Killers of the Flower Moon

At first glance, I can see why Martin Scorsese was attracted to this material.  His latest, this year's KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON has many similar elements to the director's filmography of crime epics, right down to the backroom interrogations and court room fallout after a series of brutal and bluntly presented murders.  But the plight of the Osage Native American tribe weighed heavily on his heart, and his film, based on a non-fiction novel by David Grann, was reworked from a procedural to a more sensitive portrayal of custom and exploitation, favoring an often warm and emotional (not sentimental) approach, rather than kinetic and cool as in some of Marty's Mafia epics.

Upon their Oklahoma reservation in the early twentieth century the Osage discover oil, leading to considerable wealth.  Yet they must account to the white man who according to reservation laws manage the funds.  A dignity shredding relationship where the Osage essentially have to petition daddy for allowance money.  One is named William Hale (Robert DeNiro), a rancher and nominal town sheriff who has become a "king" among the Osage people, speaking their tongue and taking care of them as if his own.  He presents himself as a God fearing, selfless benefactor, but is quickly revealed to be a thoroughly evil kingpin who arranges the murders of several of the tribe in order to obtain their money. To nab a share of "headrights".  He's like several high profile mobsters who in the public eye donate to charity while in the shadows paint houses with the arterial spray of their enemies, many of whom believed they were their friends. 

Hale's nephew Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio), fresh from battle overseas, comes to live with he and his brother Byron (Scott Shepherd) at the ranch.  The young man is a bit slow, and not at all bashful about his love of money.  At the urging of his uncle, he seeks to marry one of the Kyle clan, who have a significant stake in the oil headrights.  Ernest will meet and genuinely fall in love with Mollie (Lily Gladstone), reserved but keenly intelligent, though blinded by love as her new husband goes about doing Hale's dirty business - albeit reluctantly - which will include her own poisoning.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is the work of an assured master.  One who does not feel the need to rely on flash or shock to tell this sad, sad tale.   An eighty-year old who asks us to sit for three and one half hours without an intermission as he deliberately but always compellingly recounts the history.  A forgotten, bitter, dark chapter.  This film is devastating in every fashion.  Gladstone is a revelation.  Heartbreaking.  So natural, as if recruited right from the reservation.  Not an ounce of star posturing, the same of which cannot be said for DiCaprio, though I still liked his performance.  It's nice to be reminded how good DeNiro still is after years of shitty commercial paycheck movies, and his malevolence wrapped in faux agape love is solid work, sufficiently frightening.  

It was amusing to see John Lithgow and Brendan Fraser (hamming a bit) as opposing counsel late in the film, even if their and some other third act scenes suffer in comparison to the power of the moments among the Osage.  How they lived and breathed, and were for all intents and purposes, enslaved.

Expectedly, the film could've been trimmed a bit.   It does get repetitive.  But no demerits for longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker's skillful editing.  Flows, but not too fast or electric.  FLOWER MOON is admirably novelistic, and I was never bored or intimidated by the running time.  This is a powerful experience, with a memorable score by another frequent Scorsese compadre,  Robbie Robertson (who recently passed and to whom the film is dedicated), I hope you got to see in the theater.   For some, the finale comes off as a mere conceit (one reviewer described it as something Wes Anderson would employ) but I found it brilliant and creative.  A perfect coda.  A punctuation on how even the most urgent of circumstances become barely a line of mention in a newspaper to be discarded.  Devastating.