Movie Reviews

Clocking in at just a few minutes under four hours, I had to set aside a whole evening to sit down and watch Kevin Costner's "director's cut" of Dances With Wolves. It was generally time well-spent though, because it's a really good movie.

It's kind of surprising that, considering how long the movie is (it's definitely the longest movie I've ever seen), it's also a very simple story. Kevin Coster (he both directs and stars in the film) plays Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, who decides to get away from the fighting of the American Civil War and re-post himself to a remote army base somewhere in the interior plains of the country. When he shows up, however, it turns out that the base has been abandoned, and there are signs of fighting between American soldiers and Indians. Regardless, Dunbar decides to make the place his new home. Not long after, he encounters a tribe of Sioux Indians in the area and (very slowly) becomes friendly with them, until eventually they begin to accept him almost as one of their own.

This is, basically, all that Dances With Wolves is about. The care with which it was made, though, adds a lot of subtle dimensions to it. There are fairly obvious things like the fantastic cinematography and landscapes, great musical score, and excellent acting. But even better are the more subtle aspects like how the Indians (who are just as much the stars of the film as is Costner) are presented as a very rational, logical, and honourable group of people. The film doesn't shy away from depicting a couple of white men getting killed (and scalped) by the Indians, but we come to learn, understand, and partly share the hostility that the Indians feel towards the white men. The empathy that the film generates is actually key to the film's final act.

It's not too often that I want to set aside four hours -- or even three, for that matter -- to watch a movie, and I probably won't be doing that again any time soon. But, I'm glad that I did for Dances With Wolves; it was definitely worth it.