Terrible and Unjustly Forgotten: The True Story of Murderers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese’s Masterpiece Starring DiCaprio

Much anticipated by the public, Killers of the Flower Moon finally hits theaters on October 18th. This ambitious 3h26 historical mural reunites Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in front of Martin Scorsese’s camera!

After The Irishman, which was based on the true story of gangster Frank Sheeran and trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa, the New York filmmaker also took inspiration from reality for his new film?

True history unjustly forgotten

Martin Scorsese and his co-writer Eric Roth adapted David Grann’s mystery book, Killers of the Flower Moon (American note in French), published in 2017. A renowned writer and investigative journalist, the author sheds light on forgotten stories with great insight and keen eye, based on in-depth and very in-depth research.

At the heart of the writer’s book is the Osage Nation, a Native American people who had to leave their original lands located in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. They then moved into the states of Kansas and Missouri, until they finally settled in the so-called Indian Land, further west, in Oklahoma.

As Emmanuel Tellier explains Mariana’s ColumnsThe Osage, already displaced between 1818 and 1825, saw their population cut in half during the first very long phase of their migration to Kansas. For the author it is a “Almost an ‘ordinary’ tragedy, without mercy for the losers of Western conquest in this century: epidemics, malnutrition, sometimes even starvation.”

After this forced migration, the Washington administration again asked the Osages to go into exile. “This time settling on the plains north of the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma.” At that time there were only 3,000 Osages left in the tribe. They decided to agree to the government’s request, without setting an unreasonable condition: to become the undivided owners of these lands.

The Osage Nation had to pay “Certainly a large sum at the time – $300,000, the equivalent of $7 million in 2023 – but one that guaranteed them never to move again. The agreement was signed in 1872 (later added to in 1906) and the Osages became the owners. 6,000 km2 of land, It would not be easy to live on this ungrateful plateau, but at least no one would come here to drive them away.”

Since the end of the 19th century, this is where most of the Osage lived. After oil was discovered on their land in 1894, the Osage became extraordinarily wealthy as they retained their rights to the land and leased the fields to developers.

“Who, before 1894 and the first discoveries in this region before the providential viscous fluid, would have imagined that this thankless corner of northern Oklahoma contained the richest oil deposits in all of North America? A jackpot for 19th century losers.”Emmanuel Tellier explains.

Within 20 years, the Osage tribe, which arrived in Oklahoma in utter destitution, became the wealthiest population per capita on the entire planet. “Each Osage family, as the owner of its plot, had only to negotiate a contract with the mining company to receive generous exploitation rights, as well as a significant share of the revenue from that exploitation. An extraordinary turn of history!”

Greedy speculators then flocked to the region. The latter tries to take advantage of the Osages in the “mushroom towns” that appear everywhere (where criminal activity flourishes…) and with the express permission of the American government of the time. Then a corrupt and racist system is created.

in 1921, “The Osage tribe was accustomed to receiving between $20 and $22 million annually in royalties and royalties for the oil they produced, the equivalent of $300 million today—shared by fewer than 10,000 Indian souls. Look and Think” by New York’s Outlook Special Correspondent He wrote that instead of starving to death, Indians enjoy a regular income that makes the bankers jealous.Emphasizes Emmanuel Tellier in Marian.

Millions of dollars are at stake

Native American properties are also run by white trustees who make millions of dollars in profits. In the 1920s, money was inevitable. The latter are killed under mysterious circumstances. Note that some have been poisoned for a long time.

the purpose that very lucrative “head rights” (those rights paid to Native Americans for the use of their land) could be inherited by profiteers who entered Native American families through marriages of convenience.

Beginning in 1925, the FBI began investigating at the request of the Osage people. This is one of the first criminal cases handled by the Bureau. But unfortunately the damage has already been done. This sordid story would eventually be forgotten until it resurfaced a century later, brought to light by Martin Scorsese in the film Killers of the Flower Moon.

In addition, Martin Scorsese wanted to set his cast on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma. For the role of the female lead, he especially called Blackfeet actress Lily Gladstone.

Along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, most of the cast is Native American. About 40 people from the Osage reservation were selected in the casting process. Some of them play the role of grandfather or grandfather in the film.