Martin Scorsese Disagrees With One Killers Of The Flower Moon Complaint
It seems that many of the year's major films couldn't completely avoid the controversies surrounding them in 2023. "Killers of the Flower Moon" has now joined the likes of "Oppenheimer," with some viewers suggesting a correlation between real-life events and how these events ought to be depicted on the screen in such stories.
The criticism suggests that despite "Killers of the Flower Moon" being focused on the tragic murders of the Osage tribe in the 1920s, the true crime story is too often told from the perspective of the film's Caucasian characters. However, director Martin Scorsese is pushing back on this particular point of contention, suggesting that his film is more nuanced in its approach than these complaints might suggest.
"I can't really agree that the story is told primarily from a white man's perspective," he told The New York Times. "I wanted to create a kind of panoramic perspective. There are many interwoven characters and strands in the story. The majority of the white characters are swindlers, thieves, and murderers. That includes Ernest and Bill, of course. I think the picture really isn't from their 'perspective.'"
This isn't the only controversy faced by Killers of the Flower Moon
Though Martin Scorsese is well within his rights to disagree with the criticism, it definitely holds some merit. After all, many viewers will likely recall just how much of "Killers of the Flower Moon" is told from the perspective of Ernest (Leonardo Dicaprio). Of course, much of the film is also told from Mollie Burkhart's (Lily Gladstone) point of view as well, which could offer the filmmaker some defense here.
Still, the writer-director's comments that Ernest and Bill (Robert DeNiro) are criminals don't necessarily alleviate these criticisms. After all, Scorsese has practically made a career out of telling stories focused on criminals, with many of them, like "Goodfellas," "Gangs of New York," and "Casino," which are also inspired by real-life events, being told mainly from the perspectives of the wrongdoers.
Meanwhile, these critiques are compounded by the views expressed by "Reservation Dogs" star Devery Jacobs, who suggested that the film was insensitive on top of ignoring the perspective of the Osage people. "This film was painful, grueling, unrelenting, and unnecessarily graphic," she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "But while all of the performances were strong, if you look proportionally, each of the Osage characters felt painfully underwritten, while the white men were given way more courtesy and depth."
While "Killers of the Flower Moon" is already expected to be a contender for best picture at the 2023 Oscars, criticisms like these may hinder its chances as awards season approaches.