The mere fact that you can see a Martin Scorsese film in 2023 is an event in itself. He takes on another crime drama. It’s a specialty of this master filmmaker. Yet ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ feels different. He wants to honor the brutal history and treatment of Native Americans. They were displaced in parts of America considered barren, useless land. That changed when the Osage Nation in Oklahoma discovered oil beneath their land. They became wealthy and even hired white people as servants. The Osage women were being courted by greedy white men that married them for a chance to get at their money.
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is adapted from David Gann’s 2017 book. Scorsese decides to focus on one of the marriages. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a good-looking World War I vet that comes home to live with his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Ernest finds work as a driver and is hired by Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), a wealthy Osage woman. It’s almost as if she knows Ernest is attracted to her for her money but she still cannot resist his charm. They marry and the wedding sequence is an elaborate affair. The cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto exquisitely details the Wild West.
De Niro has played bad guys where he commits crimes but in this film he reaches another level of despicable. He pretends to be a friend to the Osage but behind the scenes he is motivated to take their money from them. He draws his nephew Ernest into his tangled scheme. It’s shocking how patient and cunning Hale, nicknamed the King is. He is a true monster. One after another, the Osage people begin to die under suspicious circumstances. Eventually Molly begins to lose her family members. Her mother and sister succumb to mysterious illnesses. The performance by DiCaprio is stellar. He convinces Molly that he loves her but at the same time his actions are nothing less than treacherous.
Soon thereafter an FBI agent comes to town to unravel the mysterious deaths. Tom White (Jesse Plemmons) is very good at getting at the truth. It’s obvious that white men are murdering the Osage for the legal rights to their oil-rich land. Although the movie is a marathon at three-and-a-half hours, the pacing is well done through the masterful editing by Thelma Schoonmaker. Scorsese makes Gladstone’s character take center stage. It is a heartwarming performance. You get an understanding of the Osage people through their rituals, beliefs, and customs. Scorsese brilliantly makes this a unique Western while honoring Native Americans.
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ depicts a dark chapter in American history. It’s shocking that this even happened. It’s even more shocking that there is not one mention of this tragedy in any American textbook. This movie needs to be seen. It not only needs to be seen but in a movie theater. That is why Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors of all time. He respects cinema. He makes movies that should be experienced in a communal setting in a movie theater on the big screen. After all these years, Scorsese is still at the top of his game.
