AMERICA WAS BORN IN THE STREETS.

Death, corruption, and Irish immigrants fill the streets of New York. Lower Manhattan’s Five Points encompass violence and fraud and illustrate a strong sense of “survival of the fittest.” As vengeance takes over the soul of one man, the center of a town, where five roads intersect, turns worse than it has ever been before.

The motion picture, Gangs of New York, by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese was the winner of 2 Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Song and nominated for 10 Academy Awards. Leonardo Di Caprio and Daniel Day-Lewis give chilling performances that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Filled with stomach-turning gore and flagrant gang activity, Scorsese aims to create a mythical and infamous beginning to New York City.

Gangs of New York begins with a battle between two main gangs in Five Points, The Dead Rabbits and The Natives. The Dead Rabbits led by Priest Vallon, Amsterdam Vallon’s father (Leonardo Di Caprio), are a group of Irish Immigrants fighting for control of Five Points against Bill the Butcher’s Natives (Daniel Day-Lewis), who are strongly against foreign influence. After the death of his father at the hands of Bill the Butcher, Amsterdam is incarcerated and the Dead Rabbits are banished from Five Points. He returns 16 years later to avenge his father’s death by becoming an apprentice to William Cutting, otherwise known as Bill the Butcher. As a friendship is broken over a woman, Jenny (Cameron Diaz), information is leaked to The Butcher and young Vallon and his plan are revealed. After an initial battle with William Cutting, Amsterdam faces his foe once more in an epic battle between the newly re-formed Dead Rabbits and the angered Natives. While the streets of New York are taken over by an enraged mob and political corruption and racism erupt, Five Points acquires a new leader.

Scorsese’s gruesome masterpiece embodies gut-wrenching violence, passion, and deceit. It is both captivating and unbearable. A majestic, compelling, and powerful work of art.