Inaugural Delaware Indian News Self-guided Movie and Book Club: Killers of the Flower Moon

Celeste Amadon

The Delaware Indian News warmly invites our readership community to join in our new self-guided movie and book club. Club recommendations are for recently released or published movies, television series, and books that resonate with Indigenous experiences. Club selection postings include a list of discussion topics and/or links to articles about the work to facilitate your thinking and engaging discussions about our stories, their portrayal, and the power of narrative in shaping understanding and awareness.

2024 Selection #1
Our first club selection is Killers of the Flower Moon. The film, nominated for several Golden Globe awards and a strong contender for Academy Awards, is an adaptation of the best selling non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, which is also strongly recommended. It tells the tragic story of the 1920s murders of Osage Nation members in Oklahoma.

Streaming Availability
Killers of the Flower Moon is available on Apple TV+ and other streaming platforms, making it accessible for our community members to view before the discussion. The novel is available on Amazon.com and the Audible audiobook version makes excellent driving entertainment.

Key Discussion Questions:

• How does the film balance the portrayal of Native American history with the demands of a mainstream movie narrative? It reportedly does an excellent job of representing Osage culture, but it allso exploits Native tragedy for art/profit (DiCaprio was paid $40M).
• In what ways did the extensive involvement of Osage Nation consultants impact the film’s authenticity?
• The film’s focus on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) has been a point of contention. How does this choice affect the representation of the Osage community’s experiences?
• Despite the casting of many (around 65!) Native actors, the film is primarily a creation of non-Indigenous filmmakers. How does this influence its storytelling and perspective?
• The film has been critiqued for lacking broader historical context about Indigenous genocide, oppression, and land theft. Context the nonfiction novel on which it is based did a much better job of provided.How does this impact its message?
• What are the implications of the film’s portrayal of Native American history for contemporary Indigenous representation in cinema?

Interesting Articles
NPR: How Osage people stepped in to be sure ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ got things right
Slate: Killers of the Flower Moon Is Not the Story an Osage Would Have Told. You Should Still See It.
The New York Times: In Indigenous Communities, a Divided Reaction to ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
The Wall Street Journal: Killers of the Flower Moon’ Puts New Indigenous Stars on the Map