‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Review - Is this the pinnacle of Scorsese's career?

Photo Courtesy: Paramount Pictures & Apple Originals

Released to cinemas on the 20th of October, Martin Scorsese’s latest project explores the innate proclivities of the modern man from the inside out, through the thin guise of a Western film set in 1920s Oklahoma.

Aside from the general aesthetics and the expected shoot-‘em-up drama of cowboy hat-bedecked men riding horses, the film does little more to fit in with the wild western genre. Over the course of three and a half hours, Scorsese spins us the nearly forgotten tale of the murders of at least two dozen people of the Osage Nation from 1921 to 1926. The film follows the actions of Ernest Burkhart (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio) and other collaborators as they committed and aided in the contract killings of the Osage victims, for the benefit of themselves and criminal mastermind William King Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale and others intended to gain control of oil money belonging to the family of Mollie Burkhart, the wife of Ernest Burkhart (portrayed by Lily Gladstone).

Sitting opposite the glaringly bright screen, I witnessed Scorsese’s exploration of corruption, greed, exploitation, and entitlement. Scorsese’s instinct to include these themes, which he has spent much of his career divulging, turns what could have been left as a classic whodunnit murder mystery film into something of much greater impact and significance, especially for the Osage people. As with many films, it was the final scene that forced me to reflect upon and interpret Scorsese’s messages.

In the closing sequence, the audience is met with various characters standing around a bright red recording studio. They retell the story using props for sound effects, exaggerating their voices to capture the audience’s attention and profit from their morbid intrigue. Then Scorsese himself appears onscreen and solemnly tells us the fate of Mollie Burkhart and of those who wished to do her and her family harm. His proclamation is straightforward and clear, lacking the hyperbole that the others onscreen had used in their deliveries of the story. This distinction in performance, drawing attention to the glorification of the tragedy, made me reflect upon my own and others’ motivations for viewing the film: to be entertained or distracted, for the most part. Perhaps, I thought, this sincere speech was curated by Scorsese so that we could realise that the unveiling of the truth was the very thing that brought Hale and Burkhart’s conspiracy to an end. In a way, Scorsese’s creation of the film could be viewed as an analogy for what he thinks is necessary for us to do in order to unravel corruption in our contemporary time; allowing ourselves to be entertained and distracted by this dark aspect of humanity is what enables it to fester.

Unfortunately for many Native American communities, this is not the only instance of violence and exploitation that has occurred in an attempt to benefit non-native people outside of their community, as reported by the Guardian. In making more of Western society aware of this significant event in America’s history, Scorsese provides viewers with the means to further educate themselves on these instances of exploitation and to reflect upon their position if they only witness it and do nothing to contest it.