‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ and other of Martin Scorsese‘s latest creations remind me of Alfred Hitchcock’s late career films. That last period lasted about 12 years for Hitchcock, during which he made 6 films. I hope that Scorsese will also be blessed with a long and productive life from here on out and that we will see more movies after ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘. Both directors have already earned their place of honor in the Pantheon of the art of cinema. Scorsese now, like Hitchcock after 1964, has nothing left to prove and in his case – unlike Hitchcock – no statuette that he has not yet held in his hand to win. He can make whatever movies he wants and get any funding for his projects. What he chooses to do is his decision alone. The similarities do not end here. In ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ we can see an episode of attempted murder by poisoning and even a scene with the glass into which poison is poured shot in full shot, a scene that seems to be a direct homage to Hitchcock. And yes, Scorsese also has a cameo appearance, as the master of suspense had in most of his films. What Scorsese chooses to do is to revisit some of his favorite themes from previous films – the gangster families with the rules and codes that kept them together, the connection between American history and organized crime and the history of the FBI. But all these serve a judicial idea – bringing to light a tragic episode of the fate of the Amero-Indian Osage tribe, which took place in the previous century, in the 20s. Scorsese does one more thing that was highly commented by the viewers who saw the film and the critics who wrote about it. He doesn’t look at the clock. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ is an epic that runs for almost three and a half hours, which is an hour longer than the recent – already long – standard for Hollywood films. For me these 210 minutes went by faster, more intensely and more rewardingly than 100 minutes in many other films, but from what I’ve read, many viewers had a different opinion, gave up watching before the end or if they resisted, they criticized.
The story of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ has the premises of a classic western. Whites and the descendants of the native inhabitants of North America are fighting for a piece of land full of resources. The fight is bloody and unequal, every possible method is used and the end is known from the history books. In this case it is about a true episode described in David Grann’s documentary book that inspired the film script. In the second decade of the last century, huge oil deposits were discovered in Oklahoma. Some of the unfriendly lands beneath the oil, however, belonged to the Osage Indian tribe, who had been relocated here some time ago from their ancestral lands. The Osage Indians in that area became overnight the US inhabitants with the highest per capita income. The desire to get rich quick in this oil-based El Dorado attracted tradesmen, adventurers and criminals, some of them returning from the fronts of the WWI. Among them was Ernest Burkhart, who settled with his brother or on the farm of their uncle, William King Hale, the owner of a huge ranch. The two brothers became participants in a complex plan to dispossess the Indians through various methods, from marriages with tribal women and banking control of the Indians’ wealth to assassinations, also including alcohol intoxication and food poisoning (the Indians were predisposed, genetically and due to differences in traditional diets to diabetes and other diseases) or plain poisoning. Ernest will marry Molly, a beautiful and intelligent Osage woman. Everything happens under the tutelage of ‘King’ Hale who acts as a patron and friend of the tribe (learns the language and customs, participates in their events) and in parallel plans and orders the execution of criminal plans. When private investigators and the federal government begin to take an interest in the series of mysterious deaths, the relations between the two conflicting societies and the marriage and love story between Ernest and Molly are put to the test. The investigation of these murders and the trial that followed were the subject of the first major public case of the newly formed FBI under J.Edgar Hoover (whom Leonardo DiCaprio had played in Clint Eastwood’s 2011 ‘Edgar’).
To place the Oklahoma conflict in an American historical context, Martin Scorsese uses archival news clips. In a ‘film within film’ scene, some of the characters watch footage of the racial incidents and the Tulsa massacre in 1921. The clear intention is to show that discrimination against black and Indian populations, at that time and in American history in general, are similar phenomena, which must be equally considered. The film tries to be authentic and very respectful of the Osage culture. Some of the dialogues are conducted in this language, which had also been learned and used by whites in family relationships and everyday interaction during that period. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro shine as always under Scorsese‘s guidance and deliver two exceptional roles. The trio is completed by Lily Gladstone, as a Molly full of wisdom and dignity. The impossible love and hate story between Ernest and Molly works and moves mostly because of the actors. A few familiar faces such as Jesse Plemons, Scott Shepherd and John Lithgow also appear part of a large and excellently directed cast, where each small or supporting role seems to be a colorful and functional piece in a constantly moving ensemble. Editing plays an important role and the narrative has a good pace, how strange it seems to say such a thing for a 3 and a half hour film. The composition of the images is often memorable, both in the scenes where the mobile camera walks us in long shots through Hale’s domain, and due to the lighting that dramatically highlights the characters, in the style of the Caravaggio paintings. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ is a saga about the disappearance of a world destroyed by human greed with the complicity of the system. Even though justice was partially served by the legal system, history has been unkind to the Osage tribe. The criminals got out of prison and lived for many years afterwards. Ernest Bruckhart outlived Molly, who succumbed to diabetes at the age of 50, by almost half a century. The book and now Scorsese‘s film do a great job in making the historical record straight.