A staggering work, in which Martin Scorsese uses the tropes and iconography of the Western to tell the story of a series of heinous crimes committed against the Osage Nation. In adapting David Grann’s nonfiction book, Scorsese’s approach is classical, but the outcome is radical. The film opens with a religious ceremony as the Osage tribe buries their peace pipe, mourning their old ways for the new. Then black gold — oil — bubbles and bursts from the ground. The Osage become rich, wealthier than anyone in Oklahoma, though they’re unable to access their cash without a white male “guardian.” In Fairfax, Oklahoma, white cattle rancher William Hale (Robert De Niro) has dubbed himself “The King of the Osage Hills.” When his nephew Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from the war, he’s more than happy to nudge him in the direction of Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a wealthy Osage woman with four sisters and head rights to the oil-rich land. Gladstone is stunning in her restrained performance. Scorsese’s work is vital, daring and urgent, and he grapples mightily with the racist violence on which this country has been built. –Tribune News Service