Amy Spencer Summa

The acting is so excellent that you feel you are there with them. The characters are complicated and imperfect. You wonder how you would have survived in similar circumstances.

This movie was an epic mess. The ego and indulgence of Martin Scorsese and his obsession with dispicable, irredeemable men shined through in this 3 and a half hour depressing and boring movie. The Osage Nation was just a backdrop to another Scorsese gangster movie. It did no favors to the Indian community it purported to honor and respect. The native women depicted were weak and passive. The few native men were stereotypically drunken, subservient to their white masters. None of the relationships rang true except the one between DiCaprio and DeNiro. It was painful to sit through so many close ups of their faces having the same conversation over and over. The acting was great, no question, but why so much attention to these epic scum bags? This was a wasted opportunity to portray native culture in all of its beauty and pain. There was not one strong native character in the whole movie. Instead it glorified the evil forces that took advantage of them. I am baffled by the reviewers that call this a masterpiece.