Director Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York was released in December of 2002. The film was nominated for ten (ten!) Academy Awards. Meanwhile it ignited a critical brouhaha over (1) the artistic effectiveness of the culmination of the movie, and (2) the decision to use the Twin Towers in the closing shot. Amazingly, the next step for Gangs was to win exactly zero Oscars and be branded with the "interesting failure" tag.

However, I come not to bury Gangs of New York, but to praise it. With every year that passes, the great Chicago coronation of March 2003 looks sillier and sillier. While Gangs might have a flaw or two, it was shooting for the moon and the stars. Chicago was simply a well-executed and soon-forgotten musical.

And don't even get me started on Adrien Brody winning for The Pianist over Daniel Day-Lewis. That's outright theft. Anyone who recalls Day-Lewis' phenomenal rendering of Bill "The Butcher" knows that his Academy Award for There Will Be Blood was a make-up call. Not that he wasn't good in that piece: he was. But he'll never be better than he was for Gangs. It's simply not possible. This film also makes you seriously ponder whether Cameron Diaz can act. It's a stressful few minutes until you come to your senses. But overall, the film is one of the more interesting of the decade, a little slice of sophisticated storytelling that makes you think as opposed to telling you the "answer."

Into this fray steps Miramax's new Gangs of New York Blu-ray edition. To get the recommendation portion out of the way, if you have a Blu-ray player this is a disc you should own. Not just for the crispness of the shot (because much of Gangs was filmed with tight dialogue) but for its sheer historical and cinematic value. Gangs tackles history in a way rarely attempted, all at once exposing the overarching complexity of nineteenth century America. I've also read anecdotally that one reason to own the Blu-ray version is so you don't have to switch discs in the middle. At 167 minutes, Gangs evidently stretches the traditional DVD thin.

Now then, what do you get for your $22.95? First off, a feature titled "Exploring the Set of the Gangs of New York." It's 22 minutes of Marty Scorsese and Production Designer Dante Ferretti walking around the Five Points set. The segment is, for lack of a better word, incredible. The level of detail and attention paid to this set makes it look and feel like a real place. I know Gangs of New York was brought in with a huge production budget, but one look at this piece should restore financiers' faith. If you ever want to get into set design I encourage you to watch this segment and ponder that lifetime commitment.

Other features? I'm glad you asked. A fairly typical costume-design segment, eight minutes total, in which the costume designer (Sandy Powell) comes off as a genius. But still, it's only eight minutes -- not exactly re-watchable fare. There's also a somewhat painful U2 music video (the thought "trying too hard" comes to mind) and, of course, the teaser and theatrical trailers.

The real meat of the disc comes shining through with two historical looks at New York in the 1840s through the 1870s. The first, the "History of the Five Points," is a broad overview of the conditions and political climate of the day. Don't look for these features to expose Gangs' historical inaccuracies (such as Bill "The Butcher" dying a decade before the draft riots), though they do provide nice context. More detailed is the 35-minute Discovery Channel special, "Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York." From Bowery Boys to Dead Rabbits, the supplementary material offers an interesting look at rare photographs while delving into the rules of the day (poor-on-poor violence was OK; there was no official fire department; rampant voter fraud, etc).

So let's call this a purchase and be done with it. Did Marty wrap up the story he was telling? No. He presented a larger, more interesting story. How much is our current prosperity based upon the blood of innocent (and not-so-innocent) generations past? It's a notion worth pondering and a disc worth watching because things don't always work out the way you'd like. Just ask Priest Vallon. (Warning: language, violence.)

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