Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and is a story of manipulation and betrayal as the settlers exploit the Osage people.
In the film, William Hale (Robert De Niro) is the primary perpetrator of the Osage killings in this movie while Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is his accomplice. Their relationship is unsettling as Ernest follows his uncle's orders out of respect and fear in equal measures.
The pair are both prejudiced in the language that they use to speak about the Osage people, yet Burkhart marries Mollie (Lily Gladstone). Lily Gladstone delivers a captivating performance with her portrayal of grief, isolation and fear. She is the character the audience will be rooting for and filled with concern for.
In the end, Burkhart's entitlement and underlying belief that the settlers are more deserving of the oil wealth comes at the expense of human life. Mollie's family members are removed from the picture one by one.
The characters in Killers of the Flower Moon speak openly about their plans and desires, violently and relentlessly pursuing them.
The cinematography, the dialogue, the acting and even the silences felt important. The imagery becomes increasingly vivid and violent as the suspense heightens while the silences gave us time to let everything sink in and anticipate what might happen next.
Every minute in this movie of three and a half hours of running time seemed to matter. Given the subject matter, it is not a story that you would want to cut short.
The dark history involving the removal of indigenous people from their own land is widespread. The idea of manifest destiny was essentially the settler belief that they were divinely ordained to make North America their own.
The idea of manifest destiny is a concept that I first heard about at university, which seems like a very long time to wait to learn about such an important part of history.
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