But notice the treatment of the Indian vs. white people, a foretaste of what was to become absolutely blatant in Dances with Wolves in which every white person except protagonist and his love interest were portrayed as warmongering (in the Civil War), crazy and alcoholic (the officer who pees his pants and commits suicide), slovenly and filthy (the mule team driver who farts), indiscriminate killers of wolves, buffalo, horses (soldiers) illiterates (soldiers) brutal and sadistic (soldiers) etc.
The Indians, on the other hand are portrayed as very human, compassionate, family oriented, idyllic, and noble savages-apart from the pesky Pawnees who are disposed of and justice is obtained.
In Jeremiah Johnson we see the white people in much the same light. Will Gere (Sp?) who plays the grizzly hunter is borderline crazy and a killer of grizzlies for sport. The men buried up to his neck is a man who would trade Jeremiah's Johnson's life for his own (how was I supposed to know they were friendly Indians?). We meet The Crazy Woman of crazy woman mountain fame(an actual mountain in Montana) who is explicitly crazy although that condition is brought on by the loss of her children in an Indian raid.
Here again, the Indians are portrayed as very human creatures, his love interest for example is more reasonable than Jeremiah Johnson himself, the Indian father who gives her away in marriage to Johnson obviously loves her, portraying strong family values etc. among the Indians, the attitude of the white trapper who would have traded Jeremiah Johnson's life for his own is quite cavalier about taking squaws as wives. He has a misogynistic streak as does the grizzly hunter who can find no sign on a woman's heart.
By every comparison then white values are inferior to Indian ethos.
References to the war with Mexico which was one of the great victories of the manifest destiny movement adding the entire Southwest to United States is disposed of with a backhand comment deploring it. To this day left-wing professors rate President Polk as one of our worst presidents because to do otherwise would be to exalt white people over brown people.
One gets the impression that a leftist like Robert Redford has always been a leftist and the portions of the movie that appeal to men, the action shots with hand-to-hand fighting, the grandeur of the mountains, the rough frontier humor, all are cynically employed to condition us to accept the politically correct message. Certainly that is the case with Dances with Wolves. But, what the hell, I like the movie-I just don't like being manipulated.
