Deepanjana Pal
With text plates interspersed between scenes of black and white footage with an archival texture. Colour leaches into the frame, letting the viewer know Scorsese is mixing historical fact with the sensibility of fiction.
Set in the 1920s, Killers of the Flower Moon is about a dark period of modern American history when the Osage Indians discovered oil on their land and became the richest people per capita in the world.
Killers of the Flower Moon feels all the more compelling because it’s rooted in history. Between 1918 and 1931, hundreds of Osage were killed for their land.
The name of the tribe, "Osage" means “calm water” and with heartbreaking irony, director Martin Scorsese shows us multiple shots of mutilated dead Osage bodies in tranquil pools.
From drone shots that show a near-wild landscape of shimmering grass filled with cattle to meticulously recreated streets and homes, it’s easy to feel immersed in this world where fear is as picturesque as it is stifling.