Martin Scorsese’s latest epic, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON begins with a peace pipe being buried.
Symbolically unsubtle, but then there is nothing subtle about genocide.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is an historical tale yet very much a modern story, of emotional force and imaginative richness and the excesses of capitalism.
Dancing at the top of his form, filled with a roaring, utterly sad and yet unsettlingly funny in the incredulous actions of of some of these characters, is quintessential Scorsese.
Directed by Scorsese and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese, based on David Grann’s best-selling book of the same name, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that was massacre masquerading as benevolence.
The members of the Osage Nation were some of the wealthiest in the country due to the abundant oil fields lying beneath their reservation which brought in millions of dollars to the tribe every year. However, due to tribal rules around financial distribution, none of these oil fields could be bought or sold on an individual basis, only inherited and subjected to more community-based measures.
Voracious, venomous, rapacious white men like William Hale plotted manufactured miscegenation as a way for Whites to inherit the spoils of oil. Marry a squaw, poison, shoot or blow her up, and you keep her land rights.
Hale manipulates his nephew Ernest in just such a scam, matchmaking a marriage between the recently repatriated First World War soldier and indigenous millionairess, Molly Kyle.
In a performance that reminds us why he is celebrated as one of the preeminent screen actors of our time, Robert De Niro plays Hale with chilling charm, a projected sincerity that hides a sinister streak.
Leonardo DiCaprio is strong as the weakling Ernest, easily swayed by his uncle’s schemes, besotted by money, morally bankrupt.
Lily Gladstone brings a pragmatic presence to the stoic Molly, intent on moulding the malleable Ernest in a less malevolent way.
The ever watchable Jesse Plemons makes a welcome appearance as Special Agent Tom White as he tracks a web of Osage family killers despite local obfuscation.
Blessedly, bloatedly, monstrously entertaining, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is epic film making that resonates and reverberates. A must see.