Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest Martin Scorsese movie that tells yet another important story in American history, the kind of story Republicans want to ban because it's the sort of history we should be ashamed of.
When the Osage Tribe was forced to move to worthless land in Oklahoma to be on a reservation what the Great White Father didn't count on was oil. The land housed lots and lots of oil and made a group of dirt-poor Osage into rich Osage. Mansions went up, cars were bought, jewelry was abundant, and that led to white men coming in to attempt to screw them out of their riches and in many cases, kill them.
Robert DeNiro plays William Hale, a greedy amoral mob boss who runs the town of Fairfax, Oklahoma and everything evil goes through him. Leonardo DiCaprio is Hales nephew, Ernest Burkhardt, a WW1 vet who wasn't even bright enough to be in the infantry (he was a cook) and he comes to town looking for work. His "job" is to basically find an Osage woman and marry her thus putting him line to inherit her money. Lily Gladstone plays Molly, an Osage woman whose family is being targeted by Hale and his goons. They marry, Ernest sets the death of Molly in motion, Molly's sisters and mother are killed and then the Bureau of Investigation comes in to solve the murders. Jesse Plemmons plays Tom White, a stiff collared fed with a penchant for what's right and wrong. There are also short stints for Brendan Fraser (obviously still filming the Whale) and John Lithgow as attorneys.
This movie is 3 1/2 hours long and to me, a guy who idolizes Scorsese, it may actually drag a bit at times. Scorsese's quest to show virtually every aspect of Osage life may have been the reason but nonetheless this film is important. It is real history, and may not be allowed to be taught to students in the state it took place in. Oklahoma has passed those stupid laws saying that white America might be offended by real history so just dont teach it. The Tulsa massacre (which is referred to in this film) and the Osage murders took place all in one 5-year period in Oklahoma. It would be malfeasance to not teach these events but hey its Oklahoma, a place where the head of education thinks the Bible is a history book.
This is Oppenheimer 2. It's a long movie made for adults with great actors and a great director. It should be seen.
Lily Gladstone, you know her if you watch Billions and Reservation Dogs, will win the Oscar. She's the soul of this movie and plays it with a sadness that really gets to you. She is phenomenal. DiCaprio and DeNiro play dumb evil and just plain evil, respectively. They both have reached the point where their performances are just assumed to be great and therefore get no recognition. But they should be recognized.
Is this better than Oppenheimer? Maybe but it doesn't matter because both are classics.
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