Killers of the Flower Moon           5 stars

In the year when the movie Oppenheimer was making headlines as an epic masterpiece telling an important piece of American history, there was another equally epic movie that told of a long forgotten, shameful part of our history. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon tackles the subject of Davd Grann’s true crime book of the same name, bringing this tale of greed and genocide and the ensuing federal investigation to the big screen. The subject of the film is the mysterious deaths that plagued the Osage Indians in 1920’s Oklahoma after the tribe became wealthy following the discovery of oil on their land. Their good fortune attracted the attention of whites moving to the area and what followed can be described as a systematic murder of these beautiful people. Only, Scorsese tells this story on a personal level. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio in what may be his best performance) returns from World War I and needs to find work. Ernest is none too bright and loves money and whiskey. He is prone to being manipulated, which is an attractive trait to Ernest’s uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale sees himself as a friend to the Osage people, calling himself King. He sees an opportunity and encourages Ernest to become acquainted with a young Osage woman, Mollie (Lily Gladstone). If they get married, then Ernest will become heir to Molly’s oil money should something happen to her. The two do get married and have children. Similar schemes are carried out throughout the region that include many mysterious deaths of the Osage people. Some of the deaths involve Hale and Ernest revealing the strange thing about Ernest’s character. Simultaneously, he loves his wife but also helps to carry out the murders of her family. Somehow, he is able to justify this in his mind or maybe it is just the control that his uncle holds over him. Whatever it is DiCaprio portrays the character’s confusion brilliantly. But the film really belongs to Gladstone as she makes the audience feel the pain she is going through with each death in her family and her growing mistrust of her husband. Her subtle expressions convey her feelings with a simple look or glance at Ernest. She certainly deserved the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The latter part of the movie covers the investigation of the murders, also a subject of the book. After seeing the film, one wonders how this scheme could have gone on for so long. It is a real American tragedy that should not be forgotten. I should note that in Scorsese fashion this movie is nearly three and a half hours long, but I felt that I never lost interest in it.