RPH vs. Killers of the Flower Moon
Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Elena Ortiz and Melanie Yazzie take on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
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@jamesgray9950
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
The beginning of the movie (burying of the pipe) is from a book written by Osage author and historian the late Charles Red Corn. That scene was set to occur 20 plus years prior to the events in the movie. The Osages lost 90% of their population in the previous century due to the many removals from our traditional homelands in MO and the blended aspects of their old culture and the western expansion into their community by the discovery of oil really happened. I'm sorry it put you both off. I'm a former Chief of the Osage Nation and a direct descendent of one of the Osages murdered in the film. It's a horrible and violent movie because it was a horrible and violent history. They consulted with the families who were affected by this story specifically. To lie about it and whitewash this story would have been an insult to our ancestors. I just discovered this podcast today or I would have commented earlier.
@qkranarchist3015
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Land Back. It's the only way. 🤲🏻🕯️✊🏻❤️ And I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to listen to such teachers, analysts, and activists.
@browk2512
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
It's a bit confusing when you disparagingly describe the disgustingly evil characters in the film. The portrayal of the human embodiments of colonialism is the point!
@jasoncharlespalmer
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
RPH is the best podcast ever, hands down. I love listening to it in the car with my teenage daughters who pretend they don't care. I hope they grow up to be like you both.
@eccentricmoose6481
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
On the topic of love…it doesnt seem that the film argues that this was genuine love. We KNOW what love is suspposed to be. There are so many ways that the series of events could've been portrayed but we can all agree that it does too well of a job portraying evil.
Anything that portrays evil accurately will not be received well no matter how we write, cut-and-paste, portray the series of events.
Lets not confuse trying to rewrite the movie with trying to rewrite history.
@tl9915
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Indebted yet again to you all for being voices of sanity, I had a similar sickness when I reluctantly watched the film, I had to wait a week just to watch this video. The only words I could say after seeing the film were that it's a condemnation of all Western European "civilization" and it's settler projects from past to present. Maybe an unintentional condemnation, but I hope it invokes the same reaction in all who watched it or will watch it.
@abeerabdelghany1284
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Your description that "the genocide of palestenians is blood sport entertainment on international news"
Thank you for saying this, i've been angry by the way western media covering this, while actual people enjoying the news and "debates" completely sick, i didn't have words to describe it, or way to understand where this ease in dealing with such violence is coming from
@BilingueB
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
I have not seen the movie but have been considering it, so I am grateful you did this episode. I felt like this prepared me mentally if I decide to watch it.
@red_sea
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Thank you for your review. I have no interest in seeing this movie. Scorsese probably expects the Osage to be grateful that he "centered" them in his movie. Settler arrogance and ignorance never cease!
@SirCamera
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Sorry, but I think the filmmakers very intentionally (and effectively) depicted DiNero’s character as the epitome of settler colonialism.
Just because Scorsese, DiNero, DiCaprio and the rest come from a privileged class doesn’t mean they can’t recognize how despicable these men are.
No where in the text or in framing do I see any forgiveness for the white men, or even the implication that they deserve forgiveness. They’re human beings, so naturally there’s going to be things that are understandable or even sympathetic about them, but the movie’s point is ultimately that these men were monsters who convinced themselves that they loved the people they were killing. Zero redeption for whiteness.
I think much of the commentary from Indigenous people I’ve seen regarding this movie is accurate – it’s not talking to the Osage, it’s not talking to Native Americans. It’s talking to the privileged, asking them to see themselves in monsters and to see the monster in themselves. It asks its target audience to sit in discomfort and consider the ways in which they participate in atrocities today in their real life. It’s a movie to wake up the otherwise complicit.
Still, I totally recognize that it’s an incredibly brutal exploration of men’s culpability in genocide and trauma, and I would not recommend it to just anyone. I especially would not recommend it to someone who already understands the trauma from the oppressed class perspective.
You don’t have to like Scorsese or his movies, but I think it’s a bad faith reading of this film to say he’s anxious about Indigenous people telling their own stories without his approval, or that this movie is a manifestation of that white liberal anxiety. If anything, it’s an attempt at confronting privilege and showing there’s nothing worth protecting or defending in whiteness or patriarchy. An anti-white attitude I wish I saw in more white dudes.
@carloscamelo7358
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Hi from Colombia! 🇨🇴 I stumbled upon your podcast and I must say, I absolutely love it! Your insights and discussions are so engaging and entertaining. I'm particularly looking forward to your review of Eccos from Disney +. I've been eagerly waiting for it and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the series. Keep up the awesome work, and greetings from a fan in Colombia!
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
I also pray for the deliverance and preservation of Palestine, a region that has suffered over 100 years of violence and unceasing settler-colonialism from it's Jewish-identified settlers. And now, the entire neoliberal West is being falsely led believed that the villains in the story are in fact the victims.
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Everything you say is so correct in my eyes, and I'm not even Native. I watched the GG and saw this film receive awards and was curious. I may still watch it but I had a feeling it was exactly as you say. I mean it's clear that while Scorsese no doubt means well, naturally his background and privilege is preventing him from truly understanding the true scope of the 400+ year campaign of erasure from Washington against the Native people of this continent.
So I thank you ladies for a very insightful, very serious and educational discussion. In my observation everything you said was right on the money and what I was expecting, a thoughtful and critical analysis of this film.
And what this film highlights to me is that sadly justice is still a far-off dream. The long bloody history of crimes and violations against all US Native communities still remain unanswered. The criminalization of Native activism is still there, the lack of sovereignty is still there, the MMIW are still there, the lack of reparations is still there. This is the current reality.
And so the 400 year history remains unhealed; unanswered for, and still yet to be made right in any meaningful way.
I don't know what in my life I can do to bring justice a little bit closer for any Native community in this country, but if I can do anything I will certainly try.
I'm not native but I stand with all Native people in this US because it disgusts me to see a history of violence, hatred, and genocide towards anyone.
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
You gotta love YT cowardice. They censored my comment because it was telling too much truth and echoing what you were saying. Such a shame.
@philquota7405
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Can you post link to the episode where you talk about Dances With Wolves?
@scarletkittyeyes
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
thank you for sharing you thoughts. I can only imagine how challenging that was to watch. i got so spooked by the violence in the trailer
@ultralite001
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Well done…
@Sam-nf5yp
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
How about Palestine ladies?
@Sam-nf5yp
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Maybe stop focusing on dividing and demonizing 'other' as you have been trained like a good dog to do. Native women settler women, bullshit… divide and conquer, fall for it every time.
@mikeyredding8983
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
also wish there was heightened recognition for rez dogs final season! plus frybread face and me was such an adorable film. so much great indigenous media this year
@nimzomitch
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Thank you, ladies! ❤
@TellingStewart
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
🌱 49:15 You Can Say That Again!🍃
@TellingStewart
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
🌱🌸🌿 NO OCCUPATION 🌿🌸🍃
@sundra9sandifer765
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Thank you for telling the truth.
@TheEricrya
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
❤❤❤❤❤❤
@ladyalexm1339
July 31, 2025 at 3:46 am
Love to you!
Comments are closed.