Of course this is only one aspect of the movie, not all.
American democracy was not built in a day. In the film, what we see is the contradiction between immigrants belonging to different ethnic groups. At that time, the United States was still at the stage of open immigration. Although the government and laws adopted lenient policies on immigrants, it did not mean that they came to the United States. You will receive a welcome. People form gangs according to their ethnic groups, and they are all different. People are unable or unaware of resorting to the law and have to join gangs. This is one of the reasons why these gangs continue.
In the United States at that time, national authority was still relatively weak, and national authority meant the state's management of the people. Low state authority means that the state is unable to manage society. The consequence is social chaos, gangs, and personal life and property cannot be guaranteed. The authority of the United States officially rose from the Civil War and reached a high level by President Theodore Roosevelt.
In the movie, we can see that the police are controlled by gang leaders, and the Tamuni family uses gangs to control the municipality. The phenomenon of racial discrimination is serious. The butchers hand the parliamentarians. Even the last gang fight is for revenge, and the fight itself means this. Is the only way to solve the problem. The authority of the state and law is not reflected in these people.
The most exciting part of this movie is the ending, which is very meaningful. The gang rage was finally suppressed by the government. The individual's understanding is that this kind of personal grievances and group grievances were eventually crushed by the international machine. Social turmoil and chaos were eventually replaced by national authority, and the United States began to embark on the path of modern society.
View more about Gangs of New York reviews