Plot: What’s it about?
As an actor, Kevin Costner has certainly made his mark upon Hollywood and the world. As a director, Kevin Costner directed a movie entitled “Dances With Wolves” that managed to win 7 Academy Awards and even win the Best Picture of the year. Does the dismal rating of his next directorial endeavor entitled “The Postman” overshadow how great Dances With Wolves really is? No. Dances With Wolves is a 3 hour story of the last days of the Frontier and the last days of the Civil War as well. While not choosing to concentrate on battles like “Bull Run” or “Gettysburg”, Dances With Wolves starts out as quietly as it ends. We see a scene that is somewhat reminiscent of “Gone With the Wind” with the endless amount of bodies lying in the field. We immediately see that war is not pretty, and even more so, the Civil War in the battlefield was no picnic. As we meet Lt. John Dunbar (Costner) we see that he’s an inch away from getting his legs cut off, the only thing that saved them was the lack of infection. In an immense amount of pain, he struggles to pull his boots back on and is in somewhat of a trance. He becomes inspired, grabs a horse and rides out into the battlefield tempting the enemy (Confederate Army) to shoot him. What transpires is somewhat of a miracle, he doesn’t get shot, he doesn’t die, but the army comes to his rescue and the tides change.
Dunbar is given his choice of assignments and requests to be assigned to the farthest Western post, so he can see the Frontier, something he has always wanted to see. After a brief stop in Ft. Hays, Kansas where we see how war affects people in very different ways, he’s off to the great Frontier. Stumbling upon an abandoned fort, Dunbar decides that this is where he belongs and takes all the necessary supplies and starts what will be, his new life. Dunbar is driven, there’s no doubt about that, we see that he has a very strong work ethic and a pride in his Army and country (though divided it might be). He is a simple man, a peaceful man who wants no trouble. However, it’s about this time that the story takes off…
When we first meet the Sioux Indians, we’re not sure what to think. There is a rival tribe of Indians called the Pawnee, who seem to be more of the stereotypical nature (war paint, scalp white men…). Dunbar slowly makes friends with the Sioux, and through many trials and tribulations, earns their trust. To them, the white man isn’t exactly an enemy, but more of an unknown. It’s up to Dunbar to establish peace with these men, and hopefully they can learn from each other. The holy man of the Sioux, Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) is obviously one of the wise men of the tribe. His opinion holds a lot of weight with the rest of the Sioux. Greene is totally opposite of his role in Maverick, though he plays both parts in a splendid manner. While not a lot of verbal communication goes on between Dunbar and Kicking Bird, they are the two closest men and a vital link between the Sioux and the white men. It’s about this time that we see Stands With a Fist (Mary McDonnell) again, we learn that she has lost her husband and was told by Kicking Bird to grieve until he says so. The main issue is that Dunbar starts to fall in love with her, as she is also a white woman. Stands With a Fist escaped at an early age and ended up with the Sioux as a member of their “family”. She has all but forgotten her English roots and is what can be considered the closest thing to a translator for Dunbar.
As Dunbar becomes more and more familiar with the Sioux, the more and more he respects them and their ways. He no longer considers himself a member of the Army and even has an Indian name of “Dances With Wolves” (hence the title of the film). He was given that by the Sioux when they see him trying to befriend a curious, local wolf. The Army eventually ends up at the abandoned post, and with the help of the Pawnee, are determined to track down Dunbar and take even more of the Sioux’s land from them. Of course, I won’t give away the ending, but Dances With Wolves is something that is a marvel to see and is well worth the 3 hour plus viewing time.
Video: How does it look?
“Dances with Wolves” has had several incarnations on disc format and this offering on Blu-ray is but the latest. Truth be told, this is the best the film has ever looked and the 2.35:1 AVC HD transfer really brings out the beauty in the film. There are many sweeping landscape shots of the frontier and all look amazing on this restored transfer. Flesh tones are warm and natural, though Costner seems to look a bit on the “sunburned” side from time to time. Detail has been improved over the DVD but not the point that it looks false. Thankfully the transfer hasn’t been touched by DNR so everything looks as it should without any excessive grain or edge enhancement. Obviously this is a marquee title for MGM so they want to make sure it looks the best it could. It does.
Audio: How does it sound?
The movie was one of the first to sport a DTS track on standard DVD and I remember it sounding fairly good. Flash forward a decade and we’ve got a 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack that improves upon that of the DVD. Dialogue, and there’s a lot of it by the way, sounds good – no distortion in the least. There are a few times when the soundtrack really gets to flex its muscle such as when the buffalo stampede is happening, some shooting and fighting scenes and the like. This is a good, solid soundtrack that makes good use of the speakers, but it’s not so in your face that you’ll really notice. That’s the point.
Supplements: What are the extras?
As mentioned earlier, this film has had its share of editions and this is the latest in the line of them. We get some recycled material from the standard DVD’s as well as some new as well. We start out on the first disc with the same commentary by Costner and producer Jim Wilson. The two are fairly talkative and comment on the film (for all 3.5 hours I might add) and we gleam some information about the struggle of making the film, the location and whatnot. The second track is with DP Dean Semler and editor Neil Travis. This is obviously the more technical track and focuses on how certain shots were set up and edited. It’s a bit drier than Costner’s track, so given the chance I’d listen to that one. There’s also an interactive feature of sorts in a “Military Rank and Social Hierarchy Guide” which is an upgrade of the old “Pop Up Video” tracks. We get icons on the bottom of the screen with ranks and various tidbits about the film. I personally found it to be intrusive, but for those that love this sort of thing – it’s there. Wrapping up the first disc is an interactive quiz of sorts. You’re given trivia questions throughout the movie and are given a time limit to answer them and are assigned a score at the end of the movie. Don’t you just love relaxing with a movie only to take a test on it?
Moving on to the second disc we find only one new feature along with the rest of previously seen material. “A Day in the Life of the Western Frontier” gives us some interviews with historians as they tell us what life was probably like on the frontier (i.e. “not fun”). We then move onto the previously-released featurettes. “The Original Making of ‘Dances with Wolves'” is a twenty minute feature that’s just that – a making of the film with some behind the scenes material, interviews with Costner and so forth. The big feature here is the seven part documentary entitled “The Creation of an Epic” running at an hour and fifteen minutes. This pretty much has it all, literally from script to screen. We also get a “music video” though playing more like a montage set to John Barry’s score. We then move onto some very brief features. “Confederate March and Music”, “Getting the Point”, “Burying the Hatchet”, “Animatronic Buffalo” are all pretty self-explanatory. We get some television spots, a theatrical trailer and a photo gallery.
