A Symphony of Tragedy: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Martin Scorsese’s “snapshot of the human struggle” is a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions that is a masterpiece. It’s a piece of art that can be revisited and appreciated like the finest piece of classical music or jazz masterwork.
During an online global press conference, legendary director Martin Scorsese said he often structures his films like musical arrangements. According to him, his latest work of art, Killers of the Flower Moon, is like a bolero - it has a slow build of tension and drama until it reaches an earth-shattering crescendo. Indeed, the movie hits dissonant and harmonious notes throughout, with the story ultimately descending to explore man's dark heart. At the root of evil in the story are the machinations of capitalism and mammon as conveyed in the relationship between simple and greedy Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and solid-as-a-rock Osage Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone).
Based on David Grann's 2017 novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the 3 hours and 26 minutes movie transports us to 1921 Oklahoma, where the Osage people are the richest people on earth per capita because they discovered "black gold," oil. They gravitate towards a European aesthetic, from wearing flapper attire to flaunting opulent jewelry. Robert DeNiro's William Hale has lived amongst them for a while, so long that his self-appointed nickname is "King."
When his nephew Ernest arrives, fresh from WWI military duty, he tells him an abridged version of what's happening in the area and gives him a job as a driver. DiCaprio's Ernest could be Karl Childers' (Sling Blade) cousin, with his lower jaw that slightly juts out and his dense reactions. When Ernest starts driving wealthy Mollie around, they immediately have chemistry. When Lily Gladstone is on screen, she's like a balm, her presence calm and soothing. Scorsese has said that she's the "heart" of the story and what grounds it and she does indeed anchor whatever scenes she's in. She has the traits of a silent film actress, able to reflect the world in her eyes or expression. Mollie and Ernest fall in love and get married. However, the string of deaths amongst the Osage continues to grow, to the point where Mollie can no longer ignore it and decides to take matters into her own hands.
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Scorsese and his team met with the Osage before filming began. He wanted to make sure the film was "authentic" and "respectful" to the once mighty Osage nation. Every frame of the film has the finest attention to detail. In one scene, Hale tells Ernest that he's a 32nd Degree Mason as he stands on a checkerboard floor administering punishment to Ernest. This scene portrays white men as followers of tradition too, and though they're dressed in refined European clothes, they're just as primal, if not more so, than the Native Americans.
Scorsese recently spoke about his journey of working on Killers of the Flower Moon during an online global press conference:
On Respecting the Osage
Since the 70s, I’ve wondered how we could truthfully tell the story of what Native Americans' situation was and is. When I read this book, I knew this would be the story to tell and I knew we had to get involved with the Osage people. I wanted to play with their world of mystical realism in contrast to the white European world. However, the book’s subtitle is “The Birth of the FBI.” Eric Roth and I felt we took the story of the FBI as far as we could. I wanted to balance with the Osage and they became a bigger part of the story. This was supplemented by when we met with the Osage. My first meeting was with Chief Standing Bear and his group. It wasn’t what I expected. We didn’t want to fall into cliches with our story. Once we made the romance the center of the story, the story shifted from a whodunit to who didn’t do it.
On Filming in Oklahoma
I’m a New Yorker, I’m very urban. But those prairies in Oklahoma open your mind and your heart. Wild horses out to pasture for life, bison. It was idyllic. I was like, ‘Where can I put the camera?’ Should it be 1:85 or 2:35? It had to be 2:35. I began to realize that the land itself could be sinister. When you don’t see people for miles, you could do anything. I wanted to capture the very nature of the cancer that creates an easygoing genocide.
On Filming Lily Gladstone
I originally met her via Zoom. I was impressed by her presence and her activism, which wasn’t overtaking the art. The art was in the activism, in a sense. When she and Leo are in the car together and he says, ‘I don’t know what you said but it must have been Indian for handsome devil,’ that was improvised. That showed a connection between the actors. The whole thing about Ernest looking like a Coyote was based on Native American lore similar to Aesop’s Fables.
On Working with Leonardo DiCaprio and Rober DeNiro
DeNiro and I have been friends since we were teenagers. He’s the only one who knows where I come from. We had a real testing ground in the 70s and we found that we trusted each other. He told me he worked with this kid Leo DiCaprio in This Boy’s Life and casually recommended him. We did Gangs of New York. At the end of The Aviator, we really clicked. That led to The Departed. Even though there’s a thirty-year age difference, we have similar sensibilities. There’s trust with him as well.
On Evolution of Process
The film is like an organism. What you have to do is ultimately find peace with style and I’ve done that.
At the same time the Osage were being silently killed, the Black community in Tulsa was physically and economically massacred. One can only wonder what would have happened if these two communities had bonded together. Scorsese’s “snapshot of the human struggle” is a kaleidoscope of colors and emotions that is a masterpiece. It’s a piece of art that can be revisited and appreciated like the finest piece of classical music or jazz masterwork.
The Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures release hits theaters, including IMAX, on October 20, 2023.
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Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
