Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023)

This is a real horror film, all the worse because it is what really happened, and why. When the Osage discovered oil on their land, which they were 100% entitled to benefit from, white men conspired to not only swindle them out of their wealth, but also time and time again they killed them. The film maker is Marin Scorsese, and he has always been a master at telling a story, and the grimmer the story the better he is at telling it. He is not widely known for doing so concisely, but he does it well. The 3 ½-hour story of how white power brokers of the early 20th century reacted to the discovery of oil on the land of the Osage Native Americans touches on themes Scorsese has explored from the beginning: greed, murder, and the rewriting of history. Robert DeNiro is phenomenal as he manages to craft the portrait of a businessman who exudes a Harry S. Truman-sort of friendliness — while plotting to steal every possible penny from the Osage, no matter what the cost, up to and including killing off all the heirs. As his naïve but willing nephew, Leonardo DiCaprio gives a nuanced performance, even assimilating DeNiro’s trademark upside-down, sinister smile. Best of all is Lily Gladstone as DiCaprio’s proud, strong-willed Osage wife, although neither the movie nor the book really address what the attraction is for the Osage in all of this. A strange and dark period in history and one of the very few times that J. Edgar Hoover comes across as the good guy--he sends in the FBI to investigate when all the good old boys in local law enforcement are looking the other way to murder and mayhem on their turf.