On Memorial Day 1921, the Tulsa race massacre saw tons of African Americans killed at the hands of white supremacists. That incident is referenced in this epic film from director and co-writer Martin Scorsese, and in a lot of ways is in conversation with that horrific piece of USA history. HBO's Watchmen (2019) was the first example in mainstream media or even Hollywood entertainment to address that 1921 incident. Damon Lindelof who created Watchmen did a lot to catapult that piece of Black history into the national consciousness in a way that wasn't before and that certainly isn't taught in schools.
Scorsese's film is also about a piece of USA history that occurred around the same time as the Tulsa race massacre that also involved the killings of people of color, as well as their outright exploitation. This film substitutes African Americans for Native Americans, and, hopefully, this film will have the same effect as Watchmen in terms of elevating the conversation around Indigenous people, along with this specific series of events in the 1920's, which most people only associate as the "Roaring Twenties" or as this booming Jazz Age.
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street and Titanic) stars as Ernest Burkhart, a veteran of World War I, an infantry cook who was discharged after a stomach injury. After the war, he goes to live with his uncle and his brother. They have a cattle ranch in Fairfax, Oklahoma. That ranch is inside the Osage Reservation, which is the Native American land just north of Tulsa. Ernest is not very smart. He's not well educated and is barely literate, which probably explains why he's taken under the control of his uncle and brother so easily.
Robert De Niro (The Irishman and Raging Bull) co-stars as William King Hale, a cattle rancher who also works as a deputy sheriff in Fairfax. He's very much ingratiated himself in the Osage nation. He's basically befriended many of the Indigenous people there. It becomes clear that he's done so not simply because the Osage is a beautiful people but also because the Osage is probably the wealthiest tribe in the area. Hale wants to exploit that wealth. He's the opposite of his nephew, Ernest, in that Hale is very educated. He's in fact learned to speak the Osage language, and he'll use his smarts to manipulate and get what he wants.
At one point, Ernest is called a snake, but if Ernest is a snake, then Hale is a snake oil salesman. Hale's vibe is one of a man trying to convince you of something that isn't real. A plot in the film literally involves that. He's the embodiment of hypocrisy. He's more greasy than the oil he covets, or he gives off the air of a false preacher. He's very charming, as a cover to how insidious he is to the Osage.
Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs and Billions) also co-stars as Mollie, the Osage woman who falls in love with Ernest. She's a beautiful woman who is stunning and strong in her own right, but that's not the whole reason why Ernest wants to marry her. What is learned early is that the Osage discovered their land had oil and large amounts, which is what made them rich. The Osage has what's called "head-rights," which entitles the people to allotment checks, as well as land inheritance. Mollie, her mother and her sisters have these head-rights.
What Hale schemes is a plan for Ernest to marry Mollie and then kill off all the others in her family, so that he and Ernest will control those head-rights themselves and thus have all the money and wealth that comes with it. It's implied that Hale isn't the first person to concoct this deadly scam. It's also depicted that it's not his only deadly scam. Hale also has other ways of exploiting the Osage without their knowledge.
This film is constructed similarly to other Scorsese films, particularly his gangster flicks or other crime dramas. It's told from the point-of-view of the criminals. There is no mystery here. We know who the villains are and we are in fact following them. The point is to show how these criminals got away or perpetrated their crimes, the brazenness, the boldness and the barbarism. I don't know if anyone will criticize this film as they did The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) of glamorizing these crimes. The crimes, particularly the murders, are depicted so matter-of-fact, often from wide-shots and often without musical score. What's haunting here is the quiet. There was a score by Robbie Robertson, but it felt like the most quiet film Scorsese has ever done, even more than his film Silence (2016).
What perhaps can be criticized is the balance over the white characters and the Osage characters. The film is based on a book. Reportedly, that book focused on the federal investigation of Hale's crimes. Yet, Scorsese changed the narrative, according to reports, to emphasize more of the Osage characters. Those characters are and should be Mollie's family, her mother and her sisters, the intended victims. With the exception of Mollie's sister, Anna, played by Cara Jade Myers, those family members remain as mostly sketches and not as fleshed out as they could have been, but Myers' performance is enough to make Anna a memorable and distinct character. We know that she likes to drink. She packs a gun and she can be really horny. However, when it comes to Mollie, we don't get much fleshing out. The only thing we learn is that she's diabetic, but we only learn that because it's a pivotal plot point. Otherwise, she's a bit of a blank slate. Also, she's not much of an active character. She's mostly there to be the suffering wife.
The major focus is on the relationship between Ernest and Hale. This makes sense. DiCaprio and De Niro are the Oscar-winning actors who are the big celebrity draws. Their character arcs of wanting money and power, as well as the greed and desperation that bring them down are interesting. Watching DiCaprio play an incompetent gangster who gets tangled up with other incompetent gangsters is entertaining and is certainly in Scorsese's wheelhouse. Yet, I would've preferred Scorsese step more away from his wheelhouse and focus more on the Osage women. I would've loved Scorsese's version of George Stevens' Giant (1956) with Lily Gladstone in the Elizabeth Taylor role. It seemed instead that Scorsese was just as influenced by Alice Diop's Saint Omer (2023).
The epilogue though was very cleverly done. Most films would've put up title cards. Scorsese instead stages a radio play to convey that information in something that felt ripped from A Prairie Home Companion (2006). Of the cast, I'd love to see more of Gladstone, but also William Belleau who plays Henry Roan, Mollie's first husband, and Tatanka Means who plays John Wren, a Native American, federal agent.
Rated R for language, violence and some grisly images.
Running Time: 3 hrs. and 26 mins.
In theaters.