Hollywood's depiction of oil-rich Indians gets steadily more sinister, from the genial cameos in the silent De Mille Forbidden Paradise, through indigenous custodian Pedro Armendariz in the 1947 Tulsa, to the exploitations of Giant and the fifties Cimarron. Nothing there to compare with the grimness of the new Killers of the Flower Moon, a real downer this one.
Martin Scorsese, approaching the end of one of the movies' most impressive careers, takes what he does with a not inappropriate seriousness. It's about ninety minutes before we adjust to the dim color scheme and the initially genial Robert De Nero's plot which the audience is likely to know from the advance publicity. The montage of native American bodies, getting dumped in the mud, pretty much sets the tone, complete with open-air autopsy and grave robbing. There's the motif of sinister looking Europeans pouring from the rail line, becoming part of a menacing winning of the West. We get a mention of the 1921 Tulsa race riots, where blacks are the victims.
At three hours plus, Scorsese fields his two super star regulars at the head of a massive unit. We thought Jack Fisk (Phantom of the Paradise) was dead. Scenes like the striking opening downwards shot of the tree branch roofed lodge are set against the severe Masonic meeting room. It comes as a surprise to find cameraman Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie) representing a later generation.
The Eric Roth and David Grann plot follows the parallel stories of Leonardo di Caprio back from the WW1 trenches, and the Osage Nation, who looked like having the last laugh when the sparse land, they'd been re-settled to, proved to be gushing Texas Tea. They become the richest nation per capita on earth - scene of gleaming black, oil-splattered celebration, which foreshadows the climaxing dance figures outlined in the shimmer of fire.
Attention settles on Bob's nephew De Caprio running a hire car service in the muddy street frontier city, that would have been in character with the De Mille film. Lots of scene-setting, like the main street vintage car race or the vision which has the red-painted spirit warrior come for mother Tantoo Cardinal. This brings Leo into contact with Lily Gladstone, daughter of one of the new rich Osage families, whose share of revenue is growing as her relatives die in mysterious circumstances. Despite her inexperience, Gladstone's authenticity comes through from the "handsome devil" scene they improvised. "Squaw Man", that's something I'd never call another man." The marriage, marginalised children, TB diagnosis and De Caprio's inept setting up De Niro's succession of murders by sub-human henchmen, bribed by a red Buick Roadster insurance scam, are contrasted with the tribal leaders seething with rage at the lack of a recognisable enemy they can fight.
By the time Gladstone gets up from her sickbed to join the tribal delegation to President Hoover, audience sympathies are inflamed and it takes some delicate handling to retain status for De Caprio. A Scorsese festival interview cites the Montgomery Clift character in The Heiress as his model. The game has changed. Time was only the enterprising or the privileged few got to see these. The buzz here is watching quiet-spoken proto F. B. I. Man Jesse Clemmons (Power of the Dog) matching genial De Nero as the grotesque plots unravel. This black comedy carries us into the re-staged True Life Radio Program finale, complete with actors striking up the sponsor's Lucky Strikes and announcer Sorsese having the last word.
One-off films, which give masters of their craft a chance to work on important subjects, are pretty rare now. We ought to value each one.
Martin Scorsese, approaching the end of one of the movies' most impressive careers, takes what he does with a not inappropriate seriousness. It's about ninety minutes before we adjust to the dim color scheme and the initially genial Robert De Nero's plot which the audience is likely to know from the advance publicity. The montage of native American bodies, getting dumped in the mud, pretty much sets the tone, complete with open-air autopsy and grave robbing. There's the motif of sinister looking Europeans pouring from the rail line, becoming part of a menacing winning of the West. We get a mention of the 1921 Tulsa race riots, where blacks are the victims.
At three hours plus, Scorsese fields his two super star regulars at the head of a massive unit. We thought Jack Fisk (Phantom of the Paradise) was dead. Scenes like the striking opening downwards shot of the tree branch roofed lodge are set against the severe Masonic meeting room. It comes as a surprise to find cameraman Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie) representing a later generation.
The Eric Roth and David Grann plot follows the parallel stories of Leonardo di Caprio back from the WW1 trenches, and the Osage Nation, who looked like having the last laugh when the sparse land, they'd been re-settled to, proved to be gushing Texas Tea. They become the richest nation per capita on earth - scene of gleaming black, oil-splattered celebration, which foreshadows the climaxing dance figures outlined in the shimmer of fire.
Attention settles on Bob's nephew De Caprio running a hire car service in the muddy street frontier city, that would have been in character with the De Mille film. Lots of scene-setting, like the main street vintage car race or the vision which has the red-painted spirit warrior come for mother Tantoo Cardinal. This brings Leo into contact with Lily Gladstone, daughter of one of the new rich Osage families, whose share of revenue is growing as her relatives die in mysterious circumstances. Despite her inexperience, Gladstone's authenticity comes through from the "handsome devil" scene they improvised. "Squaw Man", that's something I'd never call another man." The marriage, marginalised children, TB diagnosis and De Caprio's inept setting up De Niro's succession of murders by sub-human henchmen, bribed by a red Buick Roadster insurance scam, are contrasted with the tribal leaders seething with rage at the lack of a recognisable enemy they can fight.
By the time Gladstone gets up from her sickbed to join the tribal delegation to President Hoover, audience sympathies are inflamed and it takes some delicate handling to retain status for De Caprio. A Scorsese festival interview cites the Montgomery Clift character in The Heiress as his model. The game has changed. Time was only the enterprising or the privileged few got to see these. The buzz here is watching quiet-spoken proto F. B. I. Man Jesse Clemmons (Power of the Dog) matching genial De Nero as the grotesque plots unravel. This black comedy carries us into the re-staged True Life Radio Program finale, complete with actors striking up the sponsor's Lucky Strikes and announcer Sorsese having the last word.
One-off films, which give masters of their craft a chance to work on important subjects, are pretty rare now. We ought to value each one.