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Dances with Wolves 1990
Kevin Costner plays John Dunbar, a civil war time Lieutenant for the North. Injured and broken, he makes his last contribution to his battle count. Riding out on horseback in front of the Confederate musket line, in slow motion to really make it count. He is unharmed after two point blank passings and is recognized in a small way after the battle is won. His privilege is to pick his next assignment, he chooses a post on the outskirts, in dangerous Indian territory. Arriving, he finds it to be deserted. Dunbar is clearly no stranger to loneliness and his intention is not to abandon this empty post.
He starts work on the camp, cleaning up the remnants of a battle. His only companion his horse and a visiting wolf who remains distant. Not much time passes before he encounters what may have scared off the solders before him, Indians of the Sioux tribe. He is only one man though and the Sioux aren't hasty to kill him after he rescues one of their own. Dunbar shows them tools they have never seen before and coffee. Slowly he becomes one of them and for the first time Dunbar finds companionship.
Costner's obtuse, scientific narration lays thin over his raw character. Learning more all the time about the Sioux culture and their wise restraint decisions, most obviously seen in the way feuds are dealt with in the tribe. Someone gets mad at another and within minutes the argument is settled.
Dances with Wolves is all about trust and finding where you belong. It's about people accepting other cultures and the unaccepting who will soon take all of this land from the natives. It's set pieces are proud and mechanically brilliant, set to a functionally triumphant score by John Barry. One of my early favorites from this year.
Dances with Wolves 1990
Kevin Costner plays John Dunbar, a civil war time Lieutenant for the North. Injured and broken, he makes his last contribution to his battle count. Riding out on horseback in front of the Confederate musket line, in slow motion to really make it count. He is unharmed after two point blank passings and is recognized in a small way after the battle is won. His privilege is to pick his next assignment, he chooses a post on the outskirts, in dangerous Indian territory. Arriving, he finds it to be deserted. Dunbar is clearly no stranger to loneliness and his intention is not to abandon this empty post.
He starts work on the camp, cleaning up the remnants of a battle. His only companion his horse and a visiting wolf who remains distant. Not much time passes before he encounters what may have scared off the solders before him, Indians of the Sioux tribe. He is only one man though and the Sioux aren't hasty to kill him after he rescues one of their own. Dunbar shows them tools they have never seen before and coffee. Slowly he becomes one of them and for the first time Dunbar finds companionship.
Costner's obtuse, scientific narration lays thin over his raw character. Learning more all the time about the Sioux culture and their wise restraint decisions, most obviously seen in the way feuds are dealt with in the tribe. Someone gets mad at another and within minutes the argument is settled.
Dances with Wolves is all about trust and finding where you belong. It's about people accepting other cultures and the unaccepting who will soon take all of this land from the natives. It's set pieces are proud and mechanically brilliant, set to a functionally triumphant score by John Barry. One of my early favorites from this year.