The film the Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, depicts the troubles of Irish immigrants in the US. It focuses on a young immigrant, Amsterdam Vallon, who sees his father die in a battle against the “natives” as a child, and returns as an adult to avenge his fathers death. The movie has many interesting dialogues and well-depicted scenes that make it a classic. Filled with blood-ridden violence, it shows how rough times were for the Irish when they arrived in the US after the famine.
The movie begins with a sound of shaving. Then there is a close up of a figure’s eyes and the camera shifts down showing that the man is shaving. The setting is a dark room, illuminated only by two candles. The man makes a small cut on his face, causing him to bleed; he does not clean the knife. The camera then shifts to a two shot as a small boy emerges closely watching the man. As the child enters, music begins to play. The man walks towards the child and hands him the knife, which the child attempts to clean. However, the man stops him saying “no son, never. Blood stays on the blade. One day you’ll understand.” The man then proceeds to dress and at this point, the man can be characterized as a Priest. The Priest makes a prayer to St. Michael and walks out of the room, after which a tracking shot is taken. The camera follows the him out the Old Brewery as more and more people, many of which are carrying fire torches, join him. The camera also cuts to various people who seem to be preparing weapons for battle. The drums heard in the music also foreshadow the event. Most of the people walking with the Priest are wearing torn clothes and their accents imply they are not from the US- an inference that is confirmed as they are met outside by self-pronounced ‘natives’.
Many of the occurrences in the first scene make more sense after watching the movie. At the very beginning of the movie, hearing before seeing draws the viewer in. Seeing the Priest shave represents his manhood. At first, seeing the Priest make a small cut in his face seems weird, however, once he tells his son to leave the blood on the blade, it seems as though he has reason for this. He is including his child in a pact that he later draws upon again right before his death. Before dying he again tells his son “never look away.” Later on, when a grown Amsterdam receives that knife, it is as one of his father’s last belongings. Also, later on in the movie, when Amsterdam challenges the Butcher to a battle, he makes a similar mark on his face with a knife, representing his own manhood.
After the Priest stops his son from cleaning the blood off the knife, a voice in the background says “Some of it I half remember, the rest I took from dreams”, implying that this is a memory of the boy. When the Priest makes the prayer to St. Michael, he asks the boy what St. Michael did. To this, the boy replies that he cast Satan out of heaven. At this moment, the Priest is comparing himself to the Saint and the Butcher to the devil who he plans to finish off in battle. An interesting thing to note is that both Vallon and Bill compare themselves to Saint Michael and think that they representative of Saint Michael.
Once the Priest and Amsterdam leave the room, the Priest holds Amsterdam’s hand tightly and walks as more and more people join him. It can be inferred that the Priest is the leader and that the people are going to battle. Most are dressed in torn clothes, making their own weapons and are not native to the US. The name of their group is Dead Rabbits, which was an actual name of an Irish gang in the 1850’s. Later in the movie, when Amsterdam challenges Bill to a battle, he also takes upon the name of the Dead Rabbits. The scene ends with the Irishman kicking the door for the Priest as they head out for battle.
