With qualification, except the almost fairy tale ending.
The story in brief is- there is a native Indian, who at young age had moved to "Civilization" , (if one calls it - whenever one says of Civilization, I recall Andrew Sister's song on Civilization, Bongo Bongo Bongo). This child grows up (in whatever one calls it), goes to college, becomes white (except skin of course), and lands up as an entertainer, of the correct skin, the dare-devil horse riding Indian, Chief Joe Thunder-horse.
With his father on death-bed, he visits his home, in a reserve, after more than a decade (13 years to be precise, since the kid sister who was 2, had become 15). There he first hand (and second-hand too) observes the way the facilities, funds and even the lands and properties of the Indians are being squeezed out by the Whites (agent and his cronies, holding all the important portfolios). When his sister is assaulted by one of them, he takes the law in his hand and naturally, the local court puts him behind bar. With help, he escapes and lands up at Capital, and knocks on the door of DA, with help of one of the good Whites, the commissioner of Indian Affairs.
Nothing wrong in the story, it is plausible, as shown. But unfortunately, in real life, with so much corruption and lobby (another name or rather the cause behind the corruption), even with this high-level help, one can't expect to get the case go to this length. There are powers to ensure that it is quickly and silently killed. With media support, may be possible, but that wasn't there much, and when there is a race against race, probably the media in real life too would have been biased (and of course media houses need finance). The senate, Judiciary and the DA office in Washington seemed to be quite white (no touch of grey, which in real life is too implausible, since with due regards these are more grey than not, anyway, they too need the donations).
What touches the chord, and the conscience is, that though it is 1935 movie, it is still as much contemporary as today... the right of the hosts being usurped by the guests - behaving like Plasmodia, Cuscuta, Mistletoe...
It would be unfair to think that the defenseless preys are only human. If one expands the view, this is what is happening at every corner of the world, by the greedy humans, against the natives, the nature (trees and other non-human life) with no defense for them. Replace the Reserve with a Reserve Forest, or a Zoo, and one could see it happening every where. Killing by not taking care of sick, if not killing directly, the 'rape' of nature,.... That is in addition with the racial strife between natives and immigrants, at every corner of the world (where the natives hadn't yet been exterminated).
There is one interesting thing in the movie... Probably since it was Barthelmess, they could get away with that, definitely they won't have, had it been a real Indian. In the very start, the Indian-hero is shown to be in relationship with a white society girl (Claire Dodd). Probably with gender reversed, it would have been palatable, but this? At that age, when even in this age, there are snide remarks? I wonder.
