a review of 折箭为盟

I wasn't expecting this movie to be quite as humane as it is, with regard to the depiction of Native American characters. It's not perfect or even baseline acceptable in terms of Native representation by modern standards; Most if not all of the Apache characters are played by white actors in brownface, and our interaction with them is centered entirely around Jimmy Stewart's white-savior main character. But unlike a lot of other contemporary Westerns of the time (it's sobering to note that the horrifically racist THE SEARCHERS came out six years later) it proceeds from the view that the Apaches were human beings with their own unique and beautiful culture, and that peaceful coexistence with white settlers was at least possible. It doesn't specifically question the idea of white colonization or the displacement of Native peoples, but it's interesting to see a Western from this era trying to lay the groundwork for more enlightened attitudes going forward.