Static Live December 2023

THE MOVIE REVIEW
BY PAUL MARINO*
DIRECTOR: MARTIN SCORSESE
The long anticipated wait for Martin Scorsese's new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, is over. It's his first non-documentary feature film since
2019's The Irishman. But unlike The Irishman, it's not 2 hours and 29 minutes long. It's three minutes shorter. But this film, again unlike The
Irishman, feels much closer to 2 hours, maybe 2¼ hours long. Although the Oscar season is just beginning, Killers has 93 Rotten Tomatoes and
is getting major Oscar buzz for: Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor; Scorsese for Director, as well as for co-writer of the Adapted Screenplay along
with Eric Roth who has 6 such nominations already, one of which, Forrest Gump, took the Award; Robert De Niro for Supporting Actor; Lily
Gladstone for Supporting Actress; possibly former The Band guitarist and vocalist Robbie Robertson's Original Score; and potentially a number of
the other nominations (Cinematography, Production Design, Make-Up & Hair Styling, Costume Design). The film is dedicated to Robbie's memory.
He died of prostate cancer at the age of 80 on August 9th, 28 years to the day after his good friend Jerry Garcia died
Atrocities against Native Americans are, sadly, the foundation on which this country was made, beginning with the genocide of some 8 million by
the Spanish conquistadors. Just 47 years after we won the Revolutionary War, our Seventh President, Andrew Jackson, signed the Indian Removal
Act of 1830. The result was the mass exodus of tens of thousands of Native Americans who became refugees, and countless additional deaths. He
rose to power based on his reputation as a general of the people – THE WHITE PEOPLE. He led the American Army in the First Seminole War and
was President during the first two years of the Second Seminole War. And as we all know, Native Americans were eventually relocated from
across all of the entirely of the United States to reservations, where they mainly now exist, albeit some with wealth. Such is the case in Killers of
the Flower Moon.
Following World War I, Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) goes to live with his Uncle William “King” Hale (De Niro) on his cattle ranch on the Osage
Reservation in Oklahoma. Oil was recently found on the Reservation and the Osage have been living it up, buying cars and photographs and hiring
chauffeurs. King wants Ernest to follow in the footsteps of the white men of the area, courting and marrying the young Osage women to get their
money. He sets Ernest up as Mollie Kyle's (Gladstone) chauffeur. Coincidentally, while the white men are marrying the Osage, many of the tribe,
men and women alike, are being killed...murdered in cold blood for their oil money. Others, including Millie's youngest sister Minnie (Jillian Dion),
are dying of unknown illnesses. The local authorities won't even investigate the deaths, at least not legitimately, so the Osage send a delegation
that includes Millie to Washington to lobby President Coolidge to send federal authorities, and Bureau of Investigations Agent White (Jesse
Piemons) is assigned to the case.
The title of the film is a combination of the murders and an incredible yearly event whereby thousands of wildflowers bloom seemingly overnight
across the entire region. The Osage call it The Flower Moon. It's joyous and beautiful and spiritually in tune with nature, just like the Osage
themselves. By contrast, the Killers are heinous and ugly and greedy thieves who would destroy the planet to line their pockets. Killers of the
Flower Moon has an interesting Epilogue Scene. Scorsese chooses an aerial view of a modern-day Osage tribal dance, showing that they are still
living and thriving on the reservation, as they have for centuries. This is one of the best films of an already great year in cinema; a 4 Star MUST
SEE masterpiece. One of Leonardo & De Niro's finest performances, and one of Scorsese's best. See you next month!
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