Oscars 2024: How Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer won Best Picture over Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro’s Killers of the Flower Moon

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is undoubtedly a great film, but Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro’s Killers of the Flower Moon was a much more relatable movie. Both were based on real life stories and real life characters and both are serious dramas with weighty themes.  I was hoping against hope that Killers of the Flower Moon should get at least one award. I understand Oppenheimer is an intellectual drama with a niche audience, but so is Killers of the Flower Moon based on thorough research.

I feel it was a little unkind for  _Killers of the Flower Moon_ t o not win a single award. Despite 10 nominations**,** Killers of the Flower Moon claimed no Oscars. It was about the Osage nation that not many people talk about. The movie tells the story of the Osage reign during the 1920s and how everything was taken away from the natives by the white Americans. It was filmed in Osage County and has been and there was a huge award buzz since its Cannes debut last summer.

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_Killers of the Flower Moon_ it is not a regular ‘White Vs Black’ story, but a heart wrenching story of greed, conspiracy, racism and more. And this is depicted through the relationship shared between Mollie (Lily Gladstone) and Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio). Mollie is an Osage woman and she falls in love with this white man called Ernest who is negatively influenced by his greedy uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro).

Lily Gladstone portrayed Mollie Burkhart in the film, and was the first Native American to be nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role in nearly a century of Academy Awards. “You are the soul of Killers of the Flower Moon,” actress Jennifer Lawrence rightly said when she introduced Lily Gladstone as an Oscar nominee.

Gladstone had already won the top actress prizes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. But again she too lost out to Emma Stone, who won her second Oscar for Poor Things.

Those who have seen Lily Gladstone’s no frill heart wrenching performance in Killers of the Flower Moon were hooting for her. The story of Killers of the Flower Moon was an eye-opener for many. Many of us don’t know about Osage and how well-off they were. They are the real Americans and the richest people of that country. The White Americans used to plead with them for jobs. The Osage were wise people and they knew how to acquire wealth. One of the main conspirators who objected to the wealth of the Osage people was William Hale (Robert De Niro). He was the uncle of Ernest Burkhart (  Leonardo DiCaprio  ) who advised him to get married to Mollie who belonged to a wealthy Osage family. He was friends of the Osage families too. But nobody really knew that he was the real man behind the killing of the Osage people. Outwardly, he showed that he was their ally, but he was interested in their wealth and would go to any extent to get that. It’s a brilliantly made true-crime tale.

The complexities of both the films and the characters were brilliantly depicted. Christopher Nolan’s _Oppenheimer_   had its share of backlashes, despite that it shone at the box-office. Both the films were on political debate and both were engaging and had a contemporary look despite being set in the past.  I guess no matter how controversial the character was of Oppenheimer, being a box-office champion helps. And finally helped Oppenheimer to shine in the Oscars 2024.

(With added inputs from agencies)

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.