Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese delivers a sprawling, three-and-a-half-hour crime epic that excavates one of the most shameful chapters in American history. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the film centers on the Osage Nation, who became extraordinarily wealthy after oil was discovered beneath their reservation. That wealth made them targets. As Osage people began dying under suspicious circumstances, the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation stepped in to investigate a conspiracy of greed, betrayal, and murder that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

Adapted from David Grann's 2017 nonfiction bestseller, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart, a naive World War I veteran who returns to Osage County and falls under the sway of his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale, a powerful rancher and self-styled friend of the Osage, orchestrates a scheme to inherit their oil headrights through marriage and murder. Ernest marries Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman whose family controls significant mineral rights, and the story tracks the slow, corrosive unraveling of their relationship as Hale's plot tightens.

Scorsese shot the film largely on location in Oklahoma, working closely with Osage consultants to ensure cultural authenticity. The result is a work that functions both as a gripping procedural and a somber meditation on systemic injustice. Robbie Robertson's haunting score, his final film composition before his death in 2023, underscores the tragedy with a blend of traditional Indigenous instrumentation and orchestral melancholy. [edit]

In 1920s Oklahoma, the Osage Nation has become staggeringly rich after oil is discovered on their land. The Osage own the mineral rights, and each headright holder receives a steady stream of royalty payments. This wealth draws a swarm of opportunistic white settlers, including William Hale, a powerful rancher who presents himself as a benefactor to the Osage. Hale's nephew, Ernest Burkhart, returns from World War I and quickly falls under his uncle's influence. Hale encourages Ernest to court Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman whose mother and sisters hold multiple headrights. Mollie is wary but eventually marries Ernest, and they start a family.

As the marriage settles in, a pattern of death emerges within Mollie's family. Her sister Anna is found murdered, and the local authorities do little to investigate. Another sister, Minnie, dies under mysterious circumstances, and soon Mollie's mother, Lizzie Q, passes away. Each death transfers the headrights to the remaining heirs, which in Mollie's case means her surviving sister Reta and eventually herself. Hale, through a network of hired killers and corrupt officials, orchestrates these murders to funnel the wealth to himself and his associates. Ernest, though he genuinely loves Mollie and their children, becomes complicit in Hale's schemes, at first through ignorance and later through a fog of guilt and self-justification.

The Osage community lives in fear, knowing that speaking out could lead to their own deaths. Mollie herself grows suspicious, especially after Hale pressures her to change her will in favor of Ernest. To keep her compliant, Hale instructs Ernest to inject Mollie with insulin, slowly poisoning her and making her sick. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Investigation—the precursor to the FBI—sends agent Tom White to Osage County to look into the mounting death toll. White, a former Texas Ranger, assembles a small team and begins interviewing witnesses, uncovering a web of false alibis, insurance fraud, and staged accidents. The investigation faces fierce resistance from local law enforcement and the political establishment, all of whom are either in Hale's pocket or unwilling to challenge a powerful white man.

As the evidence mounts, Hale's grip on the county begins to slip. White's team identifies key conspirators, including a hitman named Kelsie Morrison and a lawyer who helped Hale forge documents. Ernest, caught between his loyalty to his uncle and his crumbling conscience, becomes a pivotal figure. Mollie, now gravely ill, is taken to a hospital where doctors realize she is being poisoned. She survives and begins to cooperate with the FBI, setting the stage for a confrontation that will bring down Hale's empire.[edit]