Dances With Wolves is a tremendous Movie! It's stunning visuals by Cinematographer Dean Semler, and stirring music by John Barry capture each mood of the film as we follow John Dunbar's ( Kevin Costner ) travels from an Army Field Hospital in the Civil War, to his friendship with the Sioux Indians on the plains. Kevin Costner's direction of the Movie is superb too, with his obvious feel for not only the characters and story-line but for the landscape also. Costner shows great imagination, particularly when the story leaves the horrors of the War in the East and moves onto the endless sea of waving grassland in the West, catching the loneliness of the windswept frontier and the sadness also of the Plains Indian, ever hoping the White Man would not come their way. The film spends much of it's time exploring the Indian perspective, in particular their language, as Dunbar slowly learns their ways and culture while falling in love with Stands With A Fist, played by Mary McDonnell. There are some sad scenes in the Movie, Dunbar losing Cisco his horse after being fired on by his own Calvary and seeing also his friend the lone wolf get shot by the same Calvarymen, but the most poignant part of the film came, ( as expected ) in the end when the Indians were fleeing the Soldiers and Dunbar, with Stands With A Fist now his bride, left to go their own way. Dances With Wolves is an outstanding Western, beautifully photographed and along with many other accolades the film has attracted, supports a balanced view of the struggle for culture and civilization.
Review of Dances with Wolves
