Janae Collins, Lily Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers and Jillian Dion in "Killers of the Flower Moon."

Director Martin Scorsese has delivered decades of excellent commentary on our world depicted through various lenses. Now in his seventh decade of directing (his first credit was in 1959), he brings one of his finest explorations of quintessential American greed to screen through an emotional and thoughtful recounting of the Osage murders.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” brings this horrific moment in American history, the murders of more than 60 members of the Osage nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s, into the shocking light.

Adapted from David Grann’s nonfiction book of the same name, which focused on the FBI investigation, whereas Scorsese hones in on those involved: Ernest Burkhart, his Osage wife, Mollie Burkhart, and William “King” Hale, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, respectively.

Not one for skimping on the details, Scorsese’s 3.5-hour neo-Western crime drama isn’t a whodunit, but rather a stark look at how the Osage, and specifically Mollie’s family, who became incredibly wealthy after oil was discovered under the reservation, were then callously murdered for their money.

It’s a film that audiences should enter with care (especially Indigenous audience members) as it never shies away from the gruesome reality of the Reign of Terror, and it’s an important film that should be seen in a theater with others. Yes, it’s long, but it earns every second of it. Not a frame is wasted and each one is completely necessary to tell this story.

The pacing is consistent, with a tense, driving heartbeat throughout amplified by a stunning soundtrack from the late Robbie Robertson coupled with work from longtime Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who hits it out of the park again.

Scorsese wastes no time in setting up Hale’s ambition. He and his nephew Ernest reunite when Ernest comes to live with him following the end of the war. We quickly realize three things about Ernest: He has a love of women and money and is easily persuaded by his uncle.

Hale plants the seeds of what’s to come, telling Ernest how the Osage are sick, dying, and wealthy, and that many white men have been marrying Osage women in order to gain access and control to the headrights — the system under which tribe members own property individually but collectively share in any money from the resources found beneath — and thus the money.

With the seeds planted, the unwitting Ernest takes to running a cab in town, picking up Mollie, a seemingly stoic but caring Osage woman who takes care of her ailing mother, Lizzie Q (Tantoo Cardinal). Ernest takes a shine to Mollie, and after Hale again reminds him how wealthy she is, pursues her until they marry.

Mollie has three sisters, Minnie, Ana and Reta (Jillian Dion, Cara Jade Myers and Janae Collins), who also are entitled to their mother’s headrights inheritance upon her death.

One of the most striking themes is the disregard for human life that Hale and several other supporting characters have for the Osage.

Throughout the film, Hale presents himself as a benevolent friend to the Osage, knowing their language and customs, and appearing to respect them, calling them by their traditional Osage names and saying on of them is his best friend. De Niro playing it like he even believes it. This makes it all the more sickening when Hale easily makes plans for the demise of Mollie and her family so that he and his family will be rich because of it. Seeing DiCaprio’s Ernest follow along with the plans, even though he seems to genuinely love his wife and family, further plunges these men into the pits of vileness.

Scorsese and Eric Roth’s script is full of moments that allow the audience to sit in abject disgust at what is playing out over the course of the movie, while taking extra care to ensure that the Osage people at the heart of the story are always at the forefront of the audience members’ minds.

Each Native character is fully fleshed out, never giving in to Hollywood stereotypes, and each Native actor portraying them brings the emotional depth required for such a difficult subject, particularly Lily Gladstone, whose Mollie is the heart of the entire film.

Gladstone’s range is powerful and she delivers a career-making performance. In each scene, she holds her own against her more seasoned costars, holding everything just behind her eyes and conveying so much in a look alone. There’s no doubt that her name will appear on many ballots this coming awards season.

Gladstone’s performance, however, highlights my one disappointment with the film: It’s not her story being told. We get moments where we see things from Mollie’s perspective, but we lose it along the way in favor of focusing on the villains, Ernest, Hale and their compatriots. Part of this is due to the plot as she spends a good chunk of time sick in bed, and it still remains that Scorsese and his team worked to ensure they tell the story in a close working partnership with the Osage nation. As some current Osage tribal members have even pointed out, this film has been made for a largely non-Indigenous audience, and in order to tell her story, it would have needed to have been made by an Osage person.

As it stands, the film presented holds a mirror up to its audience, reminding them of the violent colonial history of this country, has been conveniently forgotten over the decades, with legislation that continues to try and quiet it.

Top to bottom, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a triumph for a filmmaker who already has several triumphs under his belt. It’s also a grisly and heartbreaking story about genocide, ripped from history that still echoes today.

While it will be available for streaming on Apple TV+ in the next couple of months, this film deserves to be seen on the big screen.

“Killers of the Flower Moon”

206 minutes

Rated R for violence, some grisly images and language

4 stars