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[[File:Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Gangs of New York]]__NOTOC__
The Gangs of New York is a vengeance drama. It is set in in the American metropolis before and during the American Civil War. The movie's focus is on the gangs that once controlled the Five-Points area of New York, which was a notorious slum. It follows the leader of a criminal gang which is tied to the political establishment in New York City. ‘Bill the Butcher’ played by the Anglo-Irish actor Daniel Day-Lewis rules the Five-Points. The character is a ‘Nativist’ and wants America to remain a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant country. He despises the recent and numerous Catholic emigrants in New York.
====How accurate is the movie====
While the movie is not generally regarded as one of Scorsese’s best, it is still highly rated by critics. Additionally, Daniel Day Lewis's portrayal of Bill the Butcher is one of the most fascinating and terrifying performances in cinema history. His performance alone makes <i>Gangs of New York</i> worth watching. Scorsese’s work also captures many of the issues of the time such as the tensions between natives and immigrants. It also manages to reconstruct the Five Points and gives the viewer a sense of this once infamous neighborhood.
However, there are many exaggerations and inaccuracies. These include overstating the violence that took place at the time in the Five Points. The nature of the gangs and their motivations is not portrayed particularly accurately. Additionally, all of the characters and gangs in the movie are all fictional. The most serious inaccuracy is the distortion of the Draft Riots of 1863. Hopefully, someone makes a movie that does accurately portray these riots. On this basis, it could be said that the movie does manage to capture something of the Five Points and its gangs but is not a realistic portrayal of New York in the 1860s.
