Dances with Wolves (1990)
I have a soft spot for these classic Hollywood epics and I think this is the last movie of its kind. Now we have moral ambiguity, anti heroes and nuances. But for classic and conventional simple story telling this doesn’t get any better.
I watched the four hour extended version and while I completely understand why the trimmed it down for theatrical release, the magic for me comes from the long running time. The actual story doesn’t need more than a handful of sentences but we get to see that things takes time. How Dunbar found solitude alone at the frontier and later established trust and friendship with the Sioux tribe. Everything takes time and we get to see it all. I wasn’t bored a single minute despite the slow story progression. I often find myself more bored with modern movies with overly complex plots. Here the sweeping landscapes and relationships speaks for themselves helped by the glorious cinematography. Movies don’t look like this anymore.
The first half is where the movie excels and after the intermission (I need more movies with an intermission in my life) I have few minor criticisms. For one, Costner should have kept the mustache and I could have lived without the romance plot. While I do accept it is not a movie that explores nuances and grey areas, the viewer is never in doubt what to feel or think, but the portrayal of the rival tribe was very simplistic and a bit weird how easily Dunbar just jumped in and started killing other natives - just because. But I also don’t care too much about historical accuracy and this feels more like a fairytale than a movie that wants to show it really was during that time.
The score is serviceable but conventional and all actors are giving a fine performance, with Graham Greene being the standout for me. I admit that my ranking is partly driven by a nostalgic feeling of “they don’t make them like this anymore”, but it needs the highest mark.
Rating: 4.5