Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

 

Genre: Drama/ Crime

Time: 3hours 26mins

Director:  Martin Scorsese

Quick Summary: When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one - until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

I was absolutely glued to the screen for the entire time, this story is so interesting and powerful at the same time. 

The Osage tribe, a community that lived in peace and harmony, was faced with a sudden and disruptive change when oil was discovered on their land. As word of their newfound wealth spread, waves of outsiders descended upon their land, determined to take what was not rightfully theirs. They were sadly unable to prevent the discrimination and abuse that followed, which started as verbal insults and eventually led to physical harm. It was then that William King Hale, a man with a sinister plan, entered the picture. With his eye on their riches, he orchestrated the marriage of his nephew Ernest to a member of the Osage tribe, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike watching as he carefully planned every single attack and made sure that other people were to do it so that he can shift the blame. This scheme was not only intriguing for its long-term planning but also for the moral implications that ensued. To me, this is such a massive hook of a story as well there is so much depth and layers to it, and most importantly emotional investment.

What I do really like is how things were framed and shot with large landscape shots capturing absolutely everything possible to show us the world and familiarise us with the setting, which is 1920 America. It's honestly quite a stunning film, mixing the dull browns and reds with splashes of brighter colours with various Osage outfits, and the natural landscapes. I absolutely loved however how the characters were always in focus naturally, be that there's a lamp vaguely around someone in a dark room, or a character is centralised in a group of people so that they're slightly out of place. The score for this was incredibly minimal, but honestly, it works so well. It blends well with the aesthetic of a lot of blues-styled music, sober and melancholic. Lots of harmonica and twangy string instruments really helped bring the Western world to life.

This is a SLOW film and long film, but I actually enjoyed these elements. Don't get me wrong, maybe the runtime could have been cut down by speeding up a good handful of the scenes, but it needed to be slow as there were so many avenues with people and events to follow and explore without rushing them. We need to understand most of the cast and why they are doing the things they did, it creates such an emotional tie to this film so that later events will hit heavily and builds the tension in such an efficient way. I don't think casual film watchers will agree, nor people who don't partially enjoy a storyline like this will either though, which admittedly is a major flaw as people can and will more than likely get bored at times, waiting for something to happen that's deemed "interesting". To watch this, you need a lot of patience and the ability to pick up small moments or read the atmosphere. 

Our main cast was honestly phenomenal. I won't go into all of them, as I want to avoid spoilers for some.

Leonardo DiCaprio, the grunt who stupidly agrees to a flawed plan, then becomes trapped under his uncle's thumb but deeply loves his poor wife. The emotional burden he carries throughout the film as he has to hide from his wife is so sad to watch. I found him so interesting as he wasn't a complete pushover and knew how to fool others, but would be so easily swayed by his uncle. But he would do anything for money, even if it meant betraying others closest to him to get away with it. I loved watching his slow mental downfall as the pressure of everything slowly gets to him, people start looking into things, and the risk actually becomes real. He becomes frantic, and aggravated, ready to burst at any moment. Even at the very end, he still tries to worm his way out, even if it isn't the smartest decision.

Lily Gladstone as Molly, the wife. Here is a woman who has endured a lot of pain and loss in her life, whether it be her own physical ailments or the sudden loss of her loved ones. Despite all these hardships, She remains unwavering, choosing to be a loving wife to her husband and a caring mother to her young children. Mollie embodies all of the positive values that her community cherishes, and she is one of the last members of her family who hasn't completely given in to the allure of a wealthy lifestyle. She fights all the way until the very end, searching to find out who killed her family even if she was on her last legs. This was a woman who knew what she wanted and would stand her ground for as long as she could.  It was so heartbreaking to watch her slowly become more and more sick, for a woman being as headstrong as she was to eventually become dependent on her husband to keep her alive as she loses grip on reality around her. Ontop of this, the amount of grief this poor woman must have been going through as her family members slowly died around her, yet she kept going. There are a lot of scenes where intense raw emotions are shown, and I found her part of the story incredibly moving.

Now, I do have a few gripes with this film. The first one is that when the native language of the Osage was being spoken, subtitles were very limited. I don't really understand why personally. I feel like for such a dialogue-heavy film, why would we want to miss what is being said. Sure sometimes it explained what was said, but usually we were just left to fill in the blanks. At some point, a lot of relationships between people do get confusing, and it's hard to remember what has happened between them especially when there are a few time jumps that don't explicitly tell the viewer. There are a ton of characters in this too, which again makes it kind of difficult to place people at times. 

I honestly really liked this, I do think the runtime could have been cut down but I understand why it was so long. It focuses a lot of dialogue, which I actually do think is a major strength of this film as sometimes it's incredibly funny, or clever. Each person's script feels unique to them, and not just words given to them.  Such an emotional story that pays respect to the Osage history, with a very sad ending. If you struggle with long films or a slow-paced story, maybe watch this at home with small breaks. 

9/10

"Ernest Burkhart: You know, you got, you got nice colour skin. What colour would you say that is?

Mollie Burkhart: My color."

"I don't know what you said, but it must've been Indian for "handsome devil"."