Killers of the Flower Moon is not a ‘white savior’ story, says Lily Gladstone
The new film by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro is not a western either, specifies the actress.
The release of the next Martin Scorsese fast approaching. Screened at the Cannes Film Festival last May, Killers of the Flower Moon arrives on Apple TV in October. The film, which will last 3 hours 26 minutes, will be immersed in the heart of America in the 1920s, and will focus on the Osage community. These people, who live in Oklahoma, made their fortune thanks to the oil that abounds on their land. “The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracts the lust of disreputable whites who intrigue, extract and steal as much Osage money as possible before resorting to murder…”, specifies the synopsis. The FBI will then send one of its agents to investigate.
On display, we find in particular Lily Gladstone (The Unknown Country, Certain Women), who plays Molly Burkhart. The latter is married to Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a cattle rancher whose uncle William Hale (Robert DeNiro) is determined to appropriate the oil from the reserve. “We can’t say no” to a proposal from Scorsese, says the actress. Especially since she seems satisfied with the look given to indigenous populations in the feature film.
Killers of the Flower Moon: everything we know about the new Martin Scorsese
The scenario was first created from the eponymous book by David Grann, which was not fiction but a journalistic investigation. Initially, the film’s story focused on the FBI, before pivoting to a focus on the Osage and the series of murders that occurred during this period.
“This is not a white savior story”, says Gladstone to Vulture. “It’s the Osage people saying, ‘Do something. Here’s some money, come help us”, she adds. However, according to the actress, telling stories related to indigenous populations is always “double-edged”.
“We would like more indigenous people to tell the story of indigenous people, but we also want the ‘masters’ to pay attention to it. The history of America has no history without that of these peoples. she explains.
A descendant of the Nimíipuu and Pikunis tribes, the actress who grew up on the Blackfeet Indian reservation (Montana) before settling in Seattle, is categorical: Killers of the Flowers is also not a Western. And that’s good, because she doesn’t approve of the image that this cinematic genre has traditionally projected onto indigenous populations.
“In these films, we are so dehumanized that we feel like we are part of the landscape, rather than humans telling a story,” she lamented in an interview with Empire last July.
Gladstone ultimately describes this film as a “great american tragedy”. Killers of the Flower Moon will be available on Apple TV from October 18. In the casting, we also find Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser And John Lithgow.
