Martin Scorsese’s newest historical epic and a deep dive into evil
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon was released earlier last month and it’s monolithic. I’ll lightly touch on some moments within the movie while maintaining a relatively spoiler-free review for those who are interested in seeing the film with their own eyes!
I’m late to the bus on Scorsese. I’ll admit, I just saw The Wolf of Wall Street two weeks ago. There’s a connecting idea between these two movies; Scorsese’s overwhelming curiosity and hatred for men consumed with their greed.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a three-and-a-half-hour epic that hates its protagonist. Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) loves his wife Mollie Burkhart (played by Lily Gladstone), but is willing to conspire against her entire family and her to get headrights to their oil fields. He tears up having to hurt her but will rob the jewels off Osage corpses without a care, then lose it all in another turn. That is the kind of man Ernest Burkhart is.
In the second act, there’s a phrase King (played by Robert De Niro) utters that is incredibly haunting: “Their time is over, they lost that long ago. That’s the way the wind blows.” This idea bellows throughout the entire movie, all the way till those last minutes – when we’re graced with Martin Scorsese himself reading out the epilogue in what feels like only the smallest recompense for what the Osage went through.
Killers of the Flower Moon is reconciling with the insidious grip of colonialism. Conspiracy, governmental failure, and cruelly manipulative relationships twisted for selfish benefit rack the movie and historical record, all the while trying to bring voice to the story of the Osage in 1920s Oklahoma. It presents an interesting question; how do you bring to life such an event while giving justice to those who had to suffer through it?
Scorsese answers cleverly, there’s not a moment in the film where it feels as though Ernest and his family feel justified–it all feels just pitiable. The film closes out denying Ernest a moment of reprieve and the audience is left with a dazzling sequence, one that feels bitingly critical of the modern true crime podcast.
Beyond the story, Killers of the Flower Moon is a beautiful film. Hellish firestorms and dazzling marriage sequences are captivating, each scene feels as if you could stop and stare at any frame for a lifetime. The music is equally good, capturing that blues-esque grime to the movie and really locking down what feels like a contemporarily critical period piece.
Out since October 20th, Killers of the Flower Moon is worth any chance at a watch for the first, second and third time. Give it a glance!
