It shouldn’t be a controversial opinion to say it’s been a barren run of films in the second half of 2023. Throughout the first months of 2023, there were a couple of standout films, but none were overperformers or record-breakers. Then in the summer, it looked as if the blockbuster slate was set, with “Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse,” “Barbie,” and “Oppenheimer” all delivering. But the post-summer run looked bare, except for Martin Scorsese’s 28th feature film, “Killers Of The Flower Moon.”
Like when many of the top directors release, the hype is immediately there, and there was no difference for this. With the combination of a popular book and story, mixed with actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Brendan Fraser being attached to the film, it only added more to the expected success.
The film follows the story and murders of Fairfax, Oklahoma in the 1920’s. The Osage, an indigenous tribe, lived on the land that would come to be Fairfax for many years, before discovering the plethora of oil that lay beneath. Once oil was found, it was a dogfight for power and money. Many of the Osage became rich, it was their land of course, and received headlights, which led to white families and men coming, seeking their wealth, but had limited options. One of the most popular methods used was marriage. What better way to adopt wealth than marrying into it? But these wolves, as the white folk were referred to in the films, were not there to marry, they were there to eliminate, which marriage provided the perfect cover for.
The specific story follows Mollie Burkhardt, an Osage tribe member whose mother held her share of wealth and also another amount split between Mollie and her 2 sisters. Mollie would marry Ernest Burkhardt, nephew of William Hale. Hale was a rancher who moved into the area once the rich resource was discovered. He posed as a friend to the tribe and their people but secretly plotted multiple ways to steal their fortunes. Hale would use Ernest and his brother to infiltrate the tribe and narrow it down to gain all the inheritance.
Robert De Niro plays Hale in the film. Ernest is played by DiCaprio and newcomer Lily Gladstone plays Mollie. Each plays their part to their maximum. For her debut, Gladstone has to undergo many variations of her character, as one that suffers through loss and illness and experiences happiness, love, and betrayal. Gladstone never slacks in any aspect. What I was most impressed and surprised was DiCaprio’s performance. DiCaprio is capable of bringing a wide range of characters to life, but the weakness, confusion, and indecisiveness DiCaprio displays was something that took me back. I would never think such a big, obviously powerful man would be able to show the sheer smallness of his character opposite of De Niro, who is controlling, dominant, and shows his power. Ernest struggles to cope with the violence happening around him at the hands of his people and tries to cope with the immorality of his marriage, but grows to love his wife and their budding family. The lies and secrets he keeps while also having to act tough and strong to his domineering uncle make for a tough performance, but one done expertly nonetheless.
While the acting is superb, one thing it could not help, and something that I think is a key issue for the film, was the runtime. Coming in at 3 hours and 26 minutes, Killers Of The Flower Moon is a long movie, and it shows at points. While the story of the Osage is important and needs to be told carefully and completely, I couldn’t help thinking how much shorter the film could’ve been. Between shots being held may be too long and dialogue runs on and on when we already know the characters’ positions in the line. For example, one scene towards the end of the film between Ernest and Hale occurs where they discuss their morals, reasonings, and futures, with the pair starting to see things differently. This to me felt like beating a dead horse. We already know and establish Ernest’s moral conflicts and the coldness of his uncle, and we already know from the previous 2 or so hours they both are starting to break and resent one another. So why spend another 8 minutes explaining it in dialogue?
The pace of the film saves these scenes from making a wonderful film turn into a sluggish, overexplained, and overcomplicated mess, but I couldn’t help thinking in my seat “I know, let’s keep going.”
The film certainly isn’t for everyone. The action is at a minimum. While brief acts of harsh violence occur to shock people at what they witnessed, the film tends to choose the more emotional and physical tolls these terrible killings take rather than the actual murders. As a fan of dialogue-based films, it works very well, with Scorsese unsurprisingly knowing the perfect amounts of action and suspense to dial in to keep audiences dialed in. He also expertly knows when to let the actors do their thing, which Gladstone takes and runs with.
The crime/drama is a beautifully done film on a harsh, terrible topic that needs to be told. It gives a difficult but true view of American relations with the indigenous peoples and the wrong they have done. While handling such a difficult topic, Scorsese, like previously mentioned, expertly balances the heavy topic while using his artistic and visionary style behind the camera, and makes an important story a powerful watch.
