Martin Scorsese’s recent crime/western Killers of the Flower Moon was a major risk that not only he, but the actors who starred in the film, especially Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio, took as well just to deliver the horrifying truth in all sincerity to the audience. However, some still believe that the movie includes way too brutal graphic scenes, like Gladstone’s native co-star from Reservation Dogs, Devery Jacobs.
Thus, to warn her audiences of any potentially strong feelings that Killers of the Flower Moon could trigger in them, especially in the Indigenous audiences, Lily Gladstone issued a warning on social media for the same.
Lily Gladstone Posted A Trigger Warning For Her Latest Hit
After her co-star from Reservation Dogs, Devery Jacobs, who claims to be a native Indigenous herself, called out the film for its gruelling graphic sequences, Lily Gladstone, who stars as an Osage woman in Killers of the Flower Moon, took to social media to share a trigger warning for the same.
Posting to X, she wrote:
“The most pressing thing I’ve wanted to say about Killers of the Flower Moon, especially to Native Women & Youth: See it when and only if you feel ready, and see it with people you feel safe with. You’ll likely have a lot of generational grief to process. You’re not alone.”
Gladstone then listed a number of culturally specific and anonymous resources available 24/7 for the people who needed to ‘unpack and [were] without [a] community to do so’, before adding:
“I’m so proud of the film we made with so many Osage Nation leaders, artists, educators & community advocates. Never forget this story is recent history with a lasting impact on breathing, feeling people today. It belongs to them, & we all have so much to learn from it. In this process of learning about the horrific Reign of Terror, remember that the Osage remain. Native People remain. And this story is a lot to take in. Be kind, and please be gentle with each other. There is much to process, and much to heal.”
Although Killers of the Flower Moon has been critically acclaimed with a stunning 93% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems that Lily Gladstone‘s trigger warning was truly necessary for the natives before they decided to revisit the pain they once went through.
Devery Jacobs Previously Called The Film Out On Its Brutality
Previously, Reservation Dogs actress Devery Jacobs took to X to share her own grief that was triggered while she watched Killers of the Flower Moon. In the post, she mentioned how Indigenous people do exist and have a right to be acknowledged as much as White people do.
Defending the Osages and native Indigenous people, the actress further shared how she would prefer to watch a ‘$200 million movie from an Osage filmmaker telling this history, any day of the week’ instead of watching one from non-Native directors who ‘center the white perspective and focus on Native people’s pain’.
“I HAVE THOUGHTS. I HAVE STRONG FEELINGS. This film was painful, grueling, unrelenting, and unnecessarily graphic,” Jacobs wrote. “Being Native, watching this movie was f****** hellfire. Imagine the worst atrocities committed against [your] ancestors, then having to sit [through] a movie explicitly filled w/ them, w/ the only respite being 30 min long scenes of murderous white guys talking about/planning the killings.”
Lily Gladstone’s co-star then pointed out how the Osage characters ‘felt painfully underwritten’ while the White characters were given more depth and courtesy in comparison.
“I get the goal of this violence is to add brutal shock value that forces people to understand the real horrors that happened to this community, BUT—I don’t feel that these very real people were shown honor or dignity in the horrific portrayal of their deaths. Contrarily, I believe that by showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people.”
While several others must feel the same way about Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon, it is worth noting that apart from these flaws, the film has been thoroughly accurate in describing the horrific pains that the Osages once went through–which was the main motive of this movie right from the beginning.
