‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Book to Film Comparison

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Killers of the Flower Moon.

Of all the historical dramas you’ll ever see, there are few that make such critically significant changes from their source material quite like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro, it depicts the true story of how the Osage were murdered for their wealth in 1920s Oklahoma. Though based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann, it could not be more different in focus and scope the longer that you get into it. While the story remains the same, the way Scorsese goes about telling it is crucial to its impact. Thus, here are the differences between the book and the film.

Killers of the Flower Moon

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one – until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

Release Date

October 20, 2023

Director

Martin Scorsese

Rating

R

Runtime

206 minutes

Lily Gladstone’s Mollie Is More Central in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Not only is the film at its best when Gladstone is on screen, but it is much more centered around her character of Mollie than the book was. Though it still could have very well had more of her, that is just a reason to seek out works like the upcoming Fancy Dance however you can. In regards to this film, it shifts away from being about the formation of the FBI as much as the book was to instead keep her at the forefront. Rather than just relying on the knowledge that Mollie was being poisoned and leaving that in the background while the investigation unfolds as Grann did, this grim core to the film is something that we are never allowed to forget. As Scorsese has himself said in interviews, there was a desire on his part to do right by the Osage in telling this story. While the film remains more than open to criticism in how it does so, this reframing of the story still is one of the primary ways it works to distinguish itself from the book. There is more detail to this that plays out in the very end, but there are a couple of other key elements that must be discussed before this.

Robert De Niro’s William Hale Is Clearly Evil From the Start in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Not only is De Niro’s most recent collaboration unlike anything he and Scorsese have ever done together, but it is also one where his character of Hale is revealed as being a wolf in sheep’s clothing almost right from the jump. The book played the eventual reveal of him being the one behind all of the killings as a surprise, which is another fundamental difference in framing that we’ll get to, while the film does almost the complete opposite. We know rather quickly what Hale is doing because he lays it all out to Ernest (DiCaprio) the more the two talk together. The depths of his depravity are no less horrifying because of this. In fact, it makes it that much more unsettling to see De Niro’s Hale openly plot to set more and more murders in motion for money. He does it in almost plain sight, making each outburst of violence feel like another slow-moving train about to decimate an entire community. The terror comes from how everyone who could stop it not only chooses not to do so, but hurries it along.

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‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Is Not About the FBI Solving a Mystery

Though Jesse Plemons does make a great small appearance towards the end of the film as investigator Tom White, who was essentially the driving force of the entire middle of the book, this is not a story where the cavalry from the government will swoop in to save the day. To Grann’s credit, he also acknowledged at several points how their coming in was not only not enough to repair the harm that was done, but they also missed out on what were certainly countless more murders. Scorsese takes it a step further in how he pushes us to sit with the full scope of just how rotten to the core the entire situation was. Where the book treated it as a mystery to be solved, there are no discoveries to be made here. Once White and his team of investigators show up, there are so many lives that have been lost that will never be brought back. We already know who is behind it and are just waiting for the supposed forces of justice to catch up before even more is lost. The reality of it all is that they will only be able to stem the flow of blood, but not fully heal the wound. In many ways, that is where Scorsese makes what is his final yet most significant change to not just this story, but any film he’s ever made.

Scorsese Himself Steps Under the Spotlight in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

In an unexpected cameo where the director pulls back the curtain on the whole film, we are taken out of the story and into a radio play. Though Grann had made reference to such events and the way they sanded down the full reality of what happened, Scorsese actually goes about bringing it to life. It then ends with him stepping on the stage himself to deliver the final lines of the film about how Mollie’s obituary did not mention the murders. It is the type of breaking of the fourth wall that is a huge gamble, but it brings into focus how the immense harm that was wrought upon the Osage is not something that can be confined to the past. For all the horrors of the past, the present is just as much about recreating that same dehumanization. Scorsese does not let himself off the hook in that and instead shows how there is still much that he is doing which cannot fully do justice to this history. As he brings us all the way into the present, it leaves one more lingering moment of enduring pain to grapple with.

Killers of the Flower Moon is now available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

Watch on Apple TV+