Killers of the Flower Moon: Scorsese’s Brutally Beautiful Period Piece
Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple TV+ & Paramount Pictures)
There are few directors as well-known or as highly thought of as Martin Scorsese, with a diverse filmography stretching back to the late 60s, Scorsese is without doubt a titan of modern cinema. It’s even rarer to find a director whose films become more thoughtful and complex in the later stages of their career.
In 2016 Scorsese released Silence, a film about the pain and martyrdom that comes with dedicating yourself to religion, and in 2019 he released The Irishman, a film about aging and guilt masquerading as a gangster epic. Scorsese’s latest release Killers of The Flower Moon is similarly rich and dense in its storytelling and themes.
Based on David Grann’s book of the same name, Killers of The Flower Moon follows the murders of the Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma after it is found that their land is rich with oil. The ensemble cast is lead by Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart, Lily Gladstone as his wife Mollie Burkhart, and Robert De Niro as William “King” Hale, Ernest’s uncle and the man behind the terror inflicted on the Osage people.
As expected, DiCaprio is brilliant. Ernest could either be seen as at best a spineless follower of his uncle, and at worst just as much of a greedy opportunist as he is. It’s a tall task for any actor to play such a role, but DiCaprio does it with ease, adding a depth and a sense of conflict to the character that makes the viewer more inclined to follow him, no matter how reprehensible his behaviour is.
Gladstone turns in a career making performance and Mollie Burkhart is by far one of the most sympathetic characters in any film released this year, additionally, Gladstone gives the character a dignity and strength that makes us want to see her succeed. De Niro’s performance is just as powerful in his tenth collaboration with Scorsese.
Greed and excess are themes that have been explored by De Niro and Scorsese previously, in films like Casino. The difference here being the glitz and glamour of William Hale’s wealthy lifestyle are not present, there’s nothing for the audience to envy or be in awe of, all they see is the pure evil behind a man driven by capitalism, and De Niro pulls it off beautifully.
Scorsese has said before that he thinks more like an editor than a director. Imagining his films in sequences and flows of images, this is especially evident in this film. If you were to ask someone how a Scorsese film is shot, they’d point you toward the fast-moving and kinetic camerawork in Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street. Scorsese trades that style for a more subtle minimalist approach; however, this isn’t a bad thing.
Scorsese and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto employ a style that manages to capture both the beauty of the Osage nation and the intensity of the violence they were subjected to. Despite coming up to an immense 206-minute runtime, the pace stays steady throughout, keeping the viewer glued to the screen as the plot slowly develops.
Killers of the Flower Moon may be Scorsese’s greatest effort this century. The performances, direction, and cinematography come together to craft a riveting story that captures the worst side of America, but perhaps its most important side.
Rating: 5/5
Killers of the Flower Moon is available in cinemas and on Apple TV at a later date.