Spoilers ahead!
“Can you find the wolves in this picture?” Yes, I can!! I really enjoyed “Killers of the Flower Moon,” despite its runtime that many are complaining about. The weight of this movie and the statement it makes really qualify the amount of time that it takes up, and I’d recommend everyone see the movie at least once.
It is interesting how much “Killers of the Flower Moon” harkens back to other Scorsese movies—glimmers of “GoodFellas” come through very often in scenes such as King Hale’s murder of all of his former henchmen and Ernest’s testimony against his former friend and uncle, Hale.
I found Hale to be very similar to Jimmy Conway and Ernest to be very similar to Henry Hill—Hale is sort of like a father figure to Ernest, yet uses him for his own gain, similar to the relationship between Conway and Hill. Later, Hale attempts to have Ernest killed once he poses a threat to his quest to steal the Osage’s money. A very similar scenario happens in between Conway and Hill in “GoodFellas” when Conway tries to send Hill to Florida for “a job.” I also saw glimmers of “The Irishman” in Ernest’s betrayal of Molly—just like Frank Sheeran, Ernest murders those who are close to his family and comes home at night completely unaffected. In “The Irishman,” Peggy suspects that her father, Frank Sheeran, killed her close friend and father figure Jimmy Hoffa, which destroys their relationship beyond repair. In “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Molly has to face the fact that her husband Ernest was responsible for the brutal murders of her siblings.
I really liked the usage of color in this movie, especially early on. “The Irishman” is a very beautiful movie with color in flashes, but I feel like this movie really goes all the way to emphasize color. Many of the movie’s frames look just like paintings. “Killers of the Flower Moon” also didn’t seem to drag as much as “The Irishman”—both are very long movies, but I can’t pinpoint a scene or part of “Killers of the Flower Moon” that I can say “this should have been cut” or “this part really drags.” Louis Cancelmi’s character really reminded me of David Byrne in “Stop Making Sense,” especially when he was dancing at the party or wearing the huge cowboy hat like Byrne in his movie “True Stories.”
As expected, all of the actors were amazing. I hope Lily Gladstone gets more big roles in the future. “Killers of the Flower Moon” clearly proves that she is beyond capable. Many well-known actors make cameos in bit parts—John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser riding the wave of his resurgence… Ernest as a character I find really very interesting and I’ll have to watch the movie a few more times to try and fully understand what’s going on in his head. I felt that he spent most of the movie as “only a pawn in their game,” a sad stooge manipulated by his uncle to exploit the Osage people and his wife as white colonizers do. I’m glad they didn’t rely on a white savior narrative, something that would probably be almost impossible because white saviors have never actually “saved” Native Americans in any way. There is also a profound sadness to this movie, which I feel reflects the outcome of Native American oppression at the hands of white people and the U.S. government. There is no happy ending for the Osage in this movie, only for those who stole their land and exploited their wealth. This is also what makes the ending of the movie so powerful—the conclusion of the Osage’s story has been reduced to a short, sound effect filled segment of a radio show created to sell cigarettes. As Scorsese reads from the obituary, “There was no mention of the murders.”
I’ll definitely be watching this movie again, whenever I have a three and a half hour gap in my schedule.
