Crime is on the increase, and it is affecting society in several ways. However, in different eras, the media has been a great source not only for informing people about crime but also for making telefilms or movies about organized crime. The purpose of such movies is to highlight how crime is organized and what the security forces are doing to cope with the criminals. There are many movies that highlight organized crime. In my study, I will discuss three movies: The Untouchables, directed by Brian de Palma; Dope, directed by Rick Famuyiwa; and Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese.
Three Portraits of Organized Crime
The main motive of these movies is to highlight organized crime, such as the movie The Untouchables, a 1987 crime drama film that highlights the efforts of an officer, Eliot Ness, to bring gangster Al Capone to justice. The movie Dope is also about organized crime among school students. In this movie, the discussion point is drug dealing. The three friends, Malcolm, Jig, and Diggy, are involved in drug dealing, and they are forced to do this by the drug dealer Dom. The third movie, Gangs of New York, is produced by Martin Scorsese, which reflects organized crime by gangs in New York City. His major focus is the main character, who is a protagonist struggling to achieve success, but his way of achieving success is through violence, which shows that he is willing to achieve success either the right way or the wrong way. In all these three movies, the theme is the same. All the directors are highlighting organized crime in different areas and in different ways, but the actual purpose is to show how crime is organized and how law enforcement forces are trying to cope with the criminals.
Al Capone and Criminal Control in The Untouchables
The Untouchables is a movie which is about Chicago, United States, and the director shows the various gangs that have indulged in the supply of alcohol, and they control their businesses with extortion and violence. The gang leader is Al Capone, and he controls the entire city, which makes it easier for him to supply low-quality drugs at a high rate. This movie shows organized crime in real-life situations because, no doubt, nowadays, drug abuse has become so common, and thus, the number of drug dealers is also on the increase. The movie is all about the leader who is trying to establish his control in Chicago and is supplying his drugs in the city to different people who further deal with clients who are addicted to or abuse drugs.
Law Enforcement and Corruption
Whenever there is crime, there are enforcement forces, too, because the control of crime is essential to the success of any country. Thus, the movie, The Untouchables, also shows that when Al Capone becomes the leader and starts drug dealing, Officer Eliot Ness begins his struggle to stop him and arrest him because this could be the only way to stop crime. Here, the movie shows the real and actual practical approach to crime: corruption. The producer has done a great job by highlighting that it is quite easy for Al Capone to perform his illegal activities because many of the police officers have also been involved in this business, and they are corrupt. With a few advantages, they have sold their responsibilities, and thus, they are not willing to do anything against the drug dealer even though they are well aware of everything. This is what has become the curse in our society. Corruption has become a curse, and due to this curse, many great officers are not doing their jobs properly. However, in this situation, Ness, along with a veteran, Jimmy, begins his struggle to grip the criminals and stop the crime (Anony, 2016).
Youth Drug Dealing in Dope
The movie Dope is also about drug abuse and its dealing. In this movie, Malcolm, Jib, and Diggy are students and best friends. The director and producer have done a great job by merging the drug plot of the movie with an “After Hours”- style. They have shown Malcolm’s innocence, his friends’ drug dealing, and the role of Dom, who is the great drug dealer. The movie is focused on how criminals use children for their purpose. At the start, Dom stops Malcolm and invites him with his friends to the party where the drug dealing began. No doubt, in real life, drug dealers make children victims and make them drug dealers because they know that one school student as a drug dealer means many school students as drug clients.
The movie shows an adventurous scene in which Malcolm and his friends visit A.J. to provide drugs to him. However, the movie is somewhat not close to reality and is a fictional drama because the message provided by this movie is that for a Brown student who is not that rich, the only way to make money or achieve success is drug dealing and blackmailing. No doubt that in our society, these things have become the practice nowadays, but these crimes are not the only way to have a better or wealthier life. Rather, it is the worst lifestyle (Henderson, 2015).
Violence and Immigration in Gangs of New York
Similarly, the movie Gangs of New York is also a movie about organized crime. It is an American story that shows the conflict between rival gangs. The movie’s themes are crime, love, and observation. In this movie, the producer has sensibly highlighted the conflict of Amsterdam Vallon, his love for Jenny Everdeane, and the examination of William’s reign and nature. The movie shows mediation between fiction and historical events. It is all about the American Civil War and immigration and immigrants’ American dreams. The movie shows how the immigrants came to America, and they formed gangs to achieve success via violence. Their basic war was with the tribes who called them non-immigrants or the Native Americans. However, this movie is somewhat not close to reality because there are no such conflicts between the immigrants and Native Americans, and success can never be achieved by violence. However, the basic purpose of the movie is to explain how crimes have been organized and what can be the cause of adopting crime (Jankowski, 2016).
Crime Films as Social Warnings
From this study, it is clear that media plays a vital role in highlighting how crime is being conducted and how law enforcement is trying to cope with the criminals, and in this way, it also makes people aware of how crime is generated in society. From the analysis of these movies, it is clear that the major crime which is common nowadays is drug dealing, and for that, the dealers are either using corrupt police officers or children, especially school, college, or university students. Such movies also help us to realize what strategies can be implemented to eliminate social evils in society. In short, such movies give an insightful view of crime, criminal strategies, and crime control.
Work Cited
Anony. (2016). The Untouchables (Film). Mafia Wiki.
Henderson, O. (2015). Dope. Roger Ebert.
Jankowski, M. (2016). Analysis film Gangs of New York, Summer School NYU. Ashbrook.
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