The film never makes it clear what Ernest and the doctors mix into Mollie's insulin. Hale told Ernest, who's portrayed as a suggestible simpleton, the cocktail would slow her down. The movie makes it look like Ernest isn't even sure what's in the vials he pours into his wife's insulin, giving him plausible deniability.
The scene: Ernest comforts Mollie in their bed. Theirs is a complicated relationship. Ernest clearly loves her but, at the same time, administers her insulin laced with poison, at the behest of his uncle.
What was he putting in her insulin in Killers of the Flower Moon?
Ernest's seemingly genuine adoration for Mollie comes laced with poison (literally — once they're married, he dilutes her insulin with morphine), courtesy of his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), who gradually coaxes his nephew into helping murder Mollie's entire family for their money.
What was the wasting disease in Killers of the Flower Moon?
Other prominent conditions in the film are diabetes and a “wasting disease,” implied to be in many cases undiagnosed diabetes, that takes the lives of many Osage people before they reach the age of 50. Mollie Burkhart, played by Lily Gladstone, is one of several Osage people who suffer with the disease.
Type 2 diabetes among American Indians is the result of decreasing traditional foods of wild game, garden produce, and seasonal fruits, vegetables, tubers, and herbs, in favor of overindulging in sugary, starchy, and fatty foods and adopting a sedentary way of life.
The story that Killers of the Flower Moon projects onto the big screen is one that's hard for many of us to confront, and the horrific nature of the events might even cause some viewers to chalk it up to creative Hollywood writers. But the great majority of the events of the film are, unfortunately, accurate.
Smith in 1926, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Burkhart was paroled in 1937, but was sent back to prison for burglarizing his former sister-in-law's house in 1940. After being paroled for the final time in 1959, Burkhart was pardoned by Oklahoma governor Henry Bellmon in 1966 for his role in the Osage murders.
Ernest Burkhart attempted to reconnect with his family after his release from prison, but his actions were met with resentment due to his involvement in the murder of his own family members. He lived until 1986, dying at the age of 94.
Eventually, her diabetes treatment is weaponized when William and the town physicians instruct Ernest to poison Mollie's insulin injections, their goal being to inherit her headrights on her death.
William King Hale (December 24, 1874 – August 15, 1962) was an American political and crime boss in Osage County, Oklahoma, who was responsible for the Osage Indian murders, for which he was later convicted. He made a fortune through cattle ranching, contract killings, and insurance fraud.
Despite claiming to love his wife dearly, Ernest and doctors (provided by Hale) appear to slowly poison Mollie while administering insulin shots for diabetes, adding something to her insulin.
Margie Burkhart, Mollie's granddaughter, told Grann that living on the Osage Reservation with Cobb was a period of happiness for her, and in 1937, Mollie died at the age of 50. As read by Scorsese during a cameo in the film, Mollie's short obituary stated: "Mrs.
The movie notes that Anna was pregnant when she died. However, the book mentions that when the FBI's lead agent on the investigation, Tom White (played by Jesse Plemons), got involved, he discovered that Hale and Anna were more than just acquaintances.
Mollies are omnivorous. In the wild, they eat both animal and plant matter. In your tank, feed them the standard tropical fish flakes you find at your local pet store. You can supplement their diet with brine shrimp as well.
Lantus is a man-made form of a hormone (insulin) that is produced in the body. Insulin is a hormone that works by lowering levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
Mollie Burkhart, who's the heroine of the movie, is diagnosed with diabetes, or, as the doctor James Shoun calls it in court testimony quoted in David Grann's book, “sugar diabetes.” She's described as having suffered from it already for a while in the early 1920s.
Why do they all have diabetes in Killers of the Flower Moon?
In both Killers of the Flower Moon and real-life research, indigenous peoples often attribute diabetes to the “white man's food,” which may be an accurate cause.
Winter comes, and Mollie works less and less. Eventually, Clover discovers that Mollie is being bribed off Animal Farm by one of Pilkington's men, who eventually wins her loyalties. Mollie disappears, and the pigeons report seeing her standing outside a pub, sporting one of the ribbons that she always coveted.
It's hard to know what is truly in another's heart, but Grann told the British newspaper the Independent that “all the letters and interviews I did clearly indicate he had genuine feelings for Mollie.” He also wrote in the New Yorker that “Ernest studied her native language until he could talk with her in it.
Did the real Ernest Burkhart love Mollie Burkhart? Whether or not it's accurate that Ernest really did love his wife—even has he was plotting to kill her entire family and quite possibly her, too—is impossible to say. That's the way Scorsese chose to tell the story, and it's certainly a compelling angle.
What happened to Ernest and Mollie Burkhart's children?
Ernest and Mollie Burkhart's son, James Burkhart, grew up and started a family after the end of Killers of the Flower Moon. According to an article by The Washington Post, James, who went by the nickname "Cowboy," married and had two daughters, Doris and Margie.
After just over ten years in prison, Burkhart was paroled in 1937 but returned to jail a short time later after robbing his former sister-in-law Lillie Morrell Burkhart. His parole was revoked when he was sentenced to jail in 1941.
Mollie's daughter Anna, named after her sister, really died of whooping cough at the age of 4 just like in the movie. Mollie eventually divorced her husband, Ernest Burkhart, and remarried a man named John Cobb in 1928. She stayed with him until her death in June 1937 at 50 years old.
Over 2,000 Osage individuals made it to the Osage Nation Reservation in 1872; today, our Nation's population is over 25,000 strong, with 4,467 individuals living in Osage County on the Osage Nation Reservation.
