In the early 20th century, dozens of Native Americans were murdered by racist and greedy settlers, with the patience to carry out their crimes not in one fell swoop, but over the course of four years. The victims were members of the Osage Nation, based in the state of Oklahoma, USA, whose oil-rich lands had given enormous wealth to its occupants. But unfortunately, history has taught us that where there is money, there will never be a shortage of white men willing to take it, no matter who they run over along the way. The award-winning director Martin Scorsese started from that outrageous true story to raise The Moon Killershis most recent feature film that draws on the western genre, but with awareness, respect and the endorsement of the descendants of those Osage who a hundred years ago suffered the ravages of the so-called Reign of Terror.
The opulence before the tragedy
The Osage settled in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) after being removed from their ancestral lands in Kansas in 1872. The new home of the natives was made up of about 600 thousand hectares, which they purchased from the federal government without anyone suspecting that black gold was circulating through the veins of that region. It was not until the 1890s that the Osage Nation discovered that it owned a gigantic oil deposit and soon took advantage of it. Its exploitation generated annual profits of what today would be around $400 million dollars and this community became the wealthiest population in the entire world.
Each member of the Osage Nation enjoyed hereditary property rights to their respective parcels, which on average and equally covered about 265 hectares. And although they were protected so that their heritage would never be expropriated, the US Congress began to put obstacles that prevented the natives from freely self-managing.
In 1908, arguing that the Osage did not know how to manage their money and only squandered on chauffeurs, expensive clothing, and other luxuries, “Congress granted the probate courts of Oklahoma counties jurisdiction over the lands of Native Americans who were considered ‘minors and incompetent’ by a judge,” explains National Geographic. From that moment on, the finances of some were subject to the supervision of white tutors, who in addition to charging high fees for their services, maneuvered to pocket part of their clients’ wealth. However, deception and manipulation were not enough for certain colonists and bloodshed immediately followed.
the reign of terror
Homicides in Osage County began in 1921 and lasted until 1925; period in which there were no less than 60 natives killed (or missing) in violent or suspicious circumstances. Some of them were Anna Brown and Charles Whitehorn, murdered in May 1921, and Anna’s mother, Lizzie Kyle, who died two months later from poisoning. Then, between February and March 1923, Lizzie’s nephew died, as did another daughter of hers and her husband, victims of a bomb in her own home.
Such crimes led the Osage Tribal Council to demand clarification and justice from the US government. By then, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had already been operating for more than ten years and took the reins of the investigation in Oklahoma to find the person responsible for the mysterious murders that occurred there.
It was eventually resolved that William Hale, a wealthy, influential white rancher in Indian Territory, had masterminded the deaths involving the Kyle family. At first, Hale pushed for his nephew Ernest Burkhart to marry Mollie Kyle, Lizzie’s daughter. Later he had Mollie’s relatives killed, so that her property rights would pass to her and thus he would be closer to her – through Ernest – to the valuable heritage of that Osage lineage. Even Mollie was in danger of dying from poisoning, but the tragedy was prevented thanks to Hale’s arrest and subsequent sentence to life in prison.
The Moon Killers
After those disastrous 1920s, the murders of the Osage Nation – many of them unsolved – were practically forgotten, due in part to the fact that the natives themselves remained silent for almost a century. However, everything changed in 2017, when American journalist and author David Grann published his non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moonon which Martin Scorsese’s new film is based and where it talks about how the Osage case became a significant episode in the consecration of the FBI.
Within the framework of the commercial premiere of The Moon Killersthe current principal chief of the Osage Nation, Geoffrey Standing Beardeclared at a press conference that although previous generations did not see it appropriate to disseminate the real history of the atrocities suffered in the 1920s, the position of his community was already different.
“When David Grann wrote this excellent and well-researched book to show that it is a true story and that it did not happen that long ago, we began to raise our voices more and more,” Standing Bear told Cine PREMIERE and other Mexican media. «Then when we found out that the film rights had been sold and that a film was going to be made, we were worried about how whoever was going to do it; how it would be done and if our voice would be lost.
Later, the news that Scorsese would direct this film adaptation was well received. In particular, because the filmmaker was willing to film in Oklahoma and because he wanted to faithfully portray the natives and their customs. The prominent filmmaker and his team lived closely with this culture for months, then years, learning and advising each other to make The Moon Killers what Scorsese sometimes perceived as “a semi-documentary,” focused less on the FBI and more on who the Osage are, their historical relationship with the white man, and what those early 20th century homicides say about values and status. human.
Based on a painful true story, the film The Moon Killers It is exhibited in Mexican theaters starting October 19, 2023.
Antonio G. Spindola I have very bad memory. Out of solidarity with my memories, I choose to get lost too. Preferably, in a movie theater.