Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) – Superb drama

Dir: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Robert de Niro. Leonardo di Caprio. Lily Gladstone.

 

Nothing needs to be said about Martin Scorsese’s track record. In the guise of thrillers, period dramas or crime sagas, Scorsese always held a mirror to American society and, at times, presented the “zeitgeist” of that era. Almost all his films still make excellent viewing, and some have justifiably become classics. Killers of the Flower Moon continues that tradition of presenting a mirror to American Society and its well-recorded shabby treatment of “Indians”, now officially known as “Native Americans”.

 

It’s the 1920s America. Oil has been discovered in the lands belonging to the Osage tribe. They soon became one of the most wealthy and prosperous Indian tribes. The Osage Nation is part of the Oklahoma State. Slowly and steadily, mysterious deaths occur. After service in World War 1, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) lands up in the Osage Nation and is received by his genial Uncle William Hale (Robert de Niro) and his brother Byron Burkhart. Hale, who likes to be called King, welcomes Ernest to the community and advises him about how to conduct himself in the community and that he should share everything with his Uncle. Ernest is not exactly a bright or intelligent man. So he blindly and unquestioningly believes whatever King tells him, including getting himself an Indian wife. Ernest runs a taxi and keeps meeting Mollie (Lily Gladstone), whom he soon marries.

 

Meanwhile, the mysterious deaths continue. The Indian elders meet together to try to see what’s the problem. King promises money and any support for this effort. It soon becomes clear that the man behind the mysterious deaths is King. Ernest believes his King and does his bidding, including assaulting a private detective hired by Mollie. The deaths continue. Mollie, who has diabetes, is now given a new insulin injection, but that only seems to make her worse. Her mother and sister also die. Lily finds the strength and money to go to Washington and pleads with the President to send some Government investigators. After a few days, investigators from the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) – that later became the FBI – land up in the county and start questioning everyone. Their leader, Tom White (Jesse Plemons), is quite persistent and soon starts following Ernest as the key witness to many of the murders that have happened. The pressure on Ernest continues ….

 

A true story is always tricky to film as the end is already well-known. Whether it would make absorbing cinema becomes an interesting question. Further, by American standards, the film is three and a half hours long. What Hitchcock said about the length of a movie is directly proportional to the endurance of the human bladder gains prominence.

 

Despite all these considerations, the film is simply absorbing and superb. No scene or shot is wasted, and one feels that the story could be only told this way to make it complete. Since Scorsese co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, we can see why it is so tight, as this is his storytelling. As mentioned earlier, Scorsese is good at mirroring the times of the story. The story is based on the  2017 book with the same title. However, this could be an eternal story in that it shows how basic human greed and insensitivity to human needs are the driving forces behind King and his activities. As always, money – big oil money – leads to big issues and problems, which conveniently can be – and are – blamed on the Indians and their way of life as they are still considered “savages’. The argument seems to be if they have to be civilised, then they have to be killed and subdued in droves – as they really were in real life.

 

Perhaps finally, the “Indians” are getting their dues as real characters and not as walk-on side characters to the main, usually White, lead/hero. Perhaps finally, the grand tragedy of the Indians is also articulated sympathetically and shown more or less from the Indian angle, where most Whites are exploiters and killers, out to grab their land and oil money while pretending to be friends and well-wishers. It’s a role reversal, but the script still gives more weightage to the banality of evil that is King and how he drives his henchmen and the somewhat dull Ernest to commit one atrocity after the other.

 

At first, you feel that de Niro is just being de Niro, but soon, he shows himself to be the brilliant actor he is. King is sly, mean, ruthless, calculating, genial and more. De Niro does all these and more and is clearly the epitome of greed and all evil at that time. DiCaprio adds one more feather to his cap by showing a somewhat dull-witted, dumb slob who blindly follows King’s bidding and pays the price ultimately. Even after turning witness, he is still confused by feelings for his Uncle and almost returns to his Uncle’s side. These complex emotions are captured by DiCaprio brilliantly. If the two Oscar winners go at it hammer and tongs, then Lily Gladstone almost steals everyone’s thunder with her understated performance and silence. Her immensely expressive eyes and face convey her inner anguish, and it is clear that Mollie is not as stupid as made out by law. Clearly, Gladstone’s contrasting performance neatly balances the overall male-heavy script.

 

If there is any issue, one can say that the “Courtroom” scenes tend to drag the story a bit. However, they show how much Ernest was pressured not to reveal anything to the Government. Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow are wasted in their tiny roles as the Prosecutor and Defender

 

The film’s ending is cleverly done. In the 1930s, when radio was popular across America, the story of the Osage murders was “broadcast live” as a “radio drama” with radio “actors” mouthing the dialogues of various characters. The final “radio actor” who reads out King’s last years is Scorsese – a clever and fitting personal stamp on a well-told story.

 

This HAS to be seen on a big screen only for the big screen magic !

 

Last but not least, on a lighter note. This is a highly unusual Scorsese film. By my count, the F word was repeated only twice 🙂

 

 

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 5 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 5 out of 5

 

Total – 5 out of 5