Killers Of The Flower Moon Review: Martin Scorsese's Bold And Shocking Confrontation With Darkness In American History

“When you get the money, you get the power.” That is a notable line from an overrated gangster film, but it succinctly sums up the ethos of capitalism. There is a generally accepted idea that great wealth equates to influence and immunity. With a bit less cynicism, it’s the American Dream: with hard work, you can achieve anything.

But this is a fallacy, and one that Martin Scorsese has boldly confronted with his new epic Killers Of The Flower Moon. Based on the book of the same name by author David Grann, the film depicts horrific true events that transpired in the early decades of the 20th century – centering on a string of murders orchestrated as part of a conspiracy to steal money and oil headrights from Osage Nation families in Osage County, Oklahoma. Per capita, the Osage were considered the wealthiest people in not just the United States, but the entire world – but all of that money meant nothing in the face of raw white supremacy.

In classic Scorsese fashion, the story is told from the perspective of the greedy and brazen men who took part in the crimes, but the pain and plight of the victims is what this movie is about, and it’s a goregeous, simultaneously gut-wrenching and eye-opening cinematic experience that, recency bias considered, will be remembered as one of the director’s greatest works.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ernest Burkhart, a World War I veteran who moves to Oklahoma to live and work at the side of his uncle Bill Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale is the professed “King of the Osage Hills” and puts on a warming and amiable facade while interacting with his native neighbors, but the reality is that he wants nothing more than to take every penny they have, and he is limitlessly unscrupulous in his efforts to achieve his goal. Within moments of Ernest being in his home after first arriving in town, Hale begins making efforts to bring his relative into the fold as a part of his treachery.

Working as a chauffeur, Ernest meets Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), a wealthy, quiet and wary Osage woman, and flirtation ultimately leads to romance, which leads to marriage. They start a family together, but unbeknownst to Mollie, Ernest is wrapped up deeply in Bill Hale’s avarice-fueled conspiracy, and tragedy after tragedy begins to befall her and her kin – beginning with the execution-style murder of her sister, Anna (Cara Jade Myers).

Killers Of The Flower Moon's chosen point of view highlights the terrible brashness with which the murders were committed.

If entered into with limited knowledge about the murders of the Osage, David Grann’s book reads like a whodunit, laying out the timeline of events before Bill Hale is identified as a major mastermind in the mass death and Ernest Burkhart is named as his accomplice. But in presenting the killings from the point of view of the criminals, the film is a wholly different experience. Written by Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth, it’s a fascinating adaptation in the way in which it crafts a subjective perspective from an objective work of non-fiction, and while it has some moments that will be viewed as controversial, the choice drives home particularly powerful aspects of the story – particularly the flagrancy with which Hale and Burkhart operated due to their perceived invulnerability.

Part of illustrating this flagrancy means showcasing the extreme breadth of crimes committed, from executions, poisonings and bombings, to life and car insurance fraud. Along with also highlighting the government’s corrupt guardianship system and the FBI’s investigation of the killings, this unabridged approach is the explanation for the movie’s extreme runtime. But any concerns one may have about the film’s length dissipate once it is rolling. The pacing is perfection, and while the shocking murders provide exciting punctuation – shot and edited with brutal intensity – it’s truly the characters and performances that keep you gripped throughout, particularly the work by Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.

Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio deliver some of the best performances of their career, and Lily Gladstone is phenomenal.

Killers Of The Flower Moon is the first Martin Scorsese film starring both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, and with the two joining forces on screen after many solo efforts with the legendary filmmaker, it’s fascinating to see the director use the two actors against type. A big part of De Niro’s legacy with Scorsese are the intimidating and menacing figures he’s portrayed, from Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle to Raging Bull’s Jake LaMotta to Cape Fear’s Max Cady – but as Bill Hale, De Niro plays a the kind of evil that will warmly smile and hug you, and then keep you trapped in his embrace as his co-conspirators drive knives through your ribcage.

Similarly, Scorsese has had DiCaprio play greedy men (The Wolf Of Wall Street’s Jordan Belfort) and violent men (Shutter Island’s Teddy Daniels and Gangs Of New York’s Amsterdam Vallon), but never before have those qualities come from such a place of weakness as it does with Ernest Burkhart, who is both willingly stuck under the thumb of his uncle and a slave to his appetites. Both men are despicable representations of humanity, but the actors make them effortlessly compelling.

It’s an awesome demonstration of range from the two brilliant veterans, and you’re ultimately excited to see them face the consequences that they don’t fear, but richly deserve. That said, the emotional center of Killers Of The Flower Moon is Lily Gladstone’s heartbreaking turn as Mollie Burkhart: the movie’s powerful reflection of the horrors that the Osage experienced and the central representative for the many, many victims. Her wails as she learns about the deaths of those she loves add 50 pounds to your heart – and you marvel at her determination and fortitude as she makes every effort to uncover the truth of what’s happening as she is unknowingly poisoned by the man she loves, her face, paled by illness, captured in long, captivating shots full of pain and desperation.

It’s not all gloom. When Ernest becomes her driver and starts courting her, Mollie is standoffish, but also coy, and it’s obvious why the protagonist is enchanted by her. She has a special charm and peace to her – making it all the more terrible when those qualities are ripped away from her by seemingly endless death and destruction.

More than just a great film, Killers Of The Flower Moon is a vital film coming at an important time. There is a shocking reluctance among some people in America to properly recognize and reconcile with atrocities committed in our nation’s history, and after Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, this is the second major release of the year to provide bold confrontation with that kind of subject matter. It’s powerful and unforgettable big screen storytelling from one of the greatest geniuses to ever touch a camera, and when we look back on 2023 at the end of December, there’s a strong likelihood that Martin Scorsese’s latest will be viewed as the best movie of the year.