The Moon Killers It was one of the most anticipated films of the year. Martin Scorseseone of the best directors of all time, met again with two of his favorite actors, Robert DeNiro and Leonardo Dicaprio. With just those three ingredients, any viewer could imagine that the film would be worth it. And so it has been. Because at eighty years old, and despite the numerous controversies that want to tarnish him, the filmmaker continues to maintain his unique touch when approaching stories. And it may not be perfect, but it is very good.
In The Moon Killers, Scorsese adapts the journalist’s novel of the same name David Grann. A writer whom, by the way, the director seems to have become fond of, since his next project, The Wager, also comes from a text of his. In the work at hand he narrates with pulse the silent genocide of the Osage tribe in the 1920s in Oklahoma. World War I has ended and oil fever has spiked among those looking to make a fortune.
The Moon Killers
Martin Scorsese once again studies violence as a human tool of power, the central theme of his best films. This time he positions himself in a solemn and slow tone to harshly portray the silent genocide of the Osage tribe in the 1920s due to the white man’s greed. A remarkable project that once again elevates him to the top of the greatest.
That is the context that a young man finds himself in. Ernest Burkhartinterpreted by DiCaprio. After returning from the war, he reaches the Osage lands, where his uncle lives, William Haleto whom he gives life De Niro. The area is very rich in oil and the Native Americans have become tremendously wealthy as a result. Hale has known how to move among them and enjoy good well-being. But an epidemic hits the area. One by one, the Osage are dying under mysterious circumstances. Meanwhile, hale He teaches his nephew to adapt to life there if he wants to move up.
The Moon Killers offers no moral doubts
The point of view of The Moon Killers It is tremendously illustrative and clear. For years, history has told us even through cinema how free entrepreneurs caused the development of an entire country. The ideal of settling in a place and prospering. Luckily, time has provided justice and today it is known that all that idyllic fable is bathed in blood, lies and manipulations. And the film, turning the tables on those westerns of brave cowboys, does not hide it at any time. No matter how much its protagonists are part of that dastardly group of thieves and murderers.
Scorsese strips away the story of the American dream to discover tragedy and human misery beneath its luxuries. The Osage were disowned to a land and there oil crossed their path. What came after was the excessive greed of the white man. That’s what they represent Burkhart and his uncle hale. Its dramatic counterpart is Molliethe native played by Lily Gladstone. The roles of victim and executioners are perfectly marked because the director is not interested in games of confusion and half measures.
There is no type of empathy exercise for the characters of DiCaprio and, above all, De Niro. His victories are the defeats of a poisoned society. If anything, the doubt remains as to whether at some point some glimmer of light will come to the life of the youngest of them. But Scorsese It distances viewers from its protagonists in a brilliant choice that places us face to face with the truth of our most recent civilization. The Moon Killers is the director’s particular plea for justice.
Common places, new approaches
At the bottom of all this lies the same theme that Scorsese has always been interested in. Violence as a vehicle of power. The desire to be the biggest fish. The absolute lack of ethics and morals in order to reach the top. Foundations that have sustained the history of the United States, but also his filmography. One of ours, casino, Gangs of New York, the Irish…The same backdrop over and over again, with the skill of the masters.
Maybe in The Moon Killers He exerts that violence in a much more sinister and twisted way than in his other films. But the basis, the study of human nature, points to the same place. In sixty years of career, the filmmaker’s ability to return to the same point without falling into repetition or fatigue is fascinating. He is always able to find new approaches, new nuances, to the baseness of man.
This time, Scorsese He portrays it through a slow, very slow, but constant rhythm. The film sinks little by little into the quagmire of the Osage tragedy, without rushing, but without stopping at any time. Things continually happen to his characters, which ends up acting as a catalyst for attention. In its terrible calm, The Moon Killers It becomes hypnotic. Family entanglements and marital drama are the chess board on which the director proposes his departure. And the succession of misfortunes is his engine, which does not need sparks or accelerators.
It’s three and a half hours, it’s true. And there may lie its great weakness, since a little scissors would have been quite appreciated. It is a dense film and, as such, deserves to be treated with caution and without haste. In addition, it plays with the advantage that it accentuates the negligence of the authorities to discover what was happening. But if some parts were more condensed it would have been even rounder. That is, perhaps, what separates it from the greats. Scorsesesalthough it is placed among the most notable.
Lily Gladstone, a force of nature
We said that just seeing the three main names of the project was enough to convince any film fan to see The Moon Killers with desire and enthusiasm. Little can be said at this point about Scorsese, De Niro and DiCaprio. The two actors have worked with the director so many times that they seem to have been born for each new role that he proposes to them. They are on the same page, it is impossible to find a single bad sequence in the entire footage. Seeing the three of them together for the first time is a gift.
But, with the permission of such great performers, there is someone who monopolizes all the spotlights in The Moon Killers. and that is Lily Gladstone. The power of their looks, the weight of their silences, their constant containment. Mollie She is a mute victim, strong and at the same time terrified, who tears and tortures the viewer. In the different registers that she manages throughout the film, she always stands out with a strength that overflows the screen from solemnity. Which she has even more merit given the status of her scene partners.
She is the materialization of all her people. And it is a great shame that, despite Scorsese’s good intentions for the Osage, he focuses more of the camera’s attention on the character of DiCaprio that in it. Seeing more deeply through her eyes the fall—the murder—of a culture that became the richest on the planet for a few years would have resonated even more. In any case, his surprising ending mitigates that “stumble” of The Moon Killers.
At the production level, few flaws can be placed on the film. This is a very large project and Scorsese Make the most of your resources. The staging is impeccable and the photography thrives on it with exquisite images. The filmmaker places the camera in the right place at the right time. Very few Hollywood directors are able to communicate so much through images. His cinematographic record is endless. To doubt it would simply be mean. Thank goodness it seems like he has some energy left for a while.
With all that, The Moon Killers It turns out to be another prodigious work by one of the greatest. Like his latest films, it consciously and accurately lacks the energy and vitality of the Scorsese younger. His cinema has evolved with him. And it will not be impeccable, but it is a brave critique of global colonialism through a local story. In short, one of the best films of the year that can now be seen in theaters.