Murder in Big Horn: Why you need to watch this docuseries
Aaryika Jaipuria ‘26 / Entertainment Monthly Staff Writer
This Showtime series Murder in Big Horn directed by Razelle Benally and Matthew Galkin, explores the recurring and most prevalent tragedies of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) specifically in the Crow Regions of Montana. Big Horn County, near the Northern Cheyenne Reservations, is known to be the most unsafe place for Native women in the United States. This docuseries journeys through these regions, telling us the stories of those women and girls who never came back home.
These stories, you should know, are not difficult to find. After speaking with the directors themselves, I learned that almost every family in Big Horn has experienced the loss of a mother, sister, or daughter, or knows another family who has. Murder in Big Horn provides a glimpse inside many of these families and the turbulence they have faced, purely as a result of being part of an indigenous community. Each episode is dedicated to a few girls who fell victim to this horrific phenomenon, ensuring that we remember the names Henny Scot, Shacaiah Harding, Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, Selena Not Afraid.
This show may be one of the few pieces of media that angles the spotlight directly onto the indigenous people of the United States. After being ignored for too long, the injustices faced by these communities are put on full display in the series. The immobility caused by judicial, legislative, or executive forces in these communities is the reason for this systemic injustice.The series presents this outright… something that is highly overdue in mainstream media.
One of the directors, Razelle Benally, is herself a native woman and has managed to create a piece of art that relates the stories of all indigenous women while also pushing their narratives further. Social justice has always been an essential part of her identity, and we see the same sense of advocacy and empowerment in her work in Murder in Big Horn, as she manages to boost the community and give injustices like these the attention they need and deserve.
As students of art at Emerson, we all strive to achieve what Benally and Galkin have achieved with this docuseries: creating a masterful and beautiful piece of art that holds immense significance. Thus it is a series that not only depicts the untold stories of these girls but also how we as artists, can ensure such important stories reach the widest audiences possible.