There Was Blood.

The moral agenda has changed, making this a standout. Incorrectly maligned as a shameful and hypocrite white apologist film with no true appreciation for Omaha roots, this retelling tosses aside the over-stylization of gangster violence and a hyperkinetic editing addressed with rock classics as a soundtrack for constructing the most significant film Scorsese has ever done concerning spirituality and the struggle of faith since The Last Temptation of the Christ (1988). The film opens with a deep and informed take on the Omaha people and never takes it to supporting cast territory or a secondary background. Even if is not not pro-Christian explicitly, it is not anti-Christian either. It's the story about a Catholic man that has gone his entire life living however he wants to live it (addictions, women, the love of money), and comes full circle with understanding what family stands for, and facing the law of the harvest at full face: you reap what you sew.

The depiction of how greed and the love for money is the root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:10) is unapologetic, and Ernest's character becomes a character of true confession and repentance for the sake of the protection of whatever was left of his family after following his main family authority, William.

Haven't seen Silence (2016) because remaking a Shinoda film in my eyes is unthinkable, it's the only Scorsese film where I have seen the theme of repentance crystal-clear and the depiction of crime and evil as something painful and tragic rather than from a dark-comedy perspective. I don't remember Scorsese putting so much emphasis on family values, repentance, the implications of systemic racism and capitalist exploitation while placing a deep focus on the Osage Indians rather than transforming the white characters as the glorified caricatures. Also, violence is sporadic instead of a gimmick to entertain through dark comedy shenanigans.

This manifesto does not resort to the exoticization of native cultures or sensationalism of white capitalist trash: it is balanced in how it presents a conflict that has lasted many generations and how a man can truly reprioritize his life spheres, shattering the old Latin American saying that “a tree that is born crooked is uncapable of straightening its roots”. That is why the violence here feels more palpable and tragic rather than a void gimmick of stylization. The choice of making this an epic is a correct one, as all lives matter, and Lily Gladstone outperforms pretty much everyone, including the director’s legendarily recurrent cast, an actress with a genuine gift to transmit emotions and tension through acting and reacting, raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

The ending is a spectacle and also a call for us to value diversity and stay out of foreign territory.

86/100