I have had my ups and downs with Martin Scorsese’s work over the years, having been mesmerized by “Goodfellas,” “The King of Comedy” and “Taxi Driver,” while finding “Casino” tiresome and “Cape Fear” kind of silly. The most recent big picture by Scorsese I saw, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” felt needlessly long.
But after watching the Academy Awards earlier this month, I decided to mobilize myself for Scorsese’s latest saga, which garnered 10 nominations, but didn’t win any prizes. I was drawn to the chance for a fresh look at the US’ awful legacy with Native Americans, a subject I’m not as well versed in as I’d like. I’m glad to have persevered through “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which made an indelible impression even streamed at home.
The plot has parallels to “Goodfellas” in that it follows the Leonardo DiCaprio Ernest character as he enters a twisted world presided over by Robert DeNiro’s William Hale, adapts his behavior and soon loses his moral center, much as the Ray Liotta character became trapped in the world of the Mob. The body count in “Goodfellas” served as a reminder of a surrounding darkness, even as the humor and lithe camera movements offset that spirit to an extent.
In “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Scorsese intersperses his narrative line with occasional black and white images evocative of yesteryear, reminding the audience that what they are seeing unfold is part of a bigger troubled history. The depravity in “Flower Moon” is at a different level than in the earlier Scorsese masterpiece, as you see DiCaprio and DeNiro’s characters conspire to kill Mollie’s (Lily Gladstone) Osage sisters, isolating DiCaprio’s wife and making her further dependent in illness on a husband with dubious intentions.
The movie, which clocks in at about three and a half hours, isn’t boring. But it is a lot to take in.1 As a director, Scorsese tends to work long, not always to his movies’ benefit; here, the ponderous pacing of “Flower Moon” feels necessary to reveal the characters in their evolving circumstance and amplify the anxiety of central figures as they endure hellish moments of uncertainty, doubt and regret.
At 81, Scorsese has said that he recognizes he only has limited time left to tell the stories he needs to tell. He has described “Flower Moon” as an examination of the evils that emanate from white supremacy, a sadly evergreen topic in the United States and beyond. After “Goodfellas” and “Casino,” I skipped “The Departed” and “The Irishman,” presuming that Scorsese seemed to be rehashing the mob yarn out of habit; perhaps that was a silly assumption on my part. “Flower Moon” is cut from a similar cloth to a mob film, but imbued with a deep moral purpose. Having steeped himself in the mores of a grim underworld from the earlier works, Scorcese has produced a truly disturbing picture; this is a universe so thoroughly corrupted by greed and malevolence, that the justice meted out by the late-arriving Feds feels like less of a victory than a pause in the descent.
Pictures are from Flickr
I found this short piece in Slate helpful in highlighting some important elements I missed. https://slate.com/culture/2024/02/killers-of-the-flower-moon-robert-de-niro-oscars-2024.html