Silence. In Killers of the Flower Moon, Mollie (a wonderfully understated Lily Gladstone) is silent in most of her scenes. Mollie is the audience to unspeakable atrocities happening around her, and she is forced to remain silent through it all. In fact, the women of Killers of the Flower Moon remain mere spectators to the wrath of power-hungry opportunists who create a trail of death and destruction just to make a quick but lasting buck. There is a wonderful scene when Mollie’s sisters rally around her to point out that Ernest (A terrific Leonardo DiCaprio) is behind her for the money. Without missing a beat, Mollie says, “Of course, I know… but he wants to settle.” This, in a way, is the microcosm of the hope that women of Osage County had in the times the film is set in. It is this hope that devastates them as they become victims of a conspiracy to murder Osage people for their property. Director Martin Scorsese wonderfully weaves a fascinating tale of love, trust, and betrayal around this premise and leaves us emotionally exhausted at the depths of the depravity of mankind.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the book of the same name that spoke about the Osage murders through the lens of a police procedural reflecting the rise of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US. However, Scorsese and writer Eric Roth reimagine this tale as a sublime love story set against the backdrop of unbridled greed and rampant insensitivity. When we first see Ernest, he walks into Osage with a spring in his step and is shown to be someone with no original thought of his own. The long opening scene between him and his uncle William Hale (A measured but scarily effective Robert De Niro) establishes the hierarchy between these two individuals. We understand that Hale is a sweet talker who gives the people what they think they need. The film takes its time to introduce us to the machinations of the principal characters, and the investment is worth it because after the careful pacing of the first two acts, the final act, the police procedural, unfurls in a flurry. We are bombarded with undercover investigations, people turning approvers, a Brendan Fraser cameo, people switching allegiances at the drop of a fedora, and more. All of this is jam-packed into the last hour of this 3.5-hour film, and it leaves us with clear but hurried answers that don’t really augur well for the willing acceptance of the pacing.
In fact, Killers of the Flower Moon is about the individual equations Ernest shares with Mollie and Hale. In a couple of weirdly funny scenes that soon become a tempestuous representation of power dynamics, we see how Hale disciplines an erring Ernest, and the scene comes out of nowhere and knocks the wind out of our sails. Also, Robert DeNiro does a show-stealing masterclass like only DeNiro can do. Such scenes are peppered throughout the narrative and turn up at unexpected but right moments. But the romance at the centre of it all is poignant and both actors, especially Lily whose eyes speak louder than any dialogue she could have said, are excellent in bringing out the contrasting nature of their individual romance. Can the love that starts off as just a transaction stand the test of time? What is the proverbial last straw in a relationship fraught with lies? Does being there when one needs the most negate being the person who put them there in the first place? Killers of the Flower Moon is an excellent exploration of a doomed romance that has both people holding on to a semblance of hope despite surmounting evidence pointing towards its futility.
While it is clear why Ernest wants to settle down with Mollie, it is interesting to see why the latter decides to marry him. She always sees the bright side of Ernest. However, Scorsese ensures we always see him for what he is. Of course, he is painted as a pushover, whose life finds its meaning only with Mollie by his side, but he is no fallen angel either. As the film progresses, we see how Ernest isn’t really as earnest as he believes himself to be, and he can’t really be absolved of his sins just because he turns a new leaf. DiCaprio wonderfully embodies the physicality and mental makeup of the character, and it is fascinating to see him play a weakling who thinks he is a strongman. The film talks about the murders from the eyes of the oppressor instead of the victims. While it can be seen as a skewed representation, Scorsese ensures the focus is always on the crime rather than glorifying the criminals. The filmmaker, who has been making films since the 70s, continues to find newer ways to stage and execute a scene. Take, for instance, a couple of scenes involving the element of fire. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto expertly showcases the distinct nature of these two scenes with framing devices that tell a story on its own. If Prieto tries to tell us a story that wonderfully complements the narrative, composer Robbie Robertson infuses it with a renewed sense of meaning that allows us to fill in the pauses and silences.
It is these silences that are pronounced in the Killers of the Flower Moon. The silences of the women, who accept their fate because the world is structured in a certain way. The silences of the oppressed who are structurally crushed by the earliest examples of the White Saviour Complex. The silences of the criminal accomplices who might not be as bad as the masterminds but are accomplices nonetheless. The fantastic final scene of the film also takes a jibe at the way the present generation sees such true crime stories. It is a brilliant satire that comes from not just wit but experience too. When we see that surprise cameo almost apologetically deliver the last line of the film, we understand the silence that is most crushing. The silence of the generations whose legacies are built on the forgotten stories of the voiceless. And in a uniquely beautiful way, Killers of the Flower Moon, an all-important saga of lust, greed, pride, envy, wrath, and betrayal, just had to be told by one of the best fellas of world cinema… Martin Scorsese.
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