3.8 out of 5
Killers of the Flower Moon has attracted interest and some negative press because of its duration, a hefty 3 hrs 26 minutes of running time. Certainly, this is a film that could have been considered for a streamed series given the subject matter and the way that Director Martin Scorsese meticulously recreates that world.
The story (adapted from a non-fiction book by David Grann) centres on the Osage Indians, a native American community that find wealth when oil is discovered on the lands in the 1920s in Oklahoma. Much time is spent in depicting the transformation of the local people towards an industrialised, capitalist society and we see the subtle, nefarious influence of the white people over time, some of whom get their hooks too deep into the resources of the local people. Without too many spoilers, this influence becomes completely pernicious as key members of the indigenous community are murdered, are found dead or suffer extreme ill health leading to mortality. At the centre of this corruption are the two lead protagonists played by DiCaprio and De Niro, the former an undecorated, poor man returning from the war and the latter, the owner of a cattle ranch, who is over-involved in everyone’s business.
This film feels, at times, relentlessly bleak as the body count rises and a community with all its culture and traditions becomes systematically denuded. The threat seems ever so real that a group of white men will, through betrayal and the most devious means, take over the ownership and wealth of oil.
Throughout the film the acting and cinematography are excellent; the acting feels authentic with a naturalistic approach.
DeNiro plays the role in an unaffected, unmannered way and is every inch a forbidding, enigmatic character. DiCaprio’s performance is a strange one, however; an over-physical performance where he seems to channel old school DeNiro and the method actors at their most extreme. He spends much of the movie gurning, his mouth and chin doing overtime. This method acting is often seen in cowboy films where male actors often over-use facial muscles, have exaggerated expressions to express strong personalities. This cliched form of depicting male characters (where they deliberately sound incoherent and spit out tobacco – also the Woody Harrelson school of acting) has me galloping on horseback out of town. This, for me, was off-putting but DiCaprio wasn’t bad – that would be harsh.
Lily Gladstone plays DiCaprio’s Osage wife, another natural, believable performance (no gurning) – a character that we root for throughout, an actress who gives the film much of its emotional weight.
This film has a great ending – a really unexpected one with a brilliant cameo. Worth the entrance fee alone. A lavish, meticulous piece of cinema – and almost great.