Osage consultants weigh in on the complex feelings of watching “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Several Osage consultants who worked on Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon are weighing in on the film's depiction of the Osage people.
Christopher Cote, who worked as an Osage language consultant on the film, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter at the film's Los Angeles premiere Monday. In a red carpet interview, he said that Scorsese did "a great job representing our people," but he still wishes the film was told from the perspective of Lily Gladstone's character, Mollie Burkhart.
"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 told THR. "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."
At the film’s premiere, Osage language consultant Christopher Cote shares his complicated feelings about #KillersOfTheFlowerMoon pic.twitter.com/DKR0KcsLTs
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 17, 2023
Scorsese and writer Eric Roth adapted Killers of the Flower Moon from David Grann's 2017 book, telling the story of how white people targeted and brutally murdered wealthy Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese has said that although the book primarily focuses on the murder investigation and the early days of the FBI, he wanted to reframe his film to focus more on the Burkhart family and the Osage community.
"I think in the end, the question that you can be left with is: How long will you be complacent with racism?" Cote continued. "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."
Fellow Osage language consultant Janis Carpenter also told THR that she has "mixed feelings" on the film, especially in how it celebrates Osage cuture while also depicting a dark and violent history. "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," she said. "But then there are some things that were pretty hard to take."
Frazer Harrison/Getty Christopher Cote, Janis Carpenter, and Braxton Redeagle at a screening of 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
Scorsese and Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, the leader of the Osage Nation, recently met with reporters, where they opened up about the process of adapting Grann's book and wanting to honor the Osage people. "Even when I first received the book and I became interested, I said, 'The first thing we have to do is make sure it's right by the Osage,'" Scorsese told reporters.
Standing Bear added that at first, he was "concerned" when he learned that the film rights to Grann's book had been sold, but he was quickly reassured by how Scorsese met with and hired Osage experts.
"I can say that we were very concerned," Standing Bear explained. "I can also tell you that when Marty showed up in my office, he started out right off saying, 'We're going to film here. We're going to tell this story through the eyes of Mollie.' And it was a process of building trust like David [Grann] did."
Killers of the Flower Moon opens in theaters Oct. 20.
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