Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio have separately performed in 14 of Martin Scorsese’s feature films. The two celebrated actors have appeared in the same picture before (This Boy’s Life, Marvin’s Room). However, they have never collaborated on any of the director’s full-length movies. [The two appeared in The Audition, a 16-minute short that Scorsese directed in 2015] That day has finally arrived.

Killers of the Flower Moon is set in the 1920s and concerns the Osage Nation in Oklahoma after the discovery of oil on their lands. At the height of the oil boom in 1923, these Native Americans of the Great Plains earned more than $30 million in revenue. Unfortunately, their newfound wealth attracted the attention of corrupt White people. Members of this Midwestern American tribe were systematically murdered during a period roughly between 1918 and 1931.

Martin Scorsese’s latest opus is based on the 2017 nonfiction book by American journalist David Grann, which focused on how these murders led to a federal probe and the birth of the FBI. Screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) co-wrote the adaptation of the eponymous book with Martin Scorsese. The movie covers that development with the arrival of Bureau of Investigation (BOI) Agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons) in the final third.

Most of the narrative explores a bizarre love story. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a man who just returned from World War I to find work, and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) is the Osage woman he meets and falls for. The Ernest-Mollie relationship allows for a more interior approach to this tragedy from the Osage point of view. Ernest is a very subservient personality, and he does the bidding of his powerful uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). The self-proclaimed “King of the Osage Hills” is an affluent rancher with political power, active in tribal affairs.

These characters are fascinating and exasperating in equal measure. We are invited to follow the journey of Ernest Burkhart, a most disturbing individual. He is easily manipulated by his uncle, a criminal leader who is pure evil. Hale passes himself off as a generous benefactor to the community. However, his secretive methods involve encouraging his male minions to marry Osage women for their money. William Hale is the puppeteer controlling his nephew. By extension, Ernest is similarly evil because he follows him. Leonardo Di Caprio portrays a mumbling simpleton that affects a perpetual frown throughout the entire picture. It is a distinct choice that I found bewildering and amusing. Ernest’s inability to act voluntarily renders him a borderline moron. Though to his credit, he genuinely appears to adore his wife.

Actress Lily Gladstone portrays Mollie, a protagonist with whom we can sympathize. Mollie understands Ernest loves her. She loves him right back. The uneasy courtship of how a driver becomes her husband is compelling. However, she is also fully aware Ernest married for money. She calls him a “coyote” and the appellation feels like an insult oddly underscored by affection. Theirs is a complicated bond. Her icy stare is hypnotizing for what she doesn’t say. Gladstone’s achievement makes her the MVP of the picture. That is no small feat when you’re acting alongside two legendary thespians. Meanwhile, the deaths keep piling up. The Osage Nation’s lack of an adequate response to the felonies being committed grows increasingly frustrating. When Mollie finally travels to Washington, D.C. to bring the matter to the president, I let out a sigh of relief.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a 3.5-hour depiction of misery and pain — a saga of suffering that torments an Oklahoma reservation. Shortly into the account, the perpetrators are readily apparent. We observe one death after another, some violent, others supposedly from illness. Though we have an uncontested view of the wrongdoing, there is little the audience can do but sit helplessly and watch. This slow-motion, fatalistic portrait of American greed and violence is not an easy sit. The brilliant Alfred Hitchcock once opined, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” The meandering chronicle would have undoubtedly benefited from some judicious editing. At least an intermission would have been appreciated. Yet I was never bored.

This revisionist western is a sprawling true-life tale that expertly weaves in crime and romance. The obstacles mount as the stakes are raised to provide an engaging epic. Scorsese’s artistic vision is further elevated through technical craft. This is an immersive presentation. The detailed recreation of this period piece reportedly cost $200 million. Production Designer Jack Fisk (There Will Be Blood, The Revenant) offers expansive outdoor locations beautifully captured by Rodrigo Prieto’s (Brokeback Mountain, The Irishman) evocative cinematography accented by a bluesy score from the late Robbie Robertson (The Color of Money, The Irishman). The impressive production held my attention throughout. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the experience, but I did admire it.

10-19-23