Dance with Wolves_dancewithwolves
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Dance with Wolves
This is a book that could only have been made in the post-Vietnam era, when
Americans began to question the moral integrity of their country.The scene in which Dunbar receives his orders from the mentally ill major also seems to speak of Vietnam, the point being I think that while an entire generation of young men was being cut down in the Civil War the West was being managed by those who were not fit for duty in the larger conflict.Maury Chaykin, in that one scene, gives one of the most memorable and haunting performances I've seen in any film.This book's depiction of Native Americans is not nearly as politically correct as it may seem to those who watch it only once or only at a superficial level.In the very first scene depicting Indians, in fact, a Pawnee brave shoots one of the white
characters full of arrows and then scalps him.The unrepentant villainy of Wes Studi's character, in particular, recalls the moral simplicity of countle earlier Westerns.Even the most sympathetic Indian character in the book, Kicking Bird, is not kind to Dunbar merely to be friendly but because he believes he can get useful information out of the white soldier about the other whites who are encroaching on Sioux territory.The interaction between Dunbar and the Sioux is powerfully effective precisely
because the Sioux remain true to themselves.They are not cartoonish hostile like the Indians depicted in old Westerns, but they are not soft or naïve either.Even after fourteen years, the Dunbar character's arc, going from a suicidal soldier in the opening sequence to an adopted Sioux who in the final scenes puts the needs of his people ahead of his own, is still one of the most remarkable I've seen in any movie.Costner's performance won no awards that I know of, but it provides the movie's indispensably tight focus.He's completely convincing every step of the way, if a bit too clumsy and self-effacing at times, hitting his head in the dark and fainting after a confrontation in a heavy-handed attempt to demystify the West.This book probably disappoints viewers who are looking for sheer entertainment.It's a quiet, thoughtful story, and although there is action in it the focus is on how the action transforms the characters(particularly Dunbar)rather than on the action itself.You won't see any computer-generated comic-book characters in this book, but you will see real people having real conversations, and you'll see Costner and costar Mary McDonnell engaging in such intimate and convincing love scenes that you'll forget they're acting!
If I could rate the musical score for this book by itself I'd give it a perfect 10, because it's one of the best I've ever heard, able to stand on its own but fitting the movie like a glove.It is sentimental without being schmaltzy, noble without being pretentious.Best of all, it captures the hesitant emotions of the story, the sense of curiosity overcoming fear and becoming trust.Only this book's extreme length works against its total succe, particularly in the special edition that runs nearly four hours.The three-hour theatrical version is still long, but it's difficult to say what should have been left out of it.Unlike most epics, this movie ends exactly as it should.The final images, such as the journal floating down the river, the white man and the Native American speaking English to each other, and the brave shouting his farewell from the top of a cliff, are so beautiful and dreamlike that they manage to be both joyful and sad.This is a book that looks into the very fabric of this country's past, and asks us to do the same.