Up until recently, you must be hearing news about European countries tightening their rules of immigration to stop further influx of unwanted races getting mixed with their population. You must know that these Europeans were in fact the first immigrants the world has seen. When Christopher Columbus discovered America in lust of finding India, the native Americans were ludicrously called as Indians. The struggle started when the immigrant white Europeans found that the American land too offers the same rich resources, flora, and fauna as they would have gotten from India. Then began a series of hatred, neglection, and racism. The story of Osage murders is, however, based on extreme hatred and greed. This wild west story is in fact the bloodiest in American crime history.
The movie Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the 2017 nonfiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI written by an American journalist, David Grann. And, Martin Scorsese’s approach to the filmmaking is commendable. Many critics argued that this should have been a murder mystery thriller to which Martin Scorsese’s reply was apt and is vividly clear in his way of storytelling. This entire drama thriller package leaves you feeling disgusted and irritated by the end credits. You see the true impact of storytelling is in the way the story is narrated to us. And, Martin Scorsese is fully aware of what genre suits his movies best. The package could be a drama thriller that dissolves within you like a slow poison.
If you have watched his 2016 crime-drama thriller Silence starring Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson, you would notice a pattern. For both these gems, he was the writer, director, and producer. There’s a scene in the climax where Leonardo DiCaprio schools Robert De Niro about the tragedy he has caused in Osage county. You’ll notice a very similar scene in the movie Silence where Liam Neeson teaches Andrew Garfield to practice his faith in silence only. Both these scenes are the crux of the storytelling and beautifully describes the premise. The reason why I’m bringing this comparison is because neither in the case of erroneous and infectious spread of catholicism nor in the case of Osage murders, the world ever realized the tyranny of the affected people or community. There wasn’t much punishment given to the priests at that time nor to the killers of the flower moon. All of them just managed to get on with their lives with little or mild punishment. This is in fact the important message I feel that the audience needs to realize. Robert De Niro’s acting showcasing the attitude of no remorse or regret is something unique and crucial to the storytelling.
The only weird angle you might notice is when Mollie Burkhart (played by Lily Gladstone) continues to be with her husband Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) despite the fact that he had been an accomplice in the planned murders of her entire family. You can treat it as a side effect of the heavy dosage of drugs that Ernest was injecting to her bloodstream. It becomes more absurd in the next few scenes or by the end when Mollie finally leaves her husband realizing that her husband was the one drugging her all along and keeping her sick. That’s kind of a weird love in modern times but maybe it was okay back then.
Overall, the movie does a great job in portraying the absurdity of the scenario behind the Osage murders. So, even if you feel tired of watching this three hour long saga, I would still recommend it. Maybe, you can dissect the movie in a mini-series consisting of four episodes like I did and enjoy the unique storytelling.