‘At that moment the movie was Indian:’ Osages in Colorado reflect on ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Hollywood has long depicted Native Americans in the most problematic of ways. American Westerns are some of the biggest offenders. Their portrayals of Indigenous people as savagaes has only deepened the intergenerational trauma Native people face. But these portrayals and the film industry more broadly are changing, somewhat. 

“Killers of the Flower Moon” tells the story of a massacre that Osage people in Oklahoma faced in the 1920s. Its lead female character - Lily Gladstone who plays Molly Burkhart - is Blackfeet and Nez Perce. Her casting in the role is a huge deviation from what we normally see in popular films. A recent analysis by USC Annenberg found that Native women are nearly nonexistent in Hollywood movies. 

Still, representation is but one piece of this, and some Osage people who saw the film had mixed reactions. KUNC reporter Emma VandenEinde spoke with Osage citizens in Colorado to learn more. She joined the show to discuss some of her recent reporting.