DANCES WITH WOLVES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Epic portrait of a Sioux tribal life as seen through the eyes of a Civil War officer. American Indians have rarely or never been portrayed so believably and sympathetically. Its biggest flaw is that the White Man does not seem as realistically portrayed. The films resembles WHITE DAWN and FAREWELL TO THE KING in plot and spirit. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4).
I suspect that of all the films of 1989, the one that will be best remembered will be GLORY. It may not be the best film of 1989, but it has a sort of timeless quality that will hold up for many years. That was 1989. This year I think we have an even better film that has that same timeless quality. There have been films in the past that have tried to give sympathetic views of the American Indian. It is not hard to be more sympathetic than films like FORT APACHE. LITTLE BIG MAN, unaccountably popular, attempted to be sympathetic but gave the impression that the writers knew nothing about American Indians. (I do not know if the novel was as bad or not.) Other films such as CHEYENNE AUTUMN tried to speak of injustices done to the Indians, but they too never got into the minds of native Americans. Perhaps DANCES WITH WOLVES, based on the novel by Michael Blake, is no more authentic than is LITTLE BIG MAN, but it certainly feels like the most authentic film ever made about American Indian culture.
Kevin Costner directs and stars as John Dunbar, who is to have his leg amputated due to wounds in a Civil War battle. Not having the courage to face his future, he attempts suicide and in doing so accidentally makes himself a hero. This not only wins him medical care sufficient to save his leg, he is also given his choice of posting. Wishing to see the Western frontier before it is overrun by the white man, he requests a posting to an isolated and deserted fort far out on the frontier. His thoughts about facing hostile animals and more hostile Sioux are overcome by his curiosity and his willingness to accept and appreciate that which is alien to him. The film picks up his enthusiasm to meet, understand, and befriend the very alien culture of the neighboring Sioux. He must first overcome their distrust. There the storyteller somewhat unrealistically contrives circumstances in Dunbar's favor. This is a long film and each stage of his acceptance by the Sioux is shown and not overly glossed over. In particular, language problems are quite believably difficult and eventually overcome by another contrivance. Eventually Dunbar is accepted into the Sioux society and Costner can show us how Sioux lived and thought.
If the film has a major weakness it is that it exaggerates the stupidity and strangeness (even if not the cruelty) of the hordes of invading white men. The positive view of the Sioux would be more believable if the view of the White Man had more credibility. There is a love story of Dunbar with a white woman who has been Sioux since she was captured as a child. This subplot could have been a distraction from showing us the Sioux lifestyle, but if so it was only a minor one. Mary McDonnell, familiar from MATEWAN, plays Dunbar's lover interest, Stands with a Fist.
DANCES WITH WOLVES is told with a grace and humor that keeps the viewer constantly entertained through its nearly three-hour length. Costner is to be congratulated for creating such an unorthodox film (about a quarter us in Lakota, the Sioux language, and subtitled), and at the same time so enjoyable a film his first time directing. I give it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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