Anyone who knows American history will never forget the "Declaration of Independence", the Continental Congress, and the gunshots of Lexington, the United States that has created a brand-new social structure and political system in a new world. A country where people from different worlds and races have created freedom and democracy that break the old order. ——There is indeed a revolutionary bourgeois style.
However, the poster of "New York Gangs" is printed with a huge reminder: "America was born in the streets." The Hong Kong translation is "America was born in the streets", which is indeed somewhat alike. In the view of director Martin Scorsese, a United States of America that is out of British rule and built on an extensive democratic system is not a complete United States. It can only eliminate the antagonisms and gaps between various ethnic groups and integrate the conflicts and contradictions of social classes. The United States that has formed a spirit of tolerance and freedom is an America with a modern American spirit.
Some film critics believe that the excessive rendering of the historical background of the film has hurt the character creation of the characters. This may indeed be Martin Scorsese’s " "Ambition". The pursuit of "epic" makes the film have to trim the character development process of the characters. Therefore, certain behavior and character changes of the actor Velen make the audience feel abrupt. But from a certain point of view, this is not a traditional gangster movie. It is a social analysis work. The plot and characters just make the audience willing to pay for the movie theater.
Many people discussed the vengeance mentality of Vinylon towards the "butcher" Bill in the film. Many people overlooked one point. In the end, Vinylon challenged Bill not to avenge his father, but to justly condemn Bill's killing of elected officials. This may be seen. Work is to maintain the dignity of the democratic spirit-although this kind of democracy seems to be just that. Therefore, the film has moved to a new level after the failure of Vinylon's assassination. Personal grievances were suppressed to a certain extent, and Vinyl began to repeat his father's business, using the Dead Rabbit Gang to establish a foothold for the brothers who traveled across oceans to find the American dream. The series of events that followed continued to tighten the strings between ethnic groups, governments and people, democracy and violence, and finally released them in the form of violence. The final violent suppression and the death of Butcher Bill became the detailed macro and micro manifestations of this violent conflict.
After this riot in American history, how will American history be affected? The film
ends with a passage from Vinylon: In the end, they put candles on the corpse. In this way, their friends, if any, can recognize them in the dark, which is provided by the city for free. Shang, Jimmy Spur, Hellcat, McGrawn, and many more people, enemies or friends, now there is no difference.
It took four days and nights for the suppression of the riot to subside. We never know how many New Yorkers died that week before this city was saved. My father told me that everything was born in blood and suffering. The same is true of our great city. Before that, we lived and died in the frenetic years, as if everything we were familiar with was swept away. No matter how they rebuild the city, in the remaining time, it seems that no one knows that you have lived here.
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