Martin Scorsese’s Soulless Epic

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. Robbie Robertson’s musical score backing “Killers of the Flower Moon” relies heavily on a low, endlessly repeated guitar or bass note that mirrors the soul-deadening events on screen. We’re in 1920s Osage territory in Oklahoma, where after an oil discovery the Native Americans are being systematically swindled, robbed and murdered by white people. Director Martin Scorsese repeats so many variations on this depressing mistreatment that experiencing the film is akin to being locked in a room with a pair of soulless sadists.