Gangs of New York: my original Film Forum coverage
This Film Forum coverage was originally published at Christianity Today on December 19, 2002.
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2025 Update: This Film Forum coverage was originally published at Christianity Today on December 19, 2002.
Now, a quarter of a century later, as I look closer at my own perspective on this film and its critical reception, I’m amazed by how what seemed exaggerated and cynical then seems like a prophetic vision of the world we’re living in now, the forces that have taken a wrecking ball to the hope of democracy, the malevolent antichrist who tapped into many veins of hatred across the country in order to advance a violent agenda, and a fear-poisoned church that has fallen for the very tricks of the devil that Jesus saw right through. While I still think the film’s narrative has a weak central storyline, an unremarkable and unconvincing romance, the depiction of the historical context in rich with essential truth-telling, the kind that America ignores — or, worse, denies — at its own peril.
Here is the original text of those two installments of Film Forum in which I covered Gangs of New York, featuring a range of reviews from religious media critics and others. (And I can’t help but note that a source that called the movie “a revisionist political treatment that attacks faith, God, and America” is an organization that enthusiastically endorses the Trump-vangelical overthrow of democracy, civil rights, a free press, and the fundamentals of the American Constitution today.) . . .
Now, a quarter of a century later, as I look closer at my own perspective on this film and its critical reception, I’m amazed by how what seemed exaggerated and cynical then seems like a prophetic vision of the world we’re living in now, the forces that have taken a wrecking ball to the hope of democracy, the malevolent antichrist who tapped into many veins of hatred across the country in order to advance a violent agenda, and a fear-poisoned church that has fallen for the very tricks of the devil that Jesus saw right through. While I still think the film’s narrative has a weak central storyline, an unremarkable and unconvincing romance, the depiction of the historical context in rich with essential truth-telling, the kind that America ignores — or, worse, denies — at its own peril.
Here is the original text of those two installments of Film Forum in which I covered Gangs of New York, featuring a range of reviews from religious media critics and others. (And I can’t help but note that a source that called the movie “a revisionist political treatment that attacks faith, God, and America” is an organization that enthusiastically endorses the Trump-vangelical overthrow of democracy, civil rights, a free press, and the fundamentals of the American Constitution today.) . . .