Killers of the Flower Moon tells the true tale of whites against the Osage tribe

The fact that Killers of the Flower Moon is probably the best movie ever about the genocide by whites of Native Americans says a lot about how we as a civilization have buried this horror story. It’s a really great film that also puts on display how far Hollywood still has to go to truly tell the story of Native Americans.

This one is not really it. Probably eighty percent focuses on the gang of rich white oilmen, led menacingly by Robert DeNiro, and their systemic plan to wipe out the entire Osage tribe. Leo DiCaprio turns in his usual perfect performance as one of DeNiro’s main puppets.

I don’t want to hold it against this 2023 production that it’s more white-centric than Osage-centric because it really is an epic tale with phenomenal acting and, besides, it’s just really entertaining. That said, there are a lot of other relevant perspectives remaining for Hollywood to explore in the future.

Although Killers was nominated for just about every major category at the Academy Awards, it failed to win a single one of them. Martin Scorsese's film is based on David Grann's 2017 book. The true story places De Niro as a corrupt political operative who wrangles the oil rights out of the hands of the Oklahoma tribe in the 1920s. His nephew Ernest, played by DiCaprio, returns from World War I. Ernest genuinely falls in love with Mollie, an Osage whose family has lots of claim to the oil. DiNiro sees opportunities for much personal gain if he can get Ernest on board with killing lots of Mollie's family members. The Osage community begins to think the riots against Black people that happened in 1921 in Tulsa could very well be happening to them. 

Lily Gladstone as Mollie proves to be a breakout star. She is the first Native-American woman to win a Golden Globe for best actress.

The story is wrapped up at the end by a radio-show performance that lays out what became of all the main characters. A nice ending touch.

5 out of 5 stars