Killers of the Flower Moon movie storyline. Without any forewarning, several Osage Indians walking through the fields in Oklahoma stumble into an emerging oil gusher on their own lands. They join together in celebrating this find on their own land and contemplate the money and wealth they anticipate will follow when they start to pump the oil they have discovered for sales and profit.
Although the oil find was on their own land, the administration of the funds and profits surrounding the oil wells as they develop in the Osage community becomes complicated and entangled in local politics, with extreme Caucasian and anti-Indian prejudices existing in the area. The white population, represented by the figure of William Hale, is intent on making sure that the lion’s share of the profits end up in the hands of the white population and not the Osage Indians.
Soon after WWI, Ernest Burkhart, a veteran of the war, goes to visit his uncle William, also known as “King”, in search of a job and possible employment in Oklahoma. His uncle obliges him and eventually gets him a job as a taxi driver. While the “King” draws Ernest closer into his designs, it becomes clearer to Ernest that the “King” has a deeply ambiguous view of the Osage Indians, from the one side seeing them as part of the native landscape and the beauty of the land.
But on the other hand seeing them as dangerous rivals who would deprive him of wealth which he wishes for himself. Ernest is originally clueless of the “King” and his designs though he senses that not all is as it appears to be with the “King” and his dealings with the Osage people. Before long, it becomes clearer to Ernest that the King’s larger plan has poisonous elements within it which does not exclude mayhem, arson and murder when called for.
Still not being able to free himself of the “King” as being a family member, Ernest lets himself be used and manipulated. Ernest starts to drive his taxi for one of the Osage women, Mollie and takes a liking to her. The “King” encourages him to fall in love with her and to marry her.
He does so, although unknown to him, the “King” uses him as an inside contact to gain information on the private discussions of the Osage Indian tribe members who are trying to get back more of the money which the “King” has been siphoning off for himself from the oil profits. Ernest is still coaxed and coerced by the “King” to extreme acts of violence often leading to death of several of Mollie’s relatives and friends among her tribe members. Ernest is conflicted by this, though the influence of his uncle still dominates his ambiguous actions.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2023 American epic Western crime drama film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann. Its plot centers on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser. It marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio and the tenth between Scorsese and De Niro.
Killers of the Flower Moon premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. It is scheduled to be released in select theaters on October 6 before a wide release in the United States on October 20 by Apple TV+ (under their Apple Original Films label) and Paramount Pictures. Both limited and wide releases also showed the film in IMAX theatres.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Frase, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, Jason Isbell
Screenplay by: Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese
Production Design by: Jack Fisk
Cinematography by: Rodrigo Prieto
Film Editing by: Thelma Schoonmaker
Costume Design by: Jacqueline West
Set Decoration by: Olivia Peebles, Adam Willis
Art Direction by: Jordan Crockett, Spencer Davison, Michael Diner
Music by: Robbie Robertson
MPAA Rating: R for violence, some grisly images, and language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 20, 2023 (Cannes), October 20, 2023 (United States)
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