Killers of the Flower Moon

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Killers of the Flower Moon is an adaptation of David Grann's novel of the same name, an American historic epic that tells the story of the Osage people and how they were systematically cheated out of their own wealth by white Americans. It is rare for me to be so entirely captivated by a film; this movie is three and a half hours long but every single iota of it I really valued. I described this as an epic in nature and it really is one; painting a picture of the sprawling landscape, the inner workings of the Osage and the white townspeople. I loved that from the beginning of the feature we feel the land in absence of the white characters, they hover on the fringes like a great plague about to descend but in the meantime the Native American people can still hold true to their traditions. Yet once the Osage discover oil and attain wealth we start to see the way white America invades this land and the way of life entirely shifts, worse than that we see how the Osage are manipulated or straight up killed for the money they rightfully possess. This whole film details a very confronting cultural genocide that creeps under your skin and horrifies at every turn. The protagonist of the film, Ernest, is a weak-willed man inclined to bouts of vileness and goodness alike. Yet watching Ernest and his uncle sacrifice shreds of morality to circle the large amount of wealth Mollie possesses is tough to see; and there is an almost morbid fascination in seeing how desparately they justify their own actions. You watch this film take our characters to the brink of depravity and ruin, challenge them to be better or survive and then leave the audience on the edge of our seats hoping for justice to prevail. The final act of this feature is one of the best in the history of cinema in my honest opinion. Sure this film is massive and that might be intimidating, but it is a raw and unapologetic narrative about the wrongs that were visited on the Osage by white Americans and examines a monstrous part of American history with some honest scrutiny.

 

The way Scorsese shoots this is magnificent and marks this as one of his visual triumphs. The long rolling establishing shots of Americans plains and oils rigs paired with wide shots that could be paintings pulled vividly from the era. I also loved that moments of action or movement got so tight and frantic in how they were captured. The editing flowed nicely for such a lengthy runtime and the moments of abrupt shift were very strategically placed to shake up the tone of a scene and audience expectations. Robbie Robertson's work in creating the music for this is inspired, the music really heightens those more visceral and confronting moments. If anything the score only becomes more perturbing as we sink deeper into the atrocities at hand.

 

Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Ernest Burkhart, has found one of the best protagonist roles of his career; DiCaprio's depiction of a man so entirely weak and spineless crafted some of the best moments of internal conflict that I've seen in a film. Lily Gladstone, who played Mollie Burkhart, is a reserved figure with a disgruntled outlook at how her world has become affected by those who have laid claim to it; watching Gladstone craft a character who falls entirely ill and weak and must reforge her strength is an absolutely impressive lead performance. Jesse Plemons, who played Tom White, is a very cocky and charismatic federal agent who makes quite the splash late in the film; I love how good Plemons is at negotiating a scene so he has all the power by the end of it. Tantoo Cardinal, who played Lizzie Q, is wonderful as the ailing mother of Gladstone and her onscreen sisters; Cardinal really stands strong as the last vestige of a time that is really forcefully being erased. John Lithgow and Brendan Fraser, who played Prosecutor Peter Leaward and W.S. Hamilton respectively, didn't have long in this film but whom both made very decisive impacts; Fraser especially was arresting as the cantankerous defense lawyer trying to resort to any underhanded verbal ploy to De Niro's antagonist intact. Cara Jade Myers, Janae Collins and Jillian Dion, who played Anna, Reta and Minnie respectively, serve as a great sisterly ensemble in their scenes together and with Gladstone; I especially loved Myers' role who had zero tolerance for others' nonsense and wasn't afraid to demonstrate that. Jason Isbell, who played Bill Smith, is a very amiable and likeable role at first; I loved that Isbell became a figure who you didn't know if he was serving his own agenda or that of those he had married. William Belleau, who played Henry Roan, is a performance that really ranges in mood and attitude; I found Belleau's sudden outbursts to have a subtle sense of tragedy or predestination to them that I quite admired. Scott Shepherd, who played Byron Burkhart, is a role that is nearly lost in all the bigger performances about him but Shepherd really lays a claim to the screen; the character of Byron is best when Shepherd can play up his bouts of rage and his lewd display of personal passions. Tommy Schultz and Ty Mitchell, who played Blackie Thompson and John Ramsey respectively, were very convincing as the remains of old Western outlaws/criminals; yet the deeper part of their performances that I liked was watching their will to stand firm in the face of the law crumple under interrogation. Steve Witting and Steve Routman, who played Dr James Shoun and Dr. David Shoun respectively, had fantastic chemistry with one another as these brother doctors; Witting and Routman bounced dialogue off another with a flow and ease that I feel few character performers could partner up and nail. Martin Scorsese, who played Radio Show Producer, caps this film off with a simple paragraphs worth of lines; but it is a powerful somber note that sends this film off to the final shot perfectly.

 

However, the best performance came from Robert De Niro, who played William Hale. There is no surprise that De Niro is a titan of a performer but this was really something exemplary. The character of William Hale is a patriarch who reeks of cunning from the moment we meet him. De Niro comes at this character with a warm smile and a snake-like glint in his eye, he explores every angle of this despicable antagonist. Hale is a man who is constantly plotting, learning the ways of the Osage people and even their language but also the way money and assets flow in the region he controls. De Niro presents a figure who seems almost charming when first we meet him but this charm fizzes out after awhile, which is very subtly presented over the course of many scenes. I loved how passionately De Niro presented his character's love of the Osage while also dispassionately talking about murder or the value of a Native American life. De Niro shifts this role steadily from shifty patriarch to full blown criminal mastermind as things go along and his own delusion in the face of a criminal trial in relation to his 'innocence' really shocks. It is more than possible that De Niro has found one of the most dislikeable roles of his career - which makes it all the more evident why this is the best performance of the film.

 

When a movie is as long as Killers of the Flower Moon there will be small moments of pacing where attention lapses or a stylistic choice that feels extremely varied from everything else. These came as small beats here and there for me and were one of the few glaring negatives I would have to say about the film.

 

Tatanka Means, who played John Wren, comes into the final act and is given a lot of screen time that is rarely well utilised; Means is positioned at the forefront a few times but he seems much more of a background role. 

There is no doubt in my mind that this is Scorsese's defining feature of his entire career. I would give Killers of the Flower Moon a 10/10.