'Killers of the Flower Moon' Leaves Osage Consultant With Mixed Feelings
Though Martin Scorsese and his team worked closely with many members of the Osage Nation tribe on the production of Killers of the Flower Moon — which follows the real-life 1920s murders of Osage members after oil was found on their Oklahoma land — one of the film’s consultants admitted to complicated feelings after watching the film.
Christopher Cote, an Osage language consultant on the project and one of many Osage members who attended its Los Angeles premiere Monday, told The Hollywood Reporter he was “nervous about the release of the film; now that I’ve seen it, I have some strong opinions.
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“As an Osage, I really wanted this to be from the perspective of Mollie and what her family experienced, but I think it would take an Osage to do that,” Cote said, referencing Lily Gladstone’s character in the movie. (Historical spoilers from the film ahead.) “Martin Scorsese, not being Osage, I think he did a great job representing our people, but this history is being told almost from the perspective of Ernest Burkhart [played by Leonardo DiCaprio] and they kind of give him this conscience and kind of depict that there’s love. But when somebody conspires to murder your entire family, that’s not love. That’s not love, that’s just beyond abuse.”
He continued, “I think in the end, the question that you can be left with is: How long will you be complacent with racism? How long will you go along with something and not say something, not speak up, how long will you be complacent? I think that’s because this film isn’t made for an Osage audience, it was made for everybody, not Osage. For those that have been disenfranchised, they can relate, but for other countries that have their acts and their history of oppression, this is an opportunity for them to ask themselves this question of morality, and that’s how I feel about this film.”
Killers of the Flower Moon, co-written by Scorsese and Eric Roth, is based on a 2017 book by David Grann, exploring the FBI’s investigation into the Osage murders. DiCaprio and Gladstone star as a married couple in the real-life story, after the promise of oil wealth brings DiCaprio’s character to the Osage land.
Janis Carpenter, another Osage language consultant, said that she also has “mixed feelings” on the film, explaining, “Some things were so interesting to see, and we have so many of our tribal people that are in the movie that it’s wonderful to see them. But then there are some things that were pretty hard to take.”
Julie O’Keefe, the Osage wardrobe and costume consultant, added that “it was overwhelming, quite frankly, to see it for the first time. I had to see it a couple of times because you miss things.” Chief Standing Bear — leader of the Osage Nation — previously gave the film his blessing, saying at its Cannes debut, “I can say on behalf of the Osage Nation that Scorsese and his team have restored trust.”
The Apple TV+ film — which also stars Jesse Plemons and Brendan Fraser, though the cast was not present at the premiere event due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike — hits theaters Friday.
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