“KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON”, A WESTERN CRIME EPIC BY MARTIN SCORSESE
Cinema Writer/Film Critic Efe TEKSOY; wrote the drama, crime, and history film “KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON”, for America’s Los Angeles-based Internet Newspaper @alaturkanews.
THE BIRTH OF THE FBI AND THE OSAGE MURDERS
Directed by master filmmaker Martin Scorsese, winner of the Oscar-Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘, is adapted from the 2017 nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by American journalist David Grann, a staff writer for The New Yorker. The film tells the chilling true story of the exploitation and destruction of America’s Native American people by whites. Set mainly in the twilight of the Wild West in the 1920s, the story is the story of land grabs and the emergence of a justice mechanism with its own problems. On the one hand, the film focuses on one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history, and on the other hand, it reveals the birth of the FBI and the blood-curdling reflections of the ambition and greed initiated by the Gold Rush Era. When it comes to interests, we see how cruel and cruel people can be. Philip Cole, who works as a senior lecturer in International Relations and Politics at UWE Bristol University, researches the philosophical history of the concept of evil in Western culture in his book The Myth of Evil; It offers a comprehensive account of evil, drawing on theology, psychoanalysis and fictional representations, and contemporary political events such as the global ‘war on terror’. Cole; “One way to understand at least some of the horrific acts is to see them as demonic, a determination to destroy and inflict suffering on others for no other purpose than to destroy them. “Most of them can be understood as caused by anger, ignorance, or dashed hopes, but some stand out as unspeakable and incomprehensible acts,” he says, noting that monstrous and pure forms of evil are based on demonic evil. We see that the evil shown in the film falls into the category of evil mentioned by Philip Cole. Famous political scientist and social theorist Hannah Arendt, one of the greatest philosophers of German philosophy, explains in depth how evil becomes ordinary as the ability to think and reason disappears, in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Just like we see in the movie with people who become ruthless and cruel for their own interests.
TOPIC OF THE FILM
At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage people of the United States, who overnight became some of the richest people in the world. The murders of members of the Osage tribe under mysterious circumstances sparked a major FBI investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.
Stars; Leonardo Di Caprio, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, Scott Shepherd, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and John Lithgow.
LISTENING TO THE LAND
Cultural collision is a theme throughout Scorsese’s remarkable works, and it is at the core of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” While the script was still in the development stage, preliminary plans for the production took shape, and several important decisions were made. One of these was to shoot the film on the Osage reservation in Oklahoma, in the towns and communities where the Reign of Terror took place a century ago. Another decision Scorsese made was to seek the full cooperation of the Osage People in the production of the film. Scorsese reached the Osages; he would learn their history, culture, traditions, and concerns, hear their stories, hear their dreams, and engage with the community at every stage of the production. Moreover, he insisted that the Osage people be treated with respect and respect throughout, ensuring that their stories were told truthfully and accurately. Scorsese and his team, As the first step of the film’s production process, he went to the Osage region in the spring of 2019, scouted the location, and met directly with the Osage community. As the first step of the film’s production process, Scorsese and his team traveled to the Osage region in the spring of 2019, scouted locations, and met directly with the Osage community. A meeting was arranged between Scorsese and Geoffrey, the Principal Chief of the Osage People. A deep bond was formed.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Working with Scorsese for the first time, legendary production designer Jack Fisk made his debut with Terrence Malick’s 1973 masterpiece “Badlands.” Since then, he has worked with the legendary director on seven more films, including “Days of Heaven”, “The Thin Red Line” and “Tree of Life”. An expert in building outdoor sets, Jack Fisk designed David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “The Revenant,” starring Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio. One of the challenges Fisk had to overcome was telling the story on Osage land by redesigning existing structures or building them from scratch. Much of the original town of Fairfax had been modernized or ruined. A period film set in the 1920s would require large open spaces reflecting the richness of Osage lands, and several homes and offices needed to be prepared as well. Jack Fisk said, “The Osage People had recently purchased a large tract of land on the site of the old freight station, just off Main Street in Pawhuska. They were going to clean it up and turn it into a park and recreation area. We asked them to postpone their plans. We thought this large area was a perfect fit for our purposes. We saw it and got permission to build our train station here, bringing three hundred and sixty-five meters of rail and a real locomotive. It was a perfect choice.” he explains.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
The director, who made the opening sequence in the silent film genre, closes the curtain by ending the finale with a radio play in which he also took part as a cameo. A Martin Scorsese production that fans of history, crime, and drama genre movies will enjoy.
EFE TEKSOY
REFERENCES AND SOURCE
ARENDT. Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem A report on the Banality of Evil (Kötülüğün Sıradanlığı: Adolf Eichmann Kudüst’te), Ozge Celik, translate, Istanbul: Metis Yayınları press, 2017
ARENDT. Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem A report on the Banality of Evil, Penguin Books, 1994
COLE. Philip, The Myth of Evil (Kotuluk Miti), çev. Reha Kuldasli, Istanbul:Turkiye Is Bankasi Kultur Press, 2022
