Osage consultant says ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ “isn’t made for an Osage audience”
An Osage consultant who worked on Martin Scorsese‘s new film Killers of the Flower Moon has admitted the movie “isn’t made for an Osage audience”.
Scorsese’s latest motion picture is set to arrive in cinemas on October 20th before arriving on Apple TV+ at a later date. The film focuses on the indigenous Osage tribe of the United States who mysteriously begin to be picked off one by one, prompting an F.B.I. investigation. Throughout the process of making the movie, the director worked with members of the Osage tribe.
Christopher Cote is an Osage language consultant on the project and he explained at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles on October 16th that he was “nervous about the release of the film; now that I’ve seen it, I have some strong opinions.”
Cote told The Hollywood Reporter: “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.” He also praised the director, stating: “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.”
He added: “But when somebody conspires to murder your entire family, that’s not love. That’s not love, that’s just beyond abuse.”
Cote 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 repression, this is an opportunity for them to ask themselves this question of morality, and that’s how I feel about this film,” he concluded.
DiCaprio recently claimed Hollywood has a “checkered past” regarding the depiction of Native Americans and conceded “we need to do more”.
He told British Vogue: “It’s a completely forgotten part of American history, and an open wound that still festers. Hollywood has a long history and checkered past in its depiction of Native American people. We need to do more. You know, we are coming towards a great reckoning of our past. The more that these stories can be told in a truthful way, the more it can be a healing process.”
In a four-and-a-half-star review of Killers of the Flower Moon, Far Out wrote: “As expected of Scorsese, every shot is perfectly crafted and brings the nature of the true-crime narrative to new cinematic heights. At three and a half hours long, Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly captivating, sensitive in its approach and an essential work in chronicling the power that the United States would eventually become.”
Watch the trailer below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.