GONY review from an enthusiastic fan!
Thanks so much to Gabriel...it's spot on!

Talking of religion, there was certainly TONS of it in the movie, almost reaching the point of saturation indeed, Christian imagery abounding everywhere and making for a surprisingly explicit biblical story, all characters pretty recognizable from the very beginning: "The Father", "The Son", "Satan"... (some very personal stuff apparently in there for Marty, especially to do with the whole "Father" and "Son" -Amsterdam and Bill- dynamic). Religion something as intrinsic to Marty as breathing, something almost organic, as conveyed in wonderful detail: the metaphor of the rosary beads Bill pulls out the wounded Irish man like they were his very intestines...

We'll maybe come to all of that later. But now I also wanted to comment a little on the deeply AFFECTING, BEAUTIFUL spiritual dimension of the movie, that goes even far beyond the formal limits of Marty's Catholicism: GONY working, at another level of lecture, as one of his director's characteristic explorations on the struggle between the spirit and the flesh, another take on his eternal dilemma of how to lead a "Christian" life in a crooked, evil world. That is, on how to lead a life by compassion, tolerance and love, as opposed to a life guided by violence, vengeance and purely material desires. Marty expressing in GONY a sincere yearning for COMPASSION and a touching warning on the FUTILITY of violence and material success, unexpectedly linking it to his two previous movies, both the compassionate "Kundun" and "Bringing Out the Dead".

At a certain level, that's what Amsterdam's journey is all about. The journey from a young, immature and uneducated lad (who doesn't know of Shakespeare, theater or his very Irish roots and language) obsessed with violent vengeance, to an adult man assuming responsibilities and looking for non-violent ways to deal with the problems (Amsterdam reminds me A LOT of James Dean's characters in both Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without a Cause" and Elia Kazan's "East of Eden", with all of their teen angst, confusion and disorientation, milestones in Scorsese's experience as spectator). The movie also developing a whole commentary on the emptiness and ultimate weakness of material power and success, as represented by Bill the Butcher's "kingdom" in the Points, a style of life Amsterdam is tempted by and partially falls into. Bill finally showing his ugliest face as the violent "sonuva bitch" he really is when unmercifully threatening the wounded Irish man at the theater or when cowardly killing Monk by the back. His world sustained by the old laws of "an eye for an eye", retribution and fear. But ultimately seen as a "blind" man, a movingly pathetic and tragic psychopath that has it all in the Points and yet has nothing at all, looking more and more anachronistic as the movie progresses (looking even more aged as his world comes to an end), only knowing of violence to solve his problems, only way he's been taught...

GONY plays, in this light, as an exploration of the devastating, desolating consequences of violence for those who inflict it and those who suffer from it. Worst way to settle problems for Marty, the question of humans' very survival as species on Earth being ultimately at stake. The first battle alone illustrates this powerfully, a whole devastating feeling of sadness and futility pervading it all. Priest Vallon mistaking fighting with liberation, as his son will later also do. And his death having nothing victorious to it. Pure and simple pain and exhaustion. The eyes of lil' Amsterdam frightened, following the incidents and crying over his father's body, telling it all: The way violence brutalizes people, destroys innocence and tragically blinds the soul. As the whole last section of the film also suggests, deaths of all McGloin, Shang, those soldiers in the distant battlefield (as showed by those sepia photographs) or the anti-draft mob (missed so much Hellcat's "crucifixion") filled with DEVASTATING sadness (as all deaths at the end of "Casino"). Just like the MEMORABLE shot with the coffins being descended from the boat ("children, oh my children"...) or the mournful sight of the infinite line of dead bodies with candles (wonderful little touch of that foreign female voice mourning the death, Marty never falling into artificial, manipulating sentimentalism), all the more touching after the 11th-S. Movie working almost like a prayer, a deep HUMANIST in Marty, that still remains unknown to many...

And, of course, just as the final confrontation between the adult Amsterdam and Bill also suggests. Both covered in dust like fossils, "relics" with no meaning, no one around them caring for their fight any longer. Amsterdam stabbing Bill with a traumatic cry of rage and vengeance that just won't solve anything in him nor provide him with any liberating feeling. His face looking exhausted after that, brutalized, all covered in blood like an animal's, like Travis', La Motta's or Sam Bowden's (drips of blood falling from his chin like from Travis' finger in "Taxi Driver"). Only after this he really seems to gain a little perspective and finally understands violence's lack of meaning: In order to reach forgiveness, he must first learn to forgive himself. When Jenny approaches him and he reawakens, he seems different, smoke that had him "blind" during the fighting slowly starting to clear around him, his sight slowly recovering... (hey, I can't think of anything less "romantic" than the image of a sticky, bloody DiCaprio and a dusty Diaz embracing, for those critics complaining!)

Marty and DiCaprio suggest this all just beautifully without making it obvious, challenging the spectator to come with his own conclusions. Amsterdam definitely at the HEART of the movie. Some kind of "angel of mercy" after the likes of Kundun or Frank Pierce, at a couple times at least even surrounded by hazes of light in saint-like manner. A man whose capacity for compassion, even if "flirting" all the time with violence, is at the very core of GONY. Amsterdam actually showing all throughout to be a "different", "special" fella: The way he not only does not steal all of Jenny's medallions when he could, but also buttons her jacket back. The way he doesn't judge her for the scar in her belly. The way he mourns the loss of that boy at the hanging or the death of the Irish man he accidentally killed (Marty framing him crying later, through a confessionary-like wooden structure). To the moment, of course, when he compassionately puts an end to Johnny's suffering (after saving his life early in the movie...) I will always LOVE DiCaprio for his incredible, affecting work in here, his performance definitely, disgustingly UNDERRATED, his very EYES enclosing of ALL of GONY's meaning...