Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
9/10
The intimidating running time of the latest Martin Scorsese joint, which clocks in at a hefty 3 hours 26 minutes, turns out to be no problem at all. While an intermission would have been preferable, at no point during Killers of the Flower Moon did I feel bored, restless, or an inclination to turn on my phone and check the time. That alone is an impressive feat, and a testament to Scorsese’s mastery as a director. It shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that this is the man who directed some of the greatest films of all time, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. But this Martin Scorsese knows how to make a good movie.
Adapted from the non-fiction book by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon details the Osage murders in 1920s Oklahoma, in which dozens, possibly hundreds of members of the Osage Nation were killed following the discovery of oil on their traditional territory. The Osage maintained mineral rights to lands on their reservation, which meant each member of the tribe held headrights that garnered lucrative royalties from oil companies. Many white men married Osage women during this period, which meant they became the legal guardians of their estates and therefore entitled to vast oil wealth.
World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is one such white man. He returns home to the United States and moves to a large reservation ranch in Oklahoma, where his uncle, cattle rancher William King Hale (Robert De Niro), serves as reserve deputy sheriff. Working as a cab driver, Ernest meets Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman whose family owns oil headrights. The two end up marrying and have three children. As time passes, numerous friends and family members of Mollie wind up dead. The evidence points to murder. Mollie, a diabetic, suffers debilitating illness despite being provided with a new miracle drug, insulin. Terrified of being the latest murder victim, Mollie’s suspicions prove well-founded.
Gladstone and De Niro both give great performances and have been duly recognized by the Academy, winning Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. But it’s DiCaprio, in one of many notable Oscar snubs this year, who provides the backbone of this film in one of the actor’s greatest performances. Burkhart is a bit of a simpleton, but with a conscience. He ends up being carried away by his uncle’s schemes even though he genuinely loves his wife. The key line of dialogue that explains Burkhart’s character comes when he’s drinking moonshine and drunkenly says, “I just love money. I love it almost as much as I love my wife.” Burkhart might be honest when he says he loves his wife more than money. But it’s his love for money that determines his most consequential behaviour in the film.
Killers of the Flower Moon is glorious to look at and listen to. The opening act includes some sweeping shots of oil wells amid the Oklahoma landscape. The attention to period detail is remarkable in terms of costumes, cars, and sets. Robbie Robertson of Bob Dylan and The Band fame, who died a couple months before the movie’s premiere, has composed a terrific score with elements of blues, roots music, and traditional Indigenous music. Some of the most impressive scenes are also the simplest. In the climax, Scorsese trains his camera on a character who reveals their role in the Osage murders in a long, unbroken close-up that allows us to focus on the actor’s intense emotion. If one were to consider what constitutes an “Oscar-worthy” performance, this scene would be a perfect example.
Perhaps the only reason I don’t give this film a 10/10 is that it’s almost too focused on the story at hand. While the oppression of Indigenous people is a theme, Scorsese’s film is concerned mainly with the Osage murders. We see an underlying current of racism, but this is largely a crime film centred on the central trio of DiCaprio, Gladstone, and De Niro. Maybe I was looking for something more transcendent. A film like The Iron Claw, for example, manages to feel more universal in its themes. I guess it feels less compulsively rewatchable than Scorsese films such as Goodfellas, Casino, or The Wolf of Wall Street — maybe an unfair comparison. Still, if you’re going to film the story of the Osage murders, it’s hard to see how you could come up with a more flawless telling than Scorsese offers here.