DANCES WITH WOLVES
A film review by Chad Polenz
Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz
***1/2 (out of 4 = very good) 1990, PG-13, 181 minutes [3 hours, 1 minute] [drama/western] starring: Kevin Costner (John Dunbar/Dances With Wolves), Mary McDonnell (Stands With A Fist), Graham Greene (Kicking Bird), Rodney A. Grant (Wind In His Hair), written by Michael Blake (based on his novel), produced by Jim Wilson, Kevin Costner, directed by Kevin Costner.
"Dances With Wolves" is touching and well made, but at times it seems as if it's trying just a little too hard to exist. It has makings of a classic: full of drama and passion, understanding and communication, and violence and power, but perhaps they are emphasized a little too much.
Kevin Costner directed, produced, and stars in this epic tale about John Dunbar, a Union lieutenant during the Civil War, who heads west to mark a post for pioneers and soldiers. He encounters some Sioux Indians who are portrayed rather savagely at first. We fear them and almost hate them as much as Dunbar. Can they make peace?
Much of the story revolves around the Indian tribe as we learn they are just as afraid of the white man as he is of them. Dunbar makes his first real gesture for peace when he encounters an injured Indian woman and gives her medical attention. When he brings her back to her tribe, they are not thankful, instead they scare him away. Eventually, the two sides work together and communicate. Both Dunbar and Sioux wonder where all the Buffalo have gone, and this gives them their first conflict to solve together.
Little happens in terms of plot and individual events. There isn't much dialogue because the two people cannot speak the same language. However, the body language and other forms of symbolic communication they use makes the story interesting. The characters show their emotions through their actions, they work together, hunt together and at least try to communicate with one another.
But a film cannot depend on indirect communication, so a translator (and a lover) is provided. Mary McDonnell co-stars as Stands With A Fist, a white woman who has lived with the Sioux since she was a child. It is obvious she and Dunbar will fall in love, but it does not seem as cliche it sounds. Because we are experiencing a new culture here, the concept of love is different from what we are used to. This originality and sense of character is what makes the film so great and touching. At first we feared the Sioux, now they are our friends and our family.
I didn't like the third act that much, but it's the entire point of the film. When Dunbar goes back to his cabin he is no longer John Dunbar, he is Dances With Wolves, and when the newly arrived Northern Army sees him, they mistake him for an Indian. These are the people we and Dunbar started out with, and now we see them in a completely different manner. The story almost becomes an adventure as we hope Dunbar will escape. It's exciting to watch, but it does seem a bit much.
Despite a few flaws, "Dances With Wolves" is excellent for what it is. But it does have a vivid theme about maturity, tolerance, and war and peace. We are all John Dunbar, but how many of us go through such experiences to become Dances With Wolves?
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