Director Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon hit theaters over the weekend shining light on a story that many people might have not known about.

The story is set on a Native American reserve, in Oklahoma, occupied by the Osage tribe who discovered oil on the land back in the late 1800’s. We are then introduced to Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a soldier returning from World War I, to meet up with his Uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale is a popular figure on the reserve where many natives trust him based on his ability to speak their language and be very hospitable to everyone’s needs. What the Osage doesn’t know is that he is plotting against them to take their land all out of greed. So, when Burkhart wants to start his life on the reserve, his uncle wants him to marry an Osage woman to claim the money she makes off the oil. This is why many white men moved to the area - to marry Osage women. Burkhart meets Mollie (Lily Gladstone) while running his taxi service and truly falls in love with her. They end up getting married, but this is when everything begins to take a dark turn. One by one Mollie’s sisters begin to be mysteriously murdered making her paranoid that she could be next. It doesn’t help either that she has been severely ill while taking insulin to deal with her diabetes. To figure out who is committing the murders the Osage make their way to Washington D.C. to plea with President Coolidge to send help. That’s when a federal investigator, Tom White (Jesse Plemons), is sent by J. Edgar Hoover to the reserve. Can they figure out what is really happening at the reserve? Or will these murders go unsolved?

I think this might be one of Scorsese’s best pieces of cinema to date. From the cinematography to the story, it is a spectacle. It is truly a heartbreaking story in American history that few people know about. Scorsese did a great job building the whole story and providing a sense of satisfaction in the end. I thought the acting was a force of triumph that helped with the story. DiCaprio, in my opinion, might have had his best performance since The Revenant. De Niro did an amazing job bringing real life villain, William Hale, to life. Gladstone might be a candidate for best actress in a motion picture this year, because her presence on screen was so enthralling. The rest of the cast was also great because they made it feel like you were in Oklahoma in the 1920’s when this was all happening. My only quarrel with the film was the run time which clocks in at three and a half hours. I could sense that Scorsese really put his all into this film, but the run time did wear me down a bit.

All in all, Killers of the Flower Moon is must see cinema. I highly recommend seeing this at least once in theaters to get that big screen experience. This will be nominated for many awards this year and it should be. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Rating: 4 out 5