Portrayal of Historical Injustice in “The Rez Sisters” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”

While Highway’s play “The Rez Sisters” and Scorsese's film “Killers of the Flower Moon" are different in their genre and story, both texts raise the theme of historical injustice by addressing the voiceless and marginalized narratives elided from mainstream consciousness.

Highway’s play brings back the dignity of the Indigenous narrative by presenting the generational effects of colonialism in a realistic manner. Its relentless commitment to telling Pelajia and Philomena’s characters' soulful stories reclaims their voices and experiences in a truly profound way. Particularly, Pelajia Patchnose personifies the suffering caused by the erasure of Indigenous people's identity and culture by the racist policy of cultural genocide and residential schools. Her psychological trauma and substance dependency problems demonstrate the generational effects of this attempted genocide of indigenous peoples (Abd-Aun & Okab, 2022). Likewise, Philomena Moosetail’s quest to attend the Grand Native Indian Residential School Survivors’ Purim Banquet represents the indigenous people’s ability to try and stand resilient after years of oppression.

The film Killers of the Flower Moon similarly reveals the horrifying true story of the Osage Reign of Terror in the 1920s in Oklahoma. The film powerfully reveals how the Osage Nation Indigenous people suffered from the genocidal conspiracy to annihilate them and steal their oil wealth through murder, deception, and treachery by racists and corrupt institutions (Scorsese, 2023). By depicting in detail the killings of the Osage people, the film holds the indifferent federal government officials responsible for the Osage’s extermination and the local law enforcement, court, and media that participated in the cover-up of the crimes (Scorsese, 2023). The complicity of the authority figures, such as the private investigators and the sheriff, shows how structural racism contributed to these heinous acts remaining undetected for years

In a nutshell, the two works show how art and storytelling can be critical tools for communicating existing historical injustice. By reclaiming the voices of the Indigenous peoples, they regain agency over Indigenous histories that have been erased, marginalized, or silenced by the dominant culture. Thus, Highway’s play and Scorsese's film generate significant conversation and recall as necessary first steps towards achieving social justice.