*/
Many culturally Catholic men have grown up with arguments about whether, for example, Taxi Driver (1976) is as great a film as Goodfellas (1990) and whether Scorsese’s more recent films are too far away from his natural metier: the destructiveness of male gangster capitalism.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) is a film directly about racism, inequality and the native American community being dispossessed from within. It is based on real-life events – almost erased from history but meticulously documented in David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name – in the native American Osage community in 1920s Oklahoma.
Marginalised, dispossessed and confined to arid reservations in Oklahoma, the tribe’s fortunes changed overnight when, during one flower moon, oil gushed from their reservation. Suddenly the Osage people became the richest in the world per capita but use of their wealth overseen by White legal guardians as indigenous people were deemed ‘incompetent’ by the US government of the time.
The film documents the infiltration of the community and local genocide to effect property transfers. Osage people are systematically targeted and killed so a nefarious colonialist can acquire headrights to their land. Legal formalities masking infamy. Coercive preying on the vulnerable. Duress and non est factum. Commercial lawyers should usefully watch this film as Robert De Niro’s grasp of contract negotiation is most instructive.
De Niro, in his greatest psychotic performance because it is so controlled, represents the banality of evil. Posing as a friend and benefactor to the Osage people while plotting to steal their mineral rights, his sadistic use of punishment and rewards, especially towards his nephew for the building of mayhem and murder, is laced with the usual soupcon of family values. Leonardo DiCaprio is the fortune-hunting World War I veteran under his uncle’s sinister influence. He marries into the community, poisoning his oil-rich Osage wife’s insulin to create dependency issues.
Perhaps uniquely in Scorsese’s work, the film features a central all-defining female voice – played by Lily Gladstone to critical acclaim – with a kind of apologia of previous non-recognition of same by the director at the end of the film. Thus, Killers of the Flower Moon rages with injustice but also the female spirit, or Gaia, and the rejection of toxic masculinity – or at least, the rejection of profit over people.
And lawyers? Tom White (played by Jesse Plemons) investigates the murders as an agent of J Edgar Hoover’s Bureau of Investigation and the film culminates with the prosecution of all and sundry. John Lithgow is lead prosecutor Peter Leaward and Brendan Fraser is W S Hamilton, defence lawyer. In one notable scene, Ernest is shocked to learn that lawyers and judges exist who are not corrupt.
In a terrible twist, a 2021 Oklahoma state law (HB 1775) regulating classroom discussions on race and gender led to a high school cancelling lesson plans involving Grann’s book. And with the Trump administration moving to control Harvard’s teaching and enrolment practices by revoking visas of non-national students, there is so much for lawyers to think about in our increasingly tribalistic times.
David Langwallner is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the London School of Economics. He is a barrister at 1MCB and was 2015 Irish Lawyer of the Year for his work as director of the Irish Innocence Project.
Many culturally Catholic men have grown up with arguments about whether, for example, Taxi Driver (1976) is as great a film as Goodfellas (1990) and whether Scorsese’s more recent films are too far away from his natural metier: the destructiveness of male gangster capitalism.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) is a film directly about racism, inequality and the native American community being dispossessed from within. It is based on real-life events – almost erased from history but meticulously documented in David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name – in the native American Osage community in 1920s Oklahoma.
Marginalised, dispossessed and confined to arid reservations in Oklahoma, the tribe’s fortunes changed overnight when, during one flower moon, oil gushed from their reservation. Suddenly the Osage people became the richest in the world per capita but use of their wealth overseen by White legal guardians as indigenous people were deemed ‘incompetent’ by the US government of the time.
The film documents the infiltration of the community and local genocide to effect property transfers. Osage people are systematically targeted and killed so a nefarious colonialist can acquire headrights to their land. Legal formalities masking infamy. Coercive preying on the vulnerable. Duress and non est factum. Commercial lawyers should usefully watch this film as Robert De Niro’s grasp of contract negotiation is most instructive.
De Niro, in his greatest psychotic performance because it is so controlled, represents the banality of evil. Posing as a friend and benefactor to the Osage people while plotting to steal their mineral rights, his sadistic use of punishment and rewards, especially towards his nephew for the building of mayhem and murder, is laced with the usual soupcon of family values. Leonardo DiCaprio is the fortune-hunting World War I veteran under his uncle’s sinister influence. He marries into the community, poisoning his oil-rich Osage wife’s insulin to create dependency issues.
Perhaps uniquely in Scorsese’s work, the film features a central all-defining female voice – played by Lily Gladstone to critical acclaim – with a kind of apologia of previous non-recognition of same by the director at the end of the film. Thus, Killers of the Flower Moon rages with injustice but also the female spirit, or Gaia, and the rejection of toxic masculinity – or at least, the rejection of profit over people.
And lawyers? Tom White (played by Jesse Plemons) investigates the murders as an agent of J Edgar Hoover’s Bureau of Investigation and the film culminates with the prosecution of all and sundry. John Lithgow is lead prosecutor Peter Leaward and Brendan Fraser is W S Hamilton, defence lawyer. In one notable scene, Ernest is shocked to learn that lawyers and judges exist who are not corrupt.
In a terrible twist, a 2021 Oklahoma state law (HB 1775) regulating classroom discussions on race and gender led to a high school cancelling lesson plans involving Grann’s book. And with the Trump administration moving to control Harvard’s teaching and enrolment practices by revoking visas of non-national students, there is so much for lawyers to think about in our increasingly tribalistic times.
Chair of the Bar sets out a busy calendar for the rest of the year
By Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
Examined by Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs
Time is precious for barristers. Every moment spent chasing paperwork, organising diaries, or managing admin is time taken away from what matters most: preparation, advocacy and your clients. That’s where Eden Assistants step in
AlphaBiolabs has announced its latest Giving Back donation to RAY Ceredigion, a grassroots West Wales charity that provides play, learning and community opportunities for families across Ceredigion County
Rachel Davenport, Co-founder and Director at AlphaBiolabs, outlines why barristers, solicitors, judges, social workers and local authorities across the UK trust AlphaBiolabs for court-admissible testing
Through small but meaningful efforts, we can restore the sense of collegiality that has been so sorely eroded, says Baldip Singh
Come in with your eyes open, but don’t let fear cloud the prospect. A view from practice by John Dove
Looking to develop a specialist practice? Mariya Peykova discusses the benefits of secondments and her placement at the Information Commissioner’s Office
Anon Academic explains why he’s leaving the world of English literature for the Bar – after all, the two are not as far apart as they may first seem...
Review by Stephen Cragg KC
