Martin Scorsese may see The Flower Moon Killers as the western he always wanted to make. But the gripping epic about a plot to wipe out the Osage Indians in the 1920s gets more powerful and seasoned, as other genres resurface on screen for three and a half hours.
Still from the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023)
image source: Apple Studios
The first and most obvious of them – a gangster drama – is presented in the best traditions of the director’s previous works. When The Irishman (2019) seemed like his last word in his favorite genre, Scorsese was once again embroiled in a story filled with brutal murders, grim remarks and scathing conclusions about the corrupt mind of American capitalism.
And yes, the “reign of terror” that followed the discovery of oil in Oklahoma and could make the Osage the wealthiest people on Earth per capita provides a rich backdrop for Scorsese’s more intimate drama in this crime saga. He adapted the book of the same name, The Killers of the Flower Moon, into a fast-paced account of the end of the Wild West and the birth of the 20th century. While the novel’s author, David Grann, pays more attention to the modern-day sociopath who masterminded the murder of the Indians, and the old-fashioned cowboy John Edgar Hoover sent to capture him. Scorsese’s more focused version summarizes these tectonic shifts in American history, but only in passing. His primary interest is the sinister mastermind and his beloved dog, two beady-eyed fools whose understanding of the national landscape is limited by the belief that it is still theirs.
Still from the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023)
image source: Apple Studios
William Hale (Robert De Niro) sees the Osage as mere stewards of the wealth his country accidentally gifted its native population for stealing their land. He is driven by the sacred belief that America is still a place where individuals can commit murder in the name of white progress. And one of the most insistent bits of the Scorsese movie is that Hale continues to believe it even after the FBI starts chasing him. But if Grann’s book was a sprawling conspiracy thriller that revealed the facts of the case, but at the same time briefly recorded America’s transition from myth to modernity, then screenwriter Eric Roth identifies the killers at first. opportunity to penetrate much deeper into the relationship between them. His “Flower Moon Killers” aren’t in full swing so much as they seep out of the ground and gradually accumulate in different places.
This sepia-toned saga slowly saturates with self-sacrifice, accompanied by Leonardo DiCaprio’s best performance of his entire career. The former teen idol has never been shy about taking on the roles of scum and outcast, but his subtle, uncompromising turn as goon Ernest Burkhart reveals wonderful new facets of talent. And this happens mainly due to the actor’s lack of vanity.
Still from the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023)
image source: Apple Studios
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s gorgeous palette of dry, dusty brown tones creates a palpable sense of time and place, but his camera lens is rarely allowed to extend more than a set on Fisk’s main street like a story that begins with a glimpse of the limitless potential of America’s Future slowly dwindles to a series of medium shots showing people who have been denied that future.
It’s a delicate balance for a gifted director like Scorsese, whose ability to tell any story belies his ultimate admission that it may not be his story. For better or for worse, Scorsese turns The Flower Moon Killers into a story he can tell better than anyone: a story of greed, corruption and the ambiguous nature of a country born of the belief that anyone sufficiently insensitive belongs . to enjoy.
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