Killers of the Flower Moonthe new film by Martin Scorsese, is an adaptation of The American Note (Globe, 2018), a non-fiction story by David Grann. Both reveal the tragic destiny of the Osage people, forced to settle on the great plains of Oklahoma in the 19th century.e century. Enriched by the discovery of oil on its lands, from 1894, it was hit by a series of massacres as mysterious as they were barbaric, between 1918 and 1931.
The American journalist and writer is full of praise for Geoffrey Standing Bear, elected in 2014 at the head of this community of 25,000 people. “Standing Bear is a leader like few others – wise, courageous, kindDavid Grann tells us. He has a keen sense of history, and a great vision for his people. » So many qualities demonstrated by this former lawyer, impeccable in his suit and tie, during the interview he gave us, by videoconference.
You are serving your third term as leader of the Osage Nation. What is your background ?
For marital status, my name is Geoffrey Morgain Standing Bear. I am a member of the Bear Clan. I am a product of the educational system established by the Jesuit missionaries when the Osage lived in Kansas. I practiced law for a long time in the small town of Pawhuska. [en Oklahoma], our capital. I still live there with my wife and our four children.
To what extent do the massacres perpetrated between 1918 and 1931 haunt your community?
We pass on our history orally, from generation to generation. This explains why the memory of these murders remains so vivid among us, but also why it is little known outside. Some Osage, like Dennis McAuliffe Jr. [The Deaths of Sybil Bolton, Chicago Review Press, 2020, non traduit] or Charles Red Corn [A Pipe for February, University of Oklahoma Press, 2005, non traduit], have written books about it. But none have met the response of David Grann.
How did you receive it?
For almost two years, David Grann stayed with us. He was very kind and respectful, we opened up to him. His work traces the birth of the FBI, following what is called here the “reign of terror”. Martin Scorsese’s film tells, based on this exceptional material, how people faced these tragedies in their daily lives. These are two complementary works.
Do you have any complaints about this adaptation?
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