This was a great movie. One of the few I could watch more than once. It inspires great emotion and sympathy for the American Indian. As has been stated before, THIS IS A REVISIONIST MOVIE! The old movies where the Indian was the bad guy were just as bereft of fact as the current slate of movies where the Indian is the all-good "Mother Earth Child." Every country in the world owns it's established borders by use of force! At one point in time or another, one tribe, one race, one banded group of people, defeated another banded group of people and took over their land for whatever reason (good, bad, real, imagined, or made up). The Apache are no different! They took their land by killing and enslaving other more peaceful native tribes. From excavations of native living areas, a few of these "Mother Earth Child Tribes" have even been proved to be cannibals (not Apache)! This knowledge is gleaned from knife cut and scrape marks on piles of discarded bones.
While it is true that the way the American Indian was treated was absolutely SHAMEFUL! Not just the Apache, but every tribe. We made treaties with them, but as soon as gold, silver, oil, or whatever was valuable was found on their reservations, were they bought out? NOPE! They were kicked off of their reservations to even more remote and desolate places. This happened over and over again. The reason many Indians rebelled was because they were tired of being relocated, and felt that they were being pushed into oblivion. It was either die a quiet and cowardly death or die like a warrior. Many chose the latter. If you are going to die anyway, die bravely.
While it is true that the way the American Indian was treated was absolutely SHAMEFUL! Not just the Apache, but every tribe. We made treaties with them, but as soon as gold, silver, oil, or whatever was valuable was found on their reservations, were they bought out? NOPE! They were kicked off of their reservations to even more remote and desolate places. This happened over and over again. The reason many Indians rebelled was because they were tired of being relocated, and felt that they were being pushed into oblivion. It was either die a quiet and cowardly death or die like a warrior. Many chose the latter. If you are going to die anyway, die bravely.