Killers of the Flower Moon garners critical acclaim and box office success, there is a disheartening sentiment within the indigenous community regarding the film claims the Reservation Dogs star.
Devery Jacobs, known for her role as Elora Danan Postoak in Reservation Dogs, recently shared her painful experience watching the movie on social media. In a Twitter thread, Jacobs expressed her thoughts and strong feelings about the film.
“This film was painful, grueling, unrelenting, and unnecessarily graphic. Being Native, watching this movie was f—ing hellfire. Imagine the worst atrocities committed against your ancestors, then having to sit through a movie explicitly filled with them, with the only respite being 30-minute-long scenes of murderous white guys talking about/planning the killings.
While Jacobs credited director Martin Scorsese’s achievements and acknowledged the film’s appeal to cinephiles, she strongly criticized the portrayal of violence onscreen. However, she criticized the violence depicted onscreen. For not allowing any “honor or dignity in the horrific portrayal” of the deaths of the real people being represented. “Contrarily, I believe that by showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people,” she continued.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Jacobs did commend the performances of indigenous actors in the film, particularly praising Lily Gladstone and calling for her to receive an Oscar. She concluded by advocating for more indigenous representation behind the camera, believing it would lead to a more authentic portrayal of the film’s events. She expressed her appreciation for the Osage communities involved in the film but expressed a preference for an Osage filmmaker to tell this history in a $200 million movie.
On Reservation Dogs Jacobs played one of four indigenous teens living in modern-day Oklahoma dealing with grief, coming of age, and reservation life. It was the first American television series to feature entirely indigenous directors and writers
