Killers of the Flower Moon Parent Guide

The discovery of oil beneath tribal lands in the early 20^th century produces massive wealth in the Osage Nation – and violence. While the Osage people are entitled to the valuable headrights to the oilfields on their land, those rights are heritable. White men eager to access oil riches soon swarm the community, both as rig workers and as potential spouses to Osage women.

Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is neither – at least, not at first. Following his service as an infantry cook in the Great War, Ernest has come to work for his uncle “King” Bill Hale (Robert De Niro), a wealthy cattle rancher in the area. The job puts him in regular contact with Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a wealthy Osage woman, with whom he falls in love. Hale encourages his nephew to pursue the relationship, but soon he’s encouraging a lot more than a little love: Mollie’s headrights are valuable, but when she inherits the profits generated by her mother and sisters’ claims, she could be one of the wealthiest women in the country. Burkhart, Hale, and some other white residents of Osage County set out to make sure that all that lovely money finds its way into their pockets by any means necessary. Murders have been committed for far smaller sums, and for a sum this large, the body count could get high…

Based on a real-life series of brutal and under-investigated murders in the Osage Nation, Killers of the Flower Moon spirits its audience away for a tension-filled conspiracy in the Great Plains, in a story where love is a liability, and murder for hire is a booming business. While legendary director Martin Scorsese continues to showcase his incredible abilities for visual storytelling, this might not be a film for everyone – and not necessarily for the reasons you’d expect. Scorsese has a track record for making gruesomely violent, profanity-riddled crime films, but not so here. Much more in keeping with contemporary social expectations, characters seldom use anything stronger than “damn”, and while a number of murders are seen on screen, the level of violence is down significantly from his other work.

Where this film will lose viewers is in its length. It’s a fascinating look at a piece of history you don’t often hear about, and an incredible (relatively) true story, but it’s also too long. Not that I’m saying this should be hacked down to 90 minutes, but once you hit 3-and-a-half-hours, you really need to justify the time you’re demanding from your audience, and I don’t think the film makes the best use of all that time. That being said, if you can make the commitment to sit still for the entire film (or watch it at home so you can schedule your own bathroom breaks), you’ll find an incredible story, rich in big ideas, big themes, and clever characters. Exactly what you’d expect from Martin Scorsese – down to the long runtime.