Danielle Leask

This movie was a disgrace to the book, and sadly to the truth of violence and abuses of the Osage, at the hands of their own families, their communities and the government. Scorcese took all the mystery out of the film, all the suspense, all the unimaginable sadness the truth of how such atrocities were committed at the hands of everyone the victims trusted. I would have sat for 206 minutes if the story had been done justice on the screen, instead I squirmed at how badly adapted it was and how it clearly missed the point of the abhorrent corruption and greed that lead to decades of absolutely disgusting and unconscionable acts of terror against the Osage people and was told from the perspective of a white man. It didn’t show the how hard the Osage fought for their rights and how they kept the mineral rights despite being up against the federal allotment system threatening their land and way of life, guardianship schemes, the outright theft of millions, the guardians refusal to provide their wards necessities of life, and which was all ignored by the authorities. Tom White actually was a deserving hero; not Ernest Burkhart who didn’t deserve the screen time, nor did Hale or any other perpetrator. And what about Mollie??? Why couldn’t it be from her perspectives of watching her family die one by one, only to realize the truth. This deserves to be ignored, the victims deserved better.