From iconic master of cinema and beloved auteur Martin Scorsese, comes his latest film— Killers of the Flower Moon, which had its highly anticipated world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. The epic runs a beastly 206 minutes, just three minutes short of his previous feature, The Irishman’s runtime. It lacks not star power nor intrigue as its subject matter has peaked interests and its narrative has been highly anticipated for years.
The film is a western crime drama directed by Scorsese who, in addition, co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth. Their work was based on and inspired by the 2017 book of the same name from author David Grann, which details the very real and bloody history of the Osage Natives. ‘Killers’ boasts familiar stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemmons with show-stopping breakout Lily Gladstone at the forefront. The plot follows a multitude of characters at the core of horrific historical incidents that took place in the 1920s, more specifically, a long string of horrific murders of Native Americans which spanned over five years.
These reoccurring murders took place in Oklahoma amongst the members of the Osage tribe, in which over two dozen individuals from the tribe had been shot, stabbed and bombed. The crimes ‘mysteriously’ began to be committed after the Osage Nation’s Reservation land was found to be an absolute metaphorical goldmine – unbelievably rich with oil, making the tribe members abundantly wealthy. So wealthy, in fact, that the Osage became the richest people per capita on the entire planet. In order for the tribe to maintain some semblance of control, white settlers could not be sold shares of the oil money, but they could inherit it. This turned out to be a dangerous loophole that began a surplus of marriages between tribe members and settlers that ultimately lead to the murders of their native spouses to inherit the land.
Corruption was rampant as body counts grew and white settlers paid off law enforcement to turn a blind eye to the obvious. At a loss of what to do, the Osage Nation turned to a relatively new bureau for help; this agency would eventually become known as the FBI. The crimes against the Osage are widely considered to be the cause of the “birth of the FBI”, as it was one of their very first major homicide cases.
The man leading the FBI’s investigation was Tom White, who Plemmons expertly portrays in the film, and is just one of the many knockout performances throughout. Among the others include DiCaprio (Ernest Burkhart), who is calculated and tangible on screen, intentionally hard to read in his portrayal of a layered, complicated man with seemingly wavering motives and unclear intentions. In no surprise, Robert De Niro gives a multifaceted portrayal of William Hale, uncle to Ernest, American cattleman and millionaire, who lived on Osage land, working close with the members of the tribe. Brendan Fraser has but a brief amount of time on screen, but is a standout with the material he is given as W.S. Hamilton, a fictionalized version of one of the real-life lawyers appointed by Hale.
There’s no contest though, for Lily Gladstone delivers the most powerful and devastatingly breathtaking performance of the film as Mollie Burkhart, wife of Ernest Burkhart. She portrays an Osage woman whose family, one by one, begins to be fall victim as well after marrying her husband, and she is sure to be in many conversations come awards season.
The lengthy runtime of Killers of the Flower Moon is hardly felt due to the film’s consistent pace and engaging script, transformed by the aforementioned powerhouse performances who assuredly do the material justice. With Rodrigo Prieto (The Wolf of Wall Street, Barbie) as director of photography, the film is of course an undeniably gorgeous experience. The seasoned cinematographer captures the vast and stunning beauty of the west and the Osage people while juxtaposing these aspects with the horrifying and gruesome murders that stained the tribe’s land bloody both metaphorically and literally.
Killers of the Flower Moon is an excellent and twisty retelling of an abhorrent and brutal time in our history. Scorsese is masterful at creating tension — a sense of uneasiness — and holding it for the majority of the deeply engaging runtime. The performances from the entire cast are raw and authentic and the technical aspects serve the film to their fullest extent. The history of the Osage was well overdue to be told on screen, but perhaps the wait was worth it, as it’s clear to see after viewing that the sensitive and powerful story was undoubtedly safe in Scorsese’s adept hands.