Even though she had immense praise for Indigenous star Lily Gladstone’s performance and acknowledged the “compelling” production design of Scorsese’s $200 million film, Jacobs found issues with the movie’s narrative perspective. “If you look proportionally, each of the Osage characters felt painfully underwritten, while the white men were given way more courtesy and depth,” Jacobs wrote. “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.”
Scorsese and his team worked closely with Osage consultants while developing and shooting the film — though none of them were given screenwriting credit or a larger production role. “It’s a different movie than the one [Scorsese] walked in to make almost entirely because of what the community had to say,” Gladstone told Variety in January 2023. “The work is better when you let the world inform the work.” Still, all four of the film’s producers, both credited screenwriters, and the director are all white men. Author David Grann is also white.
“I can’t believe it needs to be said, but Indig ppl exist beyond our grief, trauma & atrocities,” Jacobs wrote on X. “Our pride for being Native, our languages, cultures, joy & love are way more interesting & humanizing than showing the horrors white men inflicted on us.”
