Sunday, October 22, 2023

The Morning: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Plus, the latest from the Israel-Hamas war.

Good morning. We're covering Martin Scorsese's new film — as well as the latest news from the Israel-Hamas war.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.Melinda Sue Gordon/Apple Original Films

Adapted with care

It's not your imagination: Movies really are getting longer. The average blockbuster now runs thirty minutes more than films did in the 1990s, a recent Economist survey found.

Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated new film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," is in theaters this weekend. And at three-and-a-half hours long, it serves as further proof of the swelling moviegoing experience. In this case, though, fretting over the run-time might belie the thoughtfulness of Scorsese's creation.

The film, adapted from a best-selling nonfiction book by David Grann, is about the murders of members of the Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in Oklahoma, in the 1920s. The Osage became extremely wealthy after oil was discovered on their land — placing them on a receiving end of a rapacious conspiracy. The Times's chief movie critic Manohla Dargis calls it a "heartbreaking masterpiece."

Yet the adaptation is not an exercise in strict fidelity. Both the book and movie tell a story of violence, and of the ensuing investigation by an F.B.I. agent dispatched by J. Edgar Hoover. But Scorsese and his collaborators wanted to examine more closely the heart of the story: the Osage.

The shift away from straight police procedural came two years into the writing process, after a discussion with Leonardo DiCaprio. "I think Marty and I just looked at each other and we felt there was no soul to it," DiCaprio told The Times. Or, as Scorcese put it in a Time interview: "I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys."

The perspective switch prompted Scorsese to meet with the Osage nation. "I got them to understand that I wanted to do the best I could with them and the story, and that they could trust me, I hoped," he told The New Yorker.

At the center of the narrative is a love story at once warm, complicated and dark. DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a white World War I veteran, who is encouraged to marry into the Osage at the instruction of his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Burkhart weds an Osage woman named Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and starts a family with her. All the while, he is involved in Hale's plan to murder Kyle's family members in pursuit of land rights.

"With grace, sorrow and sublime filmmaking clarity," Dargis writes, Scorsese turns a true crime story into "a requiem for the country."

For more

ADVERTISEMENT

Ad

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Regional Conflict
  • Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, but many are worried about a wider war after violence on the border with Lebanon and in the West Bank.
  • President Biden has urged Israeli leaders not to strike Hezbollah, the powerful militia in Lebanon, to avoid escalation.
  • A Palestinian Israeli paramedic was killed by Hamas. After his death, peace activists — including his cousin — have renewed calls for a solution to the conflict.
The Latest
Aid in Gaza.Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

MORE NEWS

Politics
The chair of the speaker of the House.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
  • At least 10 Republicans have announced that they will run for speaker, including House veterans and a sophomore. See who's running.
  • Representative George Santos swore he'd never speak to a Times reporter. Then he called her.
Other Big Stories
Shanta Thapaliya holds a photograph of her brother, Sandip.Uma Bista for The New York Times

FROM OPINION

Teachers who stay with students from grade to grade teach better, Adam Grant argues.

"I know I look like a man," Caster Semenya writes. "But I'm not." She argues that sports officials are shutting women with high testosterone out of competition.

Here are columns by Ross Douthat on China, Thomas Friedman on U.S. support for Israel, and Jamelle Bouie on House Republicans.

The Sunday question: Are Trump's gag orders the right call?

The limited gag orders imposed by judges in two Trump cases forbid him from criticizing witnesses and other trial participants, which poses "an immediate danger to the targets of his rage," Jeffrey Toobin writes for The Times. But offensive criticism, especially against government officials, "is simply not a basis for restricting speech," Erwin Chemerinsky writes for The Los Angeles Times.

Expand your understanding. Enhance your skills. Embrace your curiosity.

A New York Times All Access subscription includes everything you need to make the most of every day. Subscribe today.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ad

MORNING READS

Dip-dyed locs.Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times

Fashion month: See the best hairstyles from fans outside the shows.

Stealing secrets: Computers of the future could one day break our digital locks. Can we stop them?

Serial killer tours: London visitors and residents are following Jack the Ripper's path through the city.

Lives Lived: Bobby Charlton, one of soccer's greatest players, won the World Cup with England in 1966. He led the Manchester United team after surviving a plane crash that killed many of his teammates. He died at 86.

TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times

I spoke with hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, whose book, "The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments," has been one of the year's surprise best-sellers.

What should more people know about death?

They should know what they want. Do you want to be buried or cremated? The issue is a little deeper here: Someone gets diagnosed with a terminal illness, and we have a culture where you have to "fight." No one wants to say: "You are going to die. What do you want us to do?" It's against that culture of "You're going to beat this."

"The In-Between" also has to do with the experience of being in between uncertainty and knowing. But you write, "I do believe that our loved ones come to get us when we pass." So where is the uncertainty?

The uncertainty I have is what after this life looks like. I feel like there is something beyond, but I don't know what it is. So the conclusion I've come to is whatever is next cannot be explained with the language and the knowledge that we have here on Earth.

Have you thought about what a good death would be for you?

I want a living funeral. I don't want people to say, "This is my favorite memory of her," when I'm gone. There have been times when patients have shared with me that they don't think anyone cares about them. Then I'll go to their funeral and listen to the most beautiful eulogies. I believe they can still hear it and are aware of it, but I'm also like, Gosh, I wish that before they died, they heard you say these things. That's what I want.

More from the magazine

BOOKS

A stressful vacation: For one author, reality inspired a horror story.

Our editors' picks: "Collision of Power," in which the former executive editor of The Washington Post delivers a gripping account of his tenure, and eight other books.

Times best sellers: "Zilot and Other Important Rhymes," poems with humor and quirks from Bob and Erin Odenkirk, is new on the children's picture book list.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Play Mahjong.

Perch your laptop on the best stand.

THE WEEK AHEAD

What to Watch For
  • Argentina's presidential election is today. Javier Milei, a far-right "mini-Trump," is the front-runner.
  • Venezuela's opposition primary elections are today.
What to Cook This Week
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Fleischaker went looking for meals inspired by pizza. Her picks include Ali Slagle's pizza beans, a cheesy white bean-tomato bake and Sohla El-Waylly's New York slice-inspired pizza salad.

NOW TIME TO PLAY

Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was oxidizing.

Can you put eight historical events — including the first known medical prescription, the sitcom "Cheers" and the oil riches of the Osage — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz.

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account.

To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request.

Subscribe to The Times

Connect with us on:

facebooktwitterinstagram

Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices

LiveIntent LogoAdChoices Logo

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

No comments:

Page List

Blog Archive

Search This Blog

This Grocery Stock Is Up 16% While the Market Sells Off.

EPS up 50% last quarter. Stacked EMAs on the daily and weekly. Daily squeeze firing. The TPS system has all three boxes checked on th...