Peter Howell: Martin Scorsese’s crime epic ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ premieres to raves at Cannes

Killers of the Flower Moon

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow. Written by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Reviewed at the Cannes Film Festival; October theatrical release. 206 minutes. STC

CANNES, France—The rapacious “wolves” don’t need to hide in Martin Scorsese’s new crime epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which just world-premiered to much applause at the Cannes Film Festival.

Everybody knows the wolves are out there. You can spot them in their three-piece suits or just about any garb favoured by white men, especially the greedy male occupants of Fairfax, Oklahoma, the 1920s boom town where “Killers” is situated.

By fraud, marriage or murder, whichever is faster, the curs are out to get their claws and paws on “Osage money.” That’s the abundant cash amassed by members of the nearby Osage Nation through a stroke of good fortune. The scrubland they were exiled to, in what seemed at first to be another bad deal the U.S. government made with Indigenous inhabitants, turned out to be awash in precious oil.

The Osage people suddenly have the most wealth per capita on Earth and they’re as eager to spend it as the whites are to take it, often at gunpoint or through other violent means.

The scene is set for another great yarn from Scorsese, whose fascination with American history, crime and easy money has been demonstrated for decades in films like “Goodfellas,” “The Irishman” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Sprawling across the screen for 206 minutes, “Killers” tests our patience but more than earns its keep as a prestige film sure to figure prominently in the next Oscar race. The film is as gorgeous to look at and listen to as it is distressing to contemplate. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto supplies the fluid images and rocker Robbie Robertson handles the percussive score.

“Killers” brings together for the first time in a Scorsese film Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, two of the director’s favourite actors. Both are at the top of their game and are sure to be remembered at awards time.

The movie also boasts the golden presence of Lily Gladstone and Canada’s Tattoo Cardinal, who play two of the many Osage characters drawn from tragic real life.

Somewhere between dozens and hundreds of Osage people were shot, bombed or poisoned before the U.S. government finally stepped in to stop the crime wave, via agents of J. Edgar Hoover’s nascent FBI. Scorsese and his co-screenwriter Eric Roth adapted the script from David Grann’s award-winning 2017 book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.”

What makes the film particularly tragic is the transparency of evil intentions it presents. Only the most token and insincere respect is paid to the Osage, a deeply spiritual tribe, because most of the whites plainly don’t consider them worthy of basic humanity. Osage money is handled by white “guardians” and justice is a joke. As someone says, “You’ve got a better chance of convicting a guy for kicking a dog than killing an Indian.”

Unlike the book, which unfolds as a mystery the FBI needs to solve, the film unmasks its villains right from the get-go. The alpha male wolf of the Fairfax pack is De Niro’s Bill Hale, a bespectacled cattle rancher who goes by the titles of Uncle, Reverend or King. He prefers the latter moniker since he knows all and sees all.

Hale considers himself a true friend of the Osage — he’s even learned their language — yet he’s the mastermind behind many of the evil schemes against them.

One such plan involves his dim-witted nephew, Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), a newly returned overseas war veteran who aims to get himself some of that Osage moolah. He woos and marries Mollie (Gladstone), one of the four daughters of Lizzie (Cardinal), a matriarch who knows exactly what the whites want from her daughters.

Mollie does, too — she calls Ernest a “coyote” — but she also believes he loves her, which maybe he does. DiCaprio has taken on a real challenge with this role, because Ernest has few redeeming qualities, least of all in the looks department. His weathered skin and slicked-down hair make Ernest look a good 10 years older than DiCaprio’s 48 years.

Mollie, on the other hand, is positively radiant, even when fighting the diabetes that threatens to kill her. The complications of her disease make one of the most compelling sub-narratives of the story.

FBI investigators don’t arrive until the two-hour mark in the film. They’re led by Tom White (Jesse Plemons), a former Texas Ranger who has been personally selected for the job by Hoover. (White has a much greater presence in the book.) Scorsese and Roth wisely decided that the Osage deserved the spotlight more than the FBI.

This is a story of historic injustice and inhumanity, resonating with current wrongs, that more people need to know about — it’s not just a Wild West fairy tale.

Scorsese tips to that reality with a live radio production, seen near the end of the film, which is set for an October theatrical release. The writer/director himself plays a broadcaster seeking a wider audience for a story many Americans would prefer to forget.