursuit of the
American Dream
As we learn very early on, much of the people who would have arrived in New York just before the
great American Civil War, would resent their decision to depart and leave the old World, in order to
seek better life and freedom in the newly discovered Americas, as many of those whod arrive at
that time would almost instantly get caught up in the disputes and a major big local conflict that
would resume into a full scale war confrontation.
This would be a permanent scar for a lot of the people who would be lucky enough to go thru it and
survive the War, but an overwhelming majority would die and lose their lives in a conflict, that was
created in their absence and while they were away in a completely different part of the world.
Hence, the first big irony we come across is the slaughter of thousands, who indeed came to America
in a hope to escape exploitation, abuse and poverty.
Many of these people were hardly long enough in America to know anything about the war, let
alone the reasons theyre dragged into a conflict they have absolutely nothing to do with.
But these are the allegories of life and, such is human destiny and the collective human experience
harvested in our history as species and a civilised kind that is full of extremes, antagonisms and one
paradox after another.
This is probably why Scorseses main protagonists and characters that would become the thriving
force in this epic story are indeed people whod need much religion and faith to deal with the
hurdles and challenges theyre experiencing in their fight for existential survival.
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The location for the narrative is a part of early European New York history and is the flagship centre
of gravity, the corner stone of human activity and a community pillar: these are the famous five
points, glorified and worshipped as the citys original Time Square.
This is the heart of Early New York gang Land; it is the centre of trade and commerce, the lifeblood
of a thriving small port that only gets bigger and bigger by the day.
This is the place to exchange gossip, flock your stolen merchandise, and hire a contract hit men to
kill your opponent, ask a young lady out for the Saturday dance, meet and greet colleague gangsters
and other kinds of low life characters wondering around planning their next scam or plotting their
latest crime or perhaps extortion racket.
But, such is life during high unemployment caused by a civil war that is a constant strain on the
resources of a developing new Land that has many problems to deal with.
Inherently, religious intolerance, superstition and discrimination against all who seem even remotely
different is high and rampant and creates constant friction and tension between communities, still
by far and much too different to have yet merged and integrated into the process of assimilation and
creation of a new American Identity, where people would be bound to create a mixed community
sharing the same hopes for better life and freedom.
As for the Irish, who form a substantial part of the early arrivals in New York City back at that time,
they seem to have walked into the same conflict they have desperately been trying to escape Europe
from.
With the Catholic and Protestant camps firmly established, early America seems almost obsessed
and intoxicated with religion and an all-out war for religious supremacy is a fundamental part of the
early conflicts between new arrival communities, not only directed and targeting minorities of other
racial backgrounds, but an overwhelming majority of it seems to be a Christian religious civil war
between indoctrinated denominations all trying to reveal to the World that god has chosen their
type of worship and spirituality as the true and final Christian Revelation.
As far as all the others are concerned, they are not a part of Gods Big Plan; they will simply vanish
into Eternal Damnation on Judgement Day, when the righteous will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Competition between religions is an eternal phenomenon, and much of it has always been settled
thru conflict, hence the establishment of New York is an all-out fight in the name of God Almighty.
Scorsese seems almost determined to describe early New York as a real time Inferno and much of
the violence and fighting as well as the aggressive interpretation of the settlers back then seems as a
plan to describe them as being in a middle of Repentance, paying a heavy price for their Sins.
In the more mild moments of the movie, we could describe early New York as the Purgatory of
Satan, as the opening sequence is an open Gang Warfare to dominate and win supremacy over the
Five Points.
Theres no glamour in here at all, sometimes it makes one wonder if all the bloodletting is not a bit
exaggerated, but to our humble director, it seems this is what early New York was really like,
particularly in the poor working class neighbourhoods of early Irish settlers.
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It makes one really wonder how America has evolved to become tolerant and diverse, encouraging
multi ethnicity and cosmopolitan values.
Much of the emphasis in the movie leads the audience to believe that America has been built on
crime, indeed there is an argument here suggesting that violence is a part of our evolution as
species.
It seems as if we owe much of our civilisation to the bloodshed from the past; that is the message
that comes across, had it not been for our animal impulse to kill to survive, we would have been still
much uncivilised.
Im not really certain of Scorseses relationship with the Irish Americans, and one can wonder why he
has made a decision to adopt a story of early Irish settlers, but at least in the movie, all other
communities seem to have been deliberately excluded from the process of building America, all
lurking from the background.
For a moment one has the feeling of glorifying the Irish as the real people who built America,
everyone else left seems insignificant to the process of establishing, at least that feels so from the
story for New York City.
There is however, very little emphasis on the Dutch, who are the rightful heirs and the real early
European arrivals, not to mention the injustice to the Ashkenazi Jewry, who despite early Dutch
opposition were still a substantial part of New York City, establishing their headquarters in the lower
East side, and all the other small and big communities who had built a thriving diaspora communities
all over the Big Apple.
Or perhaps the reminder of early New Yorkers was totally insignificant to the Five Points?
It feels like an inevitable conclusion to think that to civilise such an uncivilised and violent world, one
must build very aggressive societies, that would indeed kill themselves, to Upheld the appearance
of the Law, as Congressman Tammany says in a sequence where he justifies public executions for
petty crimes.
All this leads one to conclude that Americans are only tolerant externally; however, what is really on
their mind is another matter over all.
And of course, the open relationship and the closeness and cosiness, the established bilateral
interaction between a local community leader slash Mob Boss of a local Street Gang, and
members of Congress as well as employees in local government speaks tonnes of American Society,
internal corruption and the fact that there is a very thin line between right and wrong in America.
One of the nicest sentences I still remember despite of a not so much recent view of the movie is the
line, when Congressman Tammany says:
The appearance of the Law must be upheld, especially when its being broken, giving a green light
and a vote of confidence to mock trials in order to sentence few Petty criminals to death.
Of course, a great director would almost certainly challenge us as audience and raise our blood
pressure with contradictions.
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The paradox of portraying a Catholic priest as an outright local Warlord and an established Gang
Leader of a bunch of Irish criminals, making their living by committing scams and robberies, leaves
much left for us to retire exercising our imagination.
There is definitely a very strong metaphor there.
Then again, Redemption thru crime, Repentance from Sin by killing, is another very strong and
powerful message.
One could really wonder if this movie would be approved by the Vatican.
Anyway, today there is nothing left of the big Five Points; the memory survives only in literature and
history books.
But what of Heritage could one preserve for future Generations by glorifying a Gang Land district?
What of these patches of history could be stored in a museum, or perhaps a gallery?
In terms of continuity and consistency, one should easily be able to conclude that there is much
history of organized Crime and violence, and that it has always been a substantial part of New York
City.
For the contemporary viewer, apart from a story greatly told by a master of the moving image, one
can really wonder what to remember and take home with him at the end of the screening.
Back in those days in New York City it feels according to Martin Scorsese, there was another kind of
Wild West, to a great extent much more influenced by the Old continent of Europe, much more
linked to the troubles of old that seem to have defined the old world.
Much of Hollywood has traditionally been influenced by the desert Scenery and the lone Cowboy,
and this is rather an exceptional take on American History away from the stereotypes of the
Western Genre, and the mediocre picturesque town somewhere in the West built around a Saloon
and a Whore house and a Bank that gets robbed every forth night.
Never the less, it is a great film of excellent entertainment value for a casual viewer and a
connoisseur alike, that would bring much pleasure particularly to those who love Martin Scorsese.
As far as he is concerned, breaking away from the tradition of portraying Italian Americans in their
endeavours of settlement in the Promised Land, it is always a good time to kill in New York, but it is
even a better time to live and move on, leaving the old behind and embracing the new.
In the end we still get a positive image of embracing life and prevailing over death to glorify the lust
for living.
New York has definitely moved on from these old days when one could argue that America would
become much of a failed State, organised around Crime families and warlords controlling each their
own neighbourhoods.
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Perhaps the most bizarre sequence is Congressman Tammanys invitation of an established local
warlord into The Tammany family as he calls his political alliance and coalition partners merged
into early American Democrats, perhaps a hint of favouritism for Republicans by Scorsese?
At least we have all come to conclude the director is a very opinionated man with strong criticism to
Anything from politics to law enforcement and social relations

Krume Kunovski.