When love is laced with greed

Johnson Thomas

This film, a Western crime drama co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the investigative non-fiction book of the same name by David Grann, touches upon an often overlooked piece of American history.

It’s early 1920s, the sudden acquisition of untold riches by the discovery of oil on the land belonging to the Osage nation, brings with it predators of the nihilistic kind. White businessmen looking to seize the opportunity make inroads into the community by marrying into the tribe.

William King Hale (Robert De Niro) is one of the business leaders who is wily enough to stay friendly to both communities while stealing the Osage dry. He, in fact, puts the idea of marrying someone from the Osage tribe to his nephew Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has just returned from a war. And, it’s not too late before the deed is done. Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a young Osage woman, suffering from diabetes and who has strong ties to her family’s riches, becomes patsy in the hands of these schemers. As the white occupation of native land increases, members of the Osage tribe and especially Mollie’s family members, suffer mysterious deaths.

It’s a good thing that Martin Scorsese has focused his fast-depleting energies (he is 70 plus after all) to documenting a part of forgotten history for future generations. Never mind that it is in fictional form. This movie provides a polished, eye-opening look at America’s treatment of ethnic/indigenous populations.

Scorsese is in his element here, exercising meticulous control over the sway of the story. This film is framed in epic format and is focused on exposing the dark side of human nature. Seeing the Osage, a harmonious tribe, falling prey to the white man’s greed is heartbreaking. Their happy existence gets compromised and they are subjected to frequent discrimination, both verbal and physical. The ethical ramifications and the complexities that arise out of greed merging with love and creating a dichotomy within the heart and mind of Ernest, makes for an absorbing and illuminating watch.

All of Scorsese’s visual trademarks — immersive cinematography, creative framing of characters and brilliantly illuminated perspective defining interactions, make the narrative interesting. The only area he deliberately has toned down is in depicting violence. Here, the violence is very much in thought and only some of it spills out on screen.

Performances are uniformly of a high order. De Niro is brilliant as the scheming Hale, DiCaprio manages to immerse himself completely while fleshing out Ernest beautifully and Lily Gladstone commands attention through her emphatic rendering of Mollie.

Scorcese’s deliberate withholding of pace and allowing for a sedate rhythm to lay siege, makes the viewing difficult, but it’s also highly satisfying. The scale of production, the period setting, the costumes and the deep-dive into theme and plotting asks for a deliberate tempo. With so many characters and facets to explore, it’s no doubt that the film runs 206 minutes long. For those used to Scorcese’s storytelling, this will be compelling viewing but for those not used to it, this experience may become a tad enervating.

Martin Scorsese, one of the greatest directors who made phenomenal movies like Taxi Driver, Wolf of Wall Street and The Departed, may have eased up on his film making style but there’s even at this advanced age he is capable of making a movie that will certainly get the audience in to the theatres!