This afternoon, I settled down to watch Two Rode Together on bbc2. a film from 1961 starring James Stewart. It’s a western, but what caught my eye is the portrayal of race relations between ‘white’ people and ‘native Americans’. The Indians had kidnapped some ‘white’ children about 15 years before the events of the film, and their parents want them back.

As we all know, native American people were traditionally handled appallingly by American film-makers. Americans wanted them to be portrayed as savage heathen, thereby concreting their claim to the land. They wanted film to confirm that the Indian was the bad guy, not them (never mind that the white settlers were guilty of virtual ethnic cleansing, and stole the land). Thus, in two Rode Together, we see this typical view confirmed: the Indians were savage child-stealers.

Yet, here the message gets slightly ambiguous. It is true that, in this film, Stewart describes Comanche ceremonies as barbaric, emphasising the most gruesome parts. On the other hand, when the captives are eventually ‘rescued’, it seems that they felt happier with the Indians; the hypocrisy and barbarism of the white society is exposed. Moreover the way in which white people are exposed as lynch-happy drunkards leaves one wondering which ethnic group is more ‘civilised’.

I have questioned for quite some time our arrogance in thinking that western society is the most advanced and ethical. It’s certainly the most polluting and wasteful.

Indeed, we can still see the attitudes some of ‘us’ – and I dislike using that word – held towards people like the Comanche, Navaho and Apache now held towards Muslims and people of Indian decent. It’s appalling how some still rely on old ways of thinking, outdated and just wrong, no man is any better than anyone else, regardless of skin tone, religion, accent, ability, or whatever.

I don’t know enough of the history of the western genre to know how much of a watershed two Rode Together was, but I suspect it was towards the end of the time when American Indians were simply caricatures. Yes, it had it’s faults, but I think it signalled a step in the right direction – a step that some still refuse to take.