John Dunbar is stationed at the American frontier, where he serves alone - save a loyal horse and a curious wolf - until he begins encountering his Sioux neighbours. A dialogue is begun, and he befriends them. Stars Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, and Wes Studi. Adapted by Michael Blake from his novel published in 1988, and directed by Kevin Costner. Released in 1990.
As a child of the nineties, I equate Kevin Costner with pretty much Waterworld and baseball movies, and after movies with questionable plot philosophies like Avatar or The Last Samurai, I had it in my head that Dances With Wolves was another long-winded half-patriotic diatribe about a white guy getting in with the natives and then leading them to victory against his own people. But Dances With Wolves is a story that avoids heroics and grandstanding, and just tells an exciting and dramatic tale that never seems far-fetched. John Dunbar is a character for whom duty is first but an appreciation of the land a close second, and Costner himself probably has similar philosophies, as pretty much every location is a beautiful sweeping vista that seem to laments the loss of what America once was. Dunbar's relationships with the Sioux characters as well as his animal friends all develop uniquely and never feel taken for granted. The film feels fair-handed in regards to what I'm sure was and remains a delicate subject, showing nobility and cruelty in both peoples, and a pragmatism of inevitability; the characters are reflective, but never bark of injustice and unfairness because they needn't. Considering the big-league fumbles Costner would go on to make, Dances With Wolves is a surprise that is worth the time it demands.
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