Reservation Dogs star hammers Killers of the Flower Moon as 'mind-blowing nightmare'!

Reservation Dogs actor Devery Jacobs has recently brought attention to Martin Scorsese's crime drama western, Killers of the Flower Moon, for its portrayal of Native Americans and their historical background. Set in the 1920s, the movie revolves around a string of murders in the Osage nation of Oklahoma, following the tribe's newfound wealth from oil discovery on their land. This adaptation is based on a book published in 2017 with the same title and features Leonardo DiCaprio in a leading role.

The audience has already praised it and considers it another successful film by the renowned director, along with DiCaprio. However, Killers of the Flower Moon has compelled Devery Jacobs to closely examine the movie's portrayal of emotionally charged events that Native people have experienced over the years. Jacobs, a well-known Indigenous Canadian actor who gained recognition for her role in the Indigenous American series Reservation Dogs, took to social media to express her concerns about the negative aspects of the movie.

Devery Jacobs has “strong” thoughts about Killers of the Flower Moon

The Reservation Dogs actor calls Scorsese‘s Indigenous characters underdeveloped, saying that the use of violence and murder “dehumanizes” their people.

In a lengthy X/Twitter thread, Jacobs candidly expressed her thoughts on the movie, highlighting both her admiration for Scorsese as a director and the performances of the actors, while also pointing out significant flaws in its portrayal of the pain and suffering of Natives.

As a Native person, watching this movie was an incredibly distressing experience. It felt like I was being subjected to the most horrific acts committed against my ancestors, while having to endure scenes that explicitly depicted these atrocities. The only brief moments of relief were when the movie focused on white characters engaging in dialogue and planning their murderous acts. Sadly, the Osage characters were poorly developed and their stories were not given the attention they deserved, unlike their white counterparts who were portrayed with more depth.

While she acknowledged Scorsese's artistic vision, she expressed her concern about the violent portrayal of the community's experiences. She believed that instead of honoring and dignifying the real people, the depiction of their deaths normalized the violence and dehumanized them further. Jacobs also criticized the tendency of non-Native directors to tell these stories from a white perspective. While acknowledging the excellent work done by the Osage community and the Wazhazhe in the movie, she expressed her preference for an Osage filmmaker to create a $200 million movie depicting this history.

Killers of the Flower Moon is now in theaters. Find out more about it here, our review here, and further coverage below: