OSAGE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA: The trailer of Martin Scorsese’s highly-anticipated star-studded crime drama ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ arrived on Thursday, May 18, ahead of its 2023 Cannes Film Festival premiere, where it reportedly received a nine-minute-long standing ovation. While the trailer immediately presented viewers with Scorsese’s take on a dark time in 1920s America, the realization of the grisly tale being inspired by real-life events is even more chilling.
The Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro-starrer explores the true story of the Osage murders during what is dubbed by newspapers as the “Reign of Terror,” which lasted from 1921 to 1926. The reign began after dozens of Osage Native Americans were brutally killed in Osage County, Oklahoma, between the 1910s and 1930s, prompting the FBI to launch its first major homicide investigation. Scorsese’s film will shed light on the gruesome tragedy that resulted in the loss of countless innocent lives.
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A look into the real-life story behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is based on the 2017 non-fiction novel ‘Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI’ by American journalist David Grann, which depicts the true story of the members of the Osage Indian Nation and their tragic fate. Back in 1897, oil was discovered on the Osage Indian Reservation, present-day Osage County, Oklahoma.
After the discovery, members of the Osage Nation tribe won legal rights to profits from oil deposits found in their land. By the 1920s, members of the Osage Indian Nation became some of the richest people (per capita) in the world. From living in luxurious mansions and traveling in chauffeured cars to sending their children to the best schools in Europe, the families enjoyed an extravagant livelihood on a land that was once deemed “worthless.”
However, authorities eventually started to believe that the Osage would fail to manage their new wealth or get lobbied by white. This prompted the United States Congress to pass a law in 1921 that made it mandatory for the courts to appoint guardians for each Osage, including half-blood or more in ancestry. The guardians were given the responsibility of managing the royalties and financial affairs of Osage members until they were deemed competent enough to manage their own wealth.
By the early 1920s, at least 20 members of the Osage Indian Nation were killed one-after-another. By 1925, the killings turned into a full-blown genocide resulting in the death of sixty wealthy Osage, whose lands were later had been inherited or deeded to their guardians, the majority of whom were local white lawyers and businessmen. Reports suggest that some of these murders were carried out to take over the land and wealth of Osage members, who had headrights that earned lucrative annual royalties.
The killings led to the FBI, then known as the Bureau of Investigation, launching its first major homicide investigation. The FBI investigation headed by a 29-year-old J. Edgar Hoover and former Texas Ranger Tom White, revealed several of forms of crime and corruption helmed by local officials involved in the Osage guardian program. While the majority of the murderers did not face prosecution, some men were convicted and sentenced, including William Hale, a prominent local cattleman who took part in the killings.
Hale reportedly persuaded his nephew Ernest Burkhart to marry Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded Osage, and eventually ordered the murders of Kyle and his family to gain control of their oil rights. Hale allegedly organized the murders of Kyle’s mother, sisters, brother-in-law, and her cousin, Henry Roan, to cash in on their insurance policies and access headrights of each family member. After the death of her family members, Kyle and Burkhart inherited all of the headrights from her family. Shortly after, investigators discovered that Kyle was also being poisoned.
While Scorsese’s film is mainly told through Burkhart’s eyes it is likely that the nearly three and a half hours long film will provide a detailed insight into the “Reign of Terror,” a phase that is still considered to be one of the darkest pages of the American country.
Who stars in Martin Scorsese's ‘Killers of the Flower Moon?’
Scorsese's ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is a star-studded affair as the director has joined hands with longtime collaborators DiCaprio and De Niro. In the film, DiCaprio plays the role of Burkhart while De Niro portrays Hale. They are joined by Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart, Jesse Plemons as Tom White, Brendan Fraser as WS Hamilton, Hale's corrupt attorney, and John Lithgow as Prosecutor Leaward, among many others.
The film is set to be released in select theaters on October 6, before a wide release in the United States on October 20 by Paramount Pictures. It will eventually be available on Apple TV+ for streaming.