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Martin Scorsese is still at the top of his game. His films are not everyone’s choice, particularly the violence and dark tone. Killers of the Flower Moon contains both of those. Plus, the runtime is 3 hours, 36 minutes.

Based on a book by David Grann about real events in 1920s Oklahoma, Eric Roth and Scorsese fashion a long, slow, interconnected story of murder and white privilege, against members of the Osage Nation to get their land and mineral rights.

One word sums up this film: sad. It’s impossible to repute the systematic treatment of indigenous people and those of color throughout our country’s history. Yes, that’s the history some try to erase from reality because these events and government policy is hurtful to those who work to deny it. America is not Technicolor rainbows and unicorns.

The story behind this film shows the murderous behavior of many white people and the complicity of government and business to aid in their embezzlement of land and oil rights. While members of the Osage Nation were legally entitled to the money the oil brought, they were scammed, overcharged and even needed permission of a white guardian to request their money.

The easiest way to get the oil rights away from the Osage people was to marry them, or swindle them, and then arrange for their death. The problem was that a single death here or there does not allow the efficient consolidation of oil wealth, which was the aim. There were so many murders that most weren’t known and others not investigated. The potential numbers was in the hundreds. The other strategy was to befriend the Osage, convince them of your friendship and support, all the while using their trust against them.

Robert De Niro plays William “King” Hale, the mastermind behind the swindle. His nephew, Ernest Buckhart, just back from the Great War, goes to work for Hale and is gently guided in the direction of Mollie, a spirited and independent full-blooded Osage, who he eventually marries.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest, the nephew of King Hale. Earnest is a weasel, an unlikeable character, who marries Mollie and unwittingly poisons her, so King Hale can get her land. Ernest might have served Scorsese’s narrative better, and although DiCaprio is great in the part, the audience has only Mollie to embrace.

“It just didn’t feel like it got to the heart of it,” DiCaprio later told British Vogue about the first script. “We weren’t immersed in the Osage story. There was this tiny, small scene between Mollie and Ernest that provoked such emotion in us at the reading, and we just started to penetrate into what that relationship was, because it was so twisted and bizarre and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.” – Leonardo DiCaprio

“After two years of working on the script, Leo came to me and asked, ‘Where is the heart of this story?’ I had had meetings and dinners with the Osage, and I thought, ‘Well, there’s the story.’ The real story, we felt, was not necessarily coming from the outside, with the bureau, but rather from the inside, from Oklahoma.” – Martin Scorsese

I get what Scorsese is saying, and maybe that works better as a book, but it’s unsatisfying as a three-plus hour film. We keep waiting for DiCaprio to make a big character turn, which finally he does, sorta. By the time he does, it’s too little, too late.

As for De Niro, we’ve seen the charming, evil character a lot in his career. No one does it better than De Niro, but we’ve seen it. Yes, he’s good, crazy good, but nothing about it seems fresh or nuisanced.

Lily Gladstone is the reason to appreciate this film. In a sea of fine performances, she stands above the rest. You feel her pain and her disappointment. Her character is not showy, but very earnest (pardon the pun). She has star quality and commands the screen. Follow her career.

The late Robbie Robertson, a frequent Scorsese collaborator, provides a wonderfully textured soundtrack. You may not notice it during the film, as it enhances the emotional core of the film. It’s terrific, and Robertson is missed.

Scorsese makes quality films, and Killers of the Flower Moon is no exception. Yes, it’s too long and the focus is wrong, yet it is a devastating film.

3/5