Review of Dances with Wolves (1990) by Grant S — 03 Feb 2017

1864. Lt John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) of the Union Army distinguishes himself in battle and as a reward is offered any post he likes. He chooses to go out west and is posted to Fort Hays in Kansas. From there he is ordered to Fort Sedgewick, the remotest outpost in the region. He finds it deserted and through a series of unfortunate circumstances he is stranded at the fort with nobody knowing that he is alone there, or even there. He meets his neighbours, the local Sioux tribe, and slowly gains their respect and friendship...

Well-intentioned but badly executed. After all the westerns showing Native Americans to be nothing but savages, a movie humanizing the Native Americans was due. Dances With Wolves may be one of the first movies to have a balanced approach in that regard.

However, that's where anything positive about this movie ends. The actual execution is quite bad. Director Kevin Costner turns what should have been a profound 2-hour journey into a 3-hour ordeal. Every scene is drawn out to the maximum and many scenes are there as padding making the move slow, dull and overly long.

As director he also favours long, drawn-out close-ups of the lead actor, who happens to be himself. Seems incredibly self-indulgent, slowing the movie down further and detracting from the plot.

Moreover, the whole tone is so preachy, moralising and pretentious. Turns what should have been a natural lesson to audiences into a soap-boxing sermon.

Undeservedly won the 1991 Best Picture Oscar. How this won over Goodfellas I don't know. Might be the Academy's dislike for Martin Scorsese or the fact that they tend to prefer preachy movies.