Moonflower Killers: Scorsese’s Amazing (and Long) Comeback – Life

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” or originally “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is an epic Western set in the 1920s. It is based on real events and is an adaptation. The book of the same name Nonfiction book by David Grann (New Yorker journalist and author of The Lost City of Z, among others). It is a story of crime, greed and betrayal, and reflects the ambition of those who already have everything, but always want more – and who are not looking for ways to increase their wealth.

The film, like the book it inspires, at least follows the trajectory of the murders 60 members of the Osage Nation. Some were shot, others were poisoned, and others were beaten. And those who tried to find answers and investigate the cases also ended up disappearing.

Important context: The richest people per capita in the world at this point in the 20th century did not live in New York or Paris. He lived in Oklahoma, USA, and was a member of the Osage Indian tribe. Nearly 2,000 Osage people, overnight, found themselves mired in a pool of wealth after discovering a vast deposit of oil beneath their land – land that had been allocated to them when they were displaced from their original lands.

Without explanations or anyone to help them, the Osage turned to the newly created Bureau of Investigation (BI). What David Grann’s book reveals, in addition to the fact that oil was infiltrated into British intelligence itself and even into the White House, is that this case led to the creation of the modern FBI.

In the movie, Scorsese doesn’t focus on the investigation part as much as David Grann does in the book. The director uses a team of Native American consultants to portray this period in the most accurate way possible. The director tells us the story of the murders through the romantic relationship between Molly Kyle (Lily Gladstone), one of four sisters from a millionaire Osage family, and Ernest Burckhardt (Leonardo DiCaprio). , a white man recently returned from World War I. There’s also William Hale (Robert De Niro), a man who owns several heads of cattle, controls another string of businesses in town, and maintains close ties to the Osage (he even speaks their language). Hale gains a dimension to the plot because he is also Ernest’s uncle.

One of the most talked-about aspects of Scorsese’s version of “Killers of the Flower Moon” is its length: three and a half hours. “I think we should not be afraid to say that the film could be 30 minutes shorter,” João Denis says in our podcast, although he explains that he was not bored and did not look at his cell phone while watching. However, he believes that “we can tell the same story in less than 30 or 45 minutes.” Especially since the pace during the three hours is “slow.”

However, do not think that the general opinion about the film is bad or that its parts are only less good. on the contrary. “The first and last 15 minutes are amazing,” says Miguel Magalhaes. “The first fifteen because of the pacing and the way the context is presented. For anyone who has no idea what the Native American reality is and what this Native American thing is and where it’s located, whether you’re in the United States or Indonesia, you understand in the first fifteen minutes what’s going on in the story,” she said. The same can’t be said for Oppenheimer, he says, praising the way Scorsese also managed to wrap up the story.

As for the performances, DiCaprio’s tenacity has been praised on the verge of turning 50 (“I don’t remember him playing a ridiculous character, you don’t remember it being him, he’s amazing”) and the Native American cast, in particular. The women of the Kyle family. As for De Niro, his opinion agrees with what is read online: “He only seems to make an effort when it’s for Scorsese.”

we Final creditsthe title of recommendations from I think you will like thisThere was talk about the movie “The Reptiles” (Netflix); TIMBRE, the new album by Salvador Sobral; Chemistry Lessons (Apple TV+) and Disney’s 100 Years.