Dances with Wolves(1990)

his is a movie that often gets a bit of hate, as it won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1990 over the favorite Goodfellas. I do love Goodfellas, but this to me is an equally great movie, on it's own merits. Unlike some Best Picture Winners, this actually deserved it a whole lot.

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This movie spells epic in so many ways, just that Buffalo Hunt scene, would place it among the classics.

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And to think this was Kevin Costner’s first movie as a director. Interestingly none of the studios backed the movie, saying the Western was a dead genre, Costner, put his faith in the movie, and the rest as they say is history.

The movie opens with a brilliant battle scene, where Field Lt. John Dunbar( Kevin Costner) a Union soldier, makes a suicidal run into the Confederate line, that makes him a hero. However when asked for a choice of his posting, he chooses the Frontier, a decision that results in raised eyebrows of Major Fambrough( Maury Chaykin). His reasoning is simple

"Yes Sir.. Before it's Gone"

The Frontier then was considered a punishment posting, where no one was really interested in settling then, but then Dunbar puts it about himself

In trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero.

A reluctant hero, who was just content to live by himself, away from all the pomp and glory.

The shots were Costner proceeds into the wilderness just on his horse is superbly done, and Capt Cargill who hands him charge of Ft. Sedgwick his outpost, is more than relieved to leave the place.

I’ve looked for that wagon from Fort Hays just as you have… day after miserable day. All I can say is that I’m proud of you. Get your things men, we’re leaving this place. The army… can go to hell.

Dunbar however sees this as a place where he gets to see Buffalo and the Indians, a sentiment not shared by his associate Timmons who sees it as Hell. Timmons is ambushed, slaughtered and scalped by a group of Pawnees, in a rather gruesome scene.Dunbar is totally alone now in the wilderness, having to face hostile Native Indians, and his only companions now are his horse, and a wolf which he befriends calling it "Two Socks".

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Actually for close to 15-20 minutes, Dunbar is the only character in the movie, framed against the wilderness, as you can feel the sense of isolation. And then the nearby Sioux tribe members begin to make their contact with him Kicking Bird( Graham Greene), the old veteran Ten Bears.And Wind in The Hair who has nothing but contempt for the White men, and feels the same towards Dunbar. He also gets drawn to Stands with a Fist( Mary McDonnel), a White woman raised by the Sioux, fully adapted to their way of life.

The way Costner explores the relation between the White and Native Indians, their initial feeling of mistrust, how he overcomes them slowly, the bonding he has with Kicking Bird is superbly shot. The dialogues especially giving an insight into the ways of the Sioux and dependence on hunting.

While sympathetic to the Native Indians, Costner also shows their more negative side, the intra tribal conflicts that were as violent. One very poignant scene, where the Sioux have lost badly in a battle with the Pawnees, and the mourning that follows the death of the tribe members, including Stands with a Fist, when we see her for the first time. Also usage of native Indian actors brings in that authenticity, where they don't end up as side shows.

Again the movie does not get into the White Savior mode here, Dunbar is more a person who is trying to understand their way of life, sympathetic to their cause, in fact the Sioux turns out to be his savior later on.

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The Buffalo Hunt scene of course is one of the greatest movie scenes ever shot, especially that shot of the buffalo running across the vast open plains, and John Barry's BGM just elevating it.

Kevin Costner has had some great movies in the 80s- Bull Durham, The Untouchables, No Way Out, however his career went into a free fall in the mid 90s with some utterly disastrous choices, before he came back in the 2000s. The Western is a genre he is absolutely home at, be it this one or Open Range which he directed later.

Dances with Wolves is that epic motion picture that skilfully combines the elements of drama, grandeur, characterization along with a strong social context, with the right amount of detailing, to make it a classic.

It also resurrected the Western in a more revisionist way, a genre that was almost dead in the 80s. In fact it was Silverado in which Costner starred, that sparked his interest in the Western genre.