Scorsese, Martin, dir. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is an adaptation of David Grann’s book of the same name. Both focus on the murders between 1910 and 1930 of the Osage, a Native American community in Oklahoma, United States, who fell victim to an inheritance scheme wherein white people killed Osage members for their oil shares. In 1897, Osage discovered that the ground they had settled on was rich with oil which made them extremely wealthy and, simultaneously, a target for white people. Certain laws at the time allowed these murders to take place without any real prosecution of the perpetrators. Grann based his research predominantly on FBI files that solved some of the murder cases and described how the Osage murders formed the foundation of the FBI as we know it today. Scorsese’s original script followed the narrative of the book, making it a classic ‘whodunit’ story with Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead FBI agent Tom White who arrived in Osage County to solve the murders.

However, after conversations with the Osage community wherein concerns about Osage representations were expressed, both Scorsese and DiCaprio agreed that the foundation of the story lay in the marriage between Ernest (white) and Molly Burckhart (Osage). Ernest was recruited by his uncle William “King” Hale to help him with the inheritance scheme he played an important role in. Hale encouraged Ernest to marry Molly for her oil shares, leading Ernest to poison his wife with supposed medicine for her diabetes. The story is mostly told from the perspective of Mollie (victim) and Ernest (perpetrator), emphasizing the difference in the knowledge they hold about the murders. The only times there is a break from the linear storytelling, usually in the form of a flashback, is when Mollie discovers something new about the murders. Instead of uncovering the murderers at the end as in a regular mystery, Scorsese makes it clear from the beginning who the perpetrators are and how they committed the murders. This is also visualized in the color palette used during scenes with the Osage, which is vibrant and alive, and the perpetrators, dark and muted. The audience witness the systematic killing of the Osage and become an implicated subject, to reference Michael Rothberg: Scorsese holds up two mirrors to the audience—one that aligns them with Ernest as the perpetrator, and the other that shows themselves. The murders are surrounded by silence in the film and reality. Current censorship laws in Oklahoma prohibit discussions about the murders and other atrocities, for example, the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, which is also mentioned in the film, making it a work of multidirectional memory, to invoke another of Rothberg’s concepts. The perpetrator, the U.S. government, silences the events and victims, showing a pattern in its racist depiction of American history.

The movie received some criticism due to Scorsese’s white cultural background, his ability to properly depict a Native American story, and his focus on the white perpetrators instead of the Osage victims (Kuo; Smith). However, the film incorporates many Osage voices on and off screen that allows for an accurate representation of the culture. Moreover, the perpetrator perspective creates a confrontational element that the audience is forced to acknowledge. The most recent depiction of the Osage in media before the film was in Mean Spirit, a book by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan, published in 1990. Scorsese’s adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon breaks the silence around the Osage history and opens up space for more Native American stories in media.

Works Cited

Kuo, Christopher. “In Indigenous Communities, a Divided Reaction to ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’” The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/movies/osage-reaction-killers-of-the-flower-moon.html. Accessed 23 Jan. 2024.

Smith, David. “‘Hollywood doesn’t change overnight’: Indigenous viewers on Killers of the Flower Moon.” The Guardian, 3 Nov. 2023, https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/03/indigenous-native-american-review-opinion-killers-flower-moon-movie. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024.

Scorsese, Martin, dir. Killers of the Flower Moon. Apple Studios, 2023. Apple TV+ app.

Author of this entry: Helenie Demir.

Scorsese, Martin, director. Killers of the Flower Moon. Apple TV+, 2023. 3 hr., 26 min.