Director: Martin Scorsese Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro Rating: M - Violence, offensive language and content may disturb (Apple Original)

One of the sweeping, broad themes in the library of classics crafted by Martin Scorsese is the devastating power of choice. But Scorsese resists the temptation to act as judge and jury, laying out the narrative before us and letting us decide. A true master at work.

Killers of the Flower Moon is no exception. Cinematically, it is a complete and utter triumph, stacked with an all-star cast. But it is also pulsating with fear and fury that will haunt you for days.

Based on a true story and David Grann’s best-selling book, Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. At the turn of the 20th century oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder.

If you haven’t managed to catch Killers of the Flower Moon at the cinema, my biggest plea is that you don’t watch it on your tablet while you work out at the gym or watch the three-and-a-half-hour epic in three-part chunks. Devote yourself to it completely, let it sit with you and disturb you, posing questions in your mind and soul that may not have been there before.

Originally, Scorsese was going to tell the story from the viewpoint of the FBI agent White, who heads to Osage country to solve the grisly murders. Instead, the story revolves around the love and betrayal story between its two protagonists - Ernest and Mollie.

Within that relationship writ large we see the gut churning betrayal of a people for profit, putrid in all of its colonist sins. It is as heartbreaking, maddening and harrowing as Spielberg’s Schindler's List.

Scorsese, as he has done for decades, merely lays the story out before us and leaves us with one question. What will we do about what we have just witnessed? Will we go to others, those whose horrific stories have been whitewashed out of history to hear their pain and sorrow? Will we seek to comfort those who mourn, fight for justice for the intergenerationally oppressed? As only a master filmmaker can, Scorsese leaves the response with us. 

Lyall Carter runs Young Life New Zealand, a trust that works with young people in East Auckland and is a community advocate for flood impacted West Aucklanders through his chairmanship of WAIF (West Auckland is Flooding). He has been reviewing films and TV shows for over half a decade through his independent website, themoviearmy.com. Lyall has led congregations in a Biblical critique of pop culture to not only understand its impact on our held cultural beliefs but also so that understanding can be used in Gospel engagement with our world. Lyall is a graduate of Carey Baptist College and lives in West Auckland with his young family.