KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (2023)
Updated: Nov 18, 2023
Greed and Culture Collide in this Powerful Crime Thriller.
Grade: A
Killers of the Flower Moon is a story of deceit, treachery, despair, and ultimately perseverance. The latter is reflected in its director, Martin Scorsese, a veteran who is still going strong more than five decades after the start of his career. Although the story is stretched pretty thin over a three hour-plus runtime, it nevertheless keeps our attention all the way to its quietly powerful and hopeful conclusion.
The troubled history between U.S. citizens and Native Americans is the primary focus here. Early in the 20th century, oil is discovered on the land of the Osage people in Oklahoma. The surrounding area becomes a booming community as the Osage tribes become wealthy. But many white men are determined to leech as much oil money as possible from the tribe, even if it involves murder. Such a man is William King Hale, who convinces his nephew Ernest Burkhart to help him in a scheme that involves marriage to an Osage woman named Mollie Kyle and the systematic killing of her family.
The film was shot largely on location in Oklahoma, and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s camera utilizes different techniques to draw audiences in. Many establishing shots display the beauty of Osage Nation with its grass-covered hills and rows of oil towers. Framing is another prominent tool on display; most of the murders, even the off-screen ones, occur when characters are occupying only a fraction of the screen, which is mostly occupied by room, field, or forest. They are almost always done in a single take, and we usually know when they are about to happen. The reasons for this are open to interpretation, but one possibility is that Scorsese and Prieto want the killings to be seen as horrific yet relatively small-scale tragedies set against the backdrop of an uncaring natural and manmade world.
With Flower Moon, Scorsese takes his two most famous leading men, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and effectively teams them with newcomer Lily Gladstone. As Hale, De Niro embodies a cold, calculating murderer who shows no remorse whatsoever in the crimes he commits. He also treats his nephew like a child; in one scene, he actually takes a paddle to Ernest after he makes a mistake with a local criminal. His associates are likewise heartless; one is hesitant to do a job, but quickly relents when one of them is Indian.
Gladstone gives the movie’s most emotional performance as Mollie. As her family dwindles and she becomes bedridden due to her diabetes (and other ailments), she sinks ever deeper into misery. With nearly everybody around her motivated by greed, she alone displays true humanity. Finally, out of desperation, she goes to Washington, D.C. to ask President Coolidge for help, resulting the arrival of federal agent Tom White (Jesse Plemens) to travel to Osage Nation to investigate. In a more pretentious movie, Mollie would’ve been held up on a pedestal as the hero of the Osage, but Scorsese instead lets her actions speak for themselves; she is a strong woman, but the movie does not spell this out for us.
DiCaprio falls in between these two extremes as Ernest. He wears a look of near-constant discomfort on his face, presumably due to a life-threatening stomach injury he sustained during World War I. His motives are largely ambiguous throughout most of the movie, even as he carries out his uncle’s wishes. Does he truly love Mollie? It doesn’t seem so, as his actions result in the deaths of two of her sisters. But as the film progresses and he sees the true horror of what he is doing, his emotions start to shine through, and near the end he breaks down completely.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a powerful movie, yet it is hard to argue that it is Scorsese’s finest, since the bar is set incredibly high for his filmography. But that’s what’s incredible about it: Scorsese has been working for fifty-six years, churning out some of the most acclaimed and influential movies in history, yet he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. In the opening scene of the film, Osage members lament that their children will never know their ways due to the introduction of white people into their society. Later, Hale tells Ernest that the Osage’s time is ending. But the final shot proves him wrong, as Osage members perform a ritual accompanied by tourists in modern garb. This could be seen as a final message from Scorsese; his time may be coming to an end, but his works will live on. And in the meantime, he is not going anywhere.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese (Based on the book by David Grann)
Producers: Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese, Daniel Lupi
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Ernest Burkhart), Robert De Niro (William King Hale), Lily Gladstone (Mollie Kyle), Jesse Plemons (Thomas Bruce White Sr.), Tantoo Cardinal (Lizzie Q), John Lithgow (Prosecutor Peter Leaward), Brendan Fraser (W.S. Hamilton), Cara Jade Myers (Anna Brown), JaNae Collins (Reta), Jillian Dion (Minnie), Jason Isbell (Bill Smith)
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