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Martin Scorsese is probably best known for his gritty crime thrillers—films like The Irishman, The Departed, and Goodfellas. But his historical drama Killers of the Flower Moon offers a twist on the director’s typically dark and edgy tales of crime bosses and the men who run their empires.
Killers of the Flower Moon follows infantry veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he moves to Osage Nation in Oklahoma, where his uncle, “King” Bill Hale (Robert De Niro), owns a cattle ranch. While working as a cab driver, Ernest meets Mollie (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman who lives a comfortable life with her mother. After they marry, members of Mollie’s family begin dying—but they’re not the only ones. And as Mollie becomes more and more concerned about the mysterious deaths in her community, the FBI arrives to investigate.
Adapted from the true crime bestseller by David Grann, this slow-burning epic follows Ernest as he finds himself getting more and more caught up in his uncle’s manipulation and greed. It’s an extremely long film—and you’ll definitely feel that lengthy runtime—but the characters make it a captivating one.
Throughout his remarkable career, Robert De Niro has played a whole lot of crime bosses—but none like this one. On the surface, he’s just a grandfatherly rancher—a caring and generous outsider who makes a point of caring for this native friends. He even speaks their language and makes a great show of being a part of their community. He stays out of their oil business because he says it’s safer—but no one is safe around this quietly greedy man, who manipulates the simple-minded small-time crooks around him to get what he wants. That leaves men like weak and generally lazy Ernest to do his bidding, manipulated into service by his own loyalty and by the promise of the power and riches to come.
While De Niro and DiCaprio make a powerful pair, though, this film is Lily Gladstone’s. Her quiet and understated performance as serene and dignified yet steadfast Mollie Burkhart gives the film its true power. And her character is the grounding force in this true tale of the crimes that were almost allowed to go unnoticed.
Admittedly, the relaxed pacing and inflated runtime means that Killers of the Flower Moon isn’t exactly an easy film to sit through. But these fascinating characters tell a powerful story that’s worth the time—even if you need to wait for the streaming release, so you can pause it for bathroom breaks.
Be sure to take an extra bathroom stop on your way in to watch Killers of the Flower Moon when it arrives in theaters on October 20, 2023.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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