Review of Dances with Wolves (1990) by John B — 14 Jul 2013

The opening scene of Dances with Wolves seemed fairly brutal in terms of witnessing Kevin Costner suffer as he attempted to put his boots on. That, combined with the magnificent musical score and cinematography instantly set the atmosphere and the scale of the story to be the epic that I was expecting, and what I received as a viewer was a Western version of Lawrence of Arabia.

That's a fairly big call, considering Lawrence of Arabia has been named the greatest film epic of all time as well as one if the greatest films of all time, but the Academy clearly agrees with me as they honoured Dances with Wolves with a deserving Academy Award for Best Picture, amidst another 6.

The simple fact is that before Kevin Costner became famously branded a sellout for his films Waterworld, The Postman and Dragonfly and becoming a running joke on Family Guy, he served as the mastermind behind this western epic, one of the finest westerns I have ever seen.

Kevin Costner put undying faith into Dances with Wolves, including $3 Million of his own to ensure he could hold on to the vision he wanted, even though it resulted in people dubbing the production "Kevin's Gate" in reference to Heaven's Gate, an industry changing western epic failure. But his spirit shines on through this magnificent film which he handled himself with utterly excellent direction, direction worth nothing short of an Academy Award. He makes sure that Dances with Wolves is a compelling story and that the atmosphere thrives with the development of its lead character Lt. John J. Dunbar / Dances with Wolves, which he does so through an excellent performance which characterises him finely as the two characters he is. He portrays dedicated Lieutenant full of charisma for the first part of the film, and he later develops into an honourary Naive American with more determination and connection to nature than he could have ever wished for as a Lieutenant. The development is astounding, and the performance truly is Kevin Costner's finest hour. Kevin Costner did more for Dances with Wolves than anyone could have predicted, and without him there is no telling what imperfect film it could have been.

One reason that Dances with wolves is the utter success it is can be attributed to the magnificent story. It begins as a heroic tale of a man who loved his country so much that he nearly gave his life away in a desperate plot to help it, develops into a story about a man who wants to see the beautiful side if his country only visible through the outskirts of nature, and later develops into one about him becoming a dedicated friend of the Native American community. The story is heroic and has a beautiful theme in its look at the natural world, as well as the sense of fear that comes with it in the particular setting it makes use of.

The way that Dances with Wolves puts nature into perspective with the beautiful locations its filmed on with magnificent cinematography, and the entire viewing experience is just absolutely exhilarating.

And the story is scripted very finely with plenty of insight into the mind of Lt. John J. Dunbar as he discusses feeling stranded and his connection to nature, as well as what goes on in his head as he transitions into Dances with Wolves. It also provides a fair look at Native American culture and their customs, without the burden of one sidedness found in many John Wayne westerns. Dances with Wolves actually supports the Indians and deals with their stereotypes of the positive and negative manner, as well as teaching that generalisation of stereotypes must be wider, considering there are many tribes with many customs, some are violent and some are peaceful. Dances with Wolves provides a deeper look into the peaceful side, and it conveys what is essentially a magic culture in such a beautiful manner. And the story flows perfectly, because its paced slowly in a peaceful sense as never to feel rushed. It doesn't fall to a boringly slow pace because the entire time, the movie had me embalmed in the story. It was just rich with humanity.

And Graham Greene gave a performance so deep in his character that I was in disbelief to find out that he was Canadian, not Native American. He was so dedicated to his character and decorated by Academy Award worthy Production Design, Costumes and Makeup that his performance had high standards which it lived up to with flying colours.

And with Mary McDonnell as Stands with a Fist, serving as a character born Caucasian and raised Native American, she serves as a character providing a sense of inner conflict and conveys excellent chemistry with Kevin Costner. Her character just seems real, and her performance is terrific.

So for its incredible true story, Magnificent musical score and excellent effort by Kevin Costner in his answer to Citizen Kane, Dances with Wolves is one of the greatest films I've ever seen and my 2nd favourite Western, behind Django Unchained.