Written by: Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow
Rating: [4/5]
Throughout American history, tons of examples exist showing the way the white population has refused to share much of anything with anyone who looks different to them. Through violent means or something far more deceptive and harrowing, as seen in Killers of the Flower Moon, it boggles the mind how much this entitlement leads to the suffering of others. This feature certainly delves into the pain caused, but also the little agency the Osage people had in many elements of their lives.
Set to live with his uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro) in Oklahoma, World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives and learns of the riches the Osage people have amassed after finding bountiful oil fields on their land. In addition to robbing the Osage by brute force, Ernest begins working as a cab driver where he meets and romances Molly (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman with several headrights. Getting more acquainted with the situation, Hale reveals the plan to marry these Osage women and plot ways to steal their rights to the oil fields.
In a recent interview, Martin Scorsese mentioned he finally understood what Akira Kurosawa told him years ago when he stated “I’m only now beginning to see the possibility of what cinema could be, and it’s too late.” Now at 80 years old and with mortality truly sinking into his mind, every film received from this man feels like a gift where he chooses what could ultimately serve as his final film and directs the hell out of it. He delivers yet another tremendous movie in Killers of the Flower Moon where he digs into one of the most shameful atrocities done to a group of people in American history, and that’s saying something given our history. With this film, Scorsese hopes to educate, enlighten, infuriate, but also entertain as he knows how to do.
If there’s one thing the people of this nation will do whatever it takes to obtain, it’s the ownership of oil with it being such a valuable resource and the plot by William Hale did not simply lie in forcefully taking this from the Osage people but do so in this most manipulative way possible. To romance, marry the women set to inherit the rights, and then systematically and legally screw their family out of it gives the usurpers the legal cover to steal from these people. That’s ultimately what transpires with this entire ruse and as we go through this film, we learn about the legal standing of the Osage people and how they could not even access their money without a sort of guardian who helped in navigating their finances. Everything laid out set the stage for what Hale seeks to enact through Ernest and the other men willing to do his bidding.
As evil as a plan can get and the film knows it even to a comedic degree where a character who married an Osage woman discusses with an attorney what were to happen should the children mysteriously die. The man would inherit those rights, of course, but even the lawyer admits the line of questioning seems to insinuate the man will purposefully kill the children for this gain. A bone-chillingly comedic scene but it pretty much sums up the game and the tactics makes the relationship between Ernest and Mollie a complex one as the central pair with one holding true love and the other playing this larger scheme.
This dynamic serves as the main emotional undercurrent of the story and gives Lily Gladstone the platform to deliver a devastatingly poignant performance as Mollie. Despite not having as much screen time as one would expect, her presence remains on the precipice of everything transpiring here. She wears the tragedy and loss of everything around her and truly makes us feel the horrifying impacts of these devious plots. Mollie, as a character, only suffers in this film, which makes the singular moments of joy she does receive all that sweeter and Gladstone captures it all beautifully. It aligns perfectly in the way she has etched out her career thus far in working in more subtle ways within her roles, and this style works perfectly with Mollie where she genuinely has love for Ernest but cannot see beyond his smile as he helps commit these atrocities against her.
Built with incredible intrigue, blood-boiling fury, and fully realized story, Killers of the Flower Moon finds Martin Scorsese in fine form in delivering something wholly impactful. He unites his two main muses in Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro for the first time, that allows them to portray devilishly fun characters. Scorsese does this in addition to paying respect to the Osage people in tactfully telling the story of the slaughter of many of their people. There was never a doubt Scorsese would do this well and with this feature he adds to an already impeccable run of films as he winds down on life.
Films with Josh 
