This movie is nudging out "Frida" as my favorite for 2002, even though "Frida" was much easier to take. I saw "Gangs of NY" a while ago, and am still thinking about it, picturing different scenes, hearing the music, thinking about the characters. It's dense and magnificent and tough; violence was such a part of some people's lives there's no way around it. To Scorcese's credit the violence doesn't go on and on, and it's not glorified, but he doesn't sugarcoat things either. It's his usual unflinching style. Since I knew about the Civil War mostly from the South's point of view, it was interesting (and painful) seeing what was going on in NYC during those years. Lots of blood was shed while this country's character was being formed, and it wasn't all on the battlefields, and it wasn't all that long ago.
The music was very Irish, and I heard Linda Thompson's voice on a couple of songs, so expect I'll be getting the soundtrack. I loved all the details, such as the candlelit interiors and the dirty fingernails (well, of course, people in those circumstances would be unkempt), and after the U2 song during the credits, hearing modern day NYC street noises as the only "music". The final shot of the film really got to me. I'm going to go and see it all again soon. Debra Shea P.S. Mention of a Thompson reminds me, the new cd by my man Richard Thompson, "Old Kit Bag", is being released in the UK on February 3rd, in the US in April; for anyone like me who can't wait, it can be ordered from Amazon-UK.
