7. Killers of the Flower Moon 7/10

The real life horrific story that “Killers of the Flower Moon” is based on is truly heartbreaking to learn about. This movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, shines a light on the series of Osage Murders that took place in the 1920’s in Oklahoma. This is a story that deserves mainstream recognition for the public to see the horrors the Osage people had to go through. From a film standpoint, I feel this film’s runtime drags the story from being the epic western crime film it wants to be. As a result of the long runtime, the storyline is longer than it needs to be and it makes me lose interest in the film. Even with these criticisms, there is still a lot to praise about this film. The performances in this film are truly spectacular. Robert De Niro plays the despicable William King Hale who is such an evil person, it is amazing the heights De Niro takes this role to show the true horrors of what greed, entitlement and privilege can do to a person. Leonardo DiCaprio does a fine job here as well, portraying Ernest Buckhart with the right balance of the ‘nice guy’ persona he appears to be, to the monster he truly is deep inside cripples out throughout the entire movie and it is truly fascinating to see how it all unfolds. The standout performance by far is Lily Gladstone, who portrays Mollie Buckhart with so much heart and nuance, it pains you as a viewer to see what happens to her and her family, without her knowledge. The cinematography and score on this film are truly incredible, elevating this film to showcase the horror of this entire situation playing out in the film. Overall, this film is of great importance as it highlights the high amount of silencing crimes that have been committed against Indigenous peoples for centuries. It is a story that deserved a shot in the spotlight and I am glad it did, but ultimately the runtime of this movie drastically drags this film down from being the masterpiece it could have been.