OSCARS 2024 - Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon came up empty despite 10 Nominations
At the 96th Academy Awards, Killers of the Flower moon, an oscar nominee, was eliminated. This is reminiscent of Scorsese's lackluster performance in The Irishman, his prior oscar nominee, which also took home no prizes. Ten oscar nominations were garnered for Killers of the Flower moon, including Best Picture, Best director (Martin Scorsese), and Best Actress (Lily Gladstone). Emma Stone's leading performance in Poor Things defeated Gladstone, who was perhaps the front-runner to win Best Actress.
Martin Scorcese's most recent film has an ambiguous title, Killers of the Flower moon, which has a distinct meaning to the Osage Nation and the storyline of the historical drama. The actual narrative of Killers of the Flower moon, which is based on David Grann's nonfiction book, uncovers a dark chapter in American history in which more than 80 Osage people were slaughtered in Oklahoma because of their oil rights. They were the richest Americans per capita when oil was found on territory that the federal government had granted to the tribe.
In 1921, congress moved swiftly to enact a statute prohibiting them from using their funds without a white guardian's consent. Others, such as cattle baron William Hale (Robert de Niro), were eager to gain a similar level of dominance and began marrying into the clan once these guardians amassed enormous power. Numerous Osage women were murdered by their white husbands during the "Reign of Terror" that lasted from 1918 to 1931. For decades, the elimination of so many Osage remained largely unreported, and as the conclusion of Killers of the Flower moon reveals, many of the cases remain unresolved.