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The late 20th century brought a lot of very unusual
and cool things unfortunately films that are retroactively
PC isn’t one of them. At the time “Dances with Wolves” was
released “Dances with Wolves” was at the forefront of Hollywood’s
move to be politically sensitive and take the naïve point-of-view
the noble savage a cliché that has weaved its way in and
out of Hollywood films for the last 40 years. For all of
its merit the one thing that hobbles “Dances with Wolves”
and prevents it from smoothly gliding across the open prairie
this hoary cliché which is about as offensive in its idiocy
as the other simplistic extreme (i.e., that ALL “advanced”
cultures are superior to “primitive” societies). The truth
is somewhere between these two extremes and based on the
cultural bias of the viewer as well as whether or not they
embraced the foolish concept of manifest destiny. ***
Regardless of this major flaw “Dances with Wolves”
still manages to work due to producer/director/actor Kevin
Costner’s performance as disenchanted Civil war soldier
John Dunbar who ends up going native after a brave but suicidal
attack on the enemy line. As a reward he’s given any assignment
he wants and he picks the wild frontier of the Dakota countryside.
Dunbar finds that the outpost he’s been assigned to has
been abandoned and he fascinates the Sioux living in the
area just enough so that they don’t kill him immediately.
Dunbar earns their respect and falls in love with Stands
with a Fist (Mary McDonnell) a white woman that was raised
by the Sioux after her family died. ***
When the outpost is reopened the soldiers stationed
there have orders to subdue any Indians in the area and
Dunbar isn’t considered truth worthy since he has gone native.
Dunbar gets thrown into their conflict and he has to consider
whether or not he is going to protect his new people or
the world that he ran away from. ***
As I’ve stated before any western is really about the
time it was made in and “Dances with Wolves” fits that bill
to a tee—it’s a politically correct tract on the “evils”
of our society. While that evil may exist, it exists in
ALL cultures. The film is certainly well made and entertaining
so it’s relatively easy to forgive the film for its sin
of creating a simpleton’s parable. I haven’t read Michael
Blake’s novel but it is as derivative and morally simplistic
as the film is, then it isn’t much of a novel at all. Don’t
get me wrong, “Dances with Wolves” is deceptively entertaining
which makes its message go down easier but it also invites
simplistic thinking about a complex time when two very different
cultures with completely different sets of values clashed
because of their incompatible philosophies. ***
I would have gotten around to reviewing this Blu-ray
reissue of the film but MGM which is now distributed by
Fox has elected to not pass along copies to a lot of review
sites instead opting for more friendly and less critical
“consumer” sites that will review the film without any critical
thought. I had requested a copy of this over a month ago
and was informed that the demographics (even though this
site is in the top 20 for websites) weren’t robust enough.
I ended up having to get a rental copy which delayed this
review. I don’t begrudge Fox wanting to get as broad a review
audience as possible but it seems as if offering these films
to those who will uncritically endorse the quality of the
product while a smart marketing move, is at heart, a deceptive
practice. Hopefully the person that handles the MGM titles
distributed by Fox will wise up and recognize that a critical
assessment that is honest and without bias as to the quality
of the presentation is essential for maintaining some level
of critical detachment. Anyhow, enough of my rant let’s
get on to the technical presentation of this Oscar winning
film. ---
Image & Sound:
Based on a number of MGM catalog titles that Fox has
been in charge of, I was expecting the worst for “Dances
with Wolves”. Luckily, I turned out to be wrong. The often
breathtaking cinematography looks positively stunning at
times with a sharp, detailed presentation that doesn’t suffer
the over processing that has marred many presentations from
Fox. Fox has steadily improved in presenting exceptional
quality presentations of catalog titles unlike, say, Universal
with the substandard presentations for films like “Darkman”
and “Spartacus”. The four hour film is on the first disc.
***
Audio sounds positively stunning as well with a beautiful
sounding, rich Lossless presentation that highlights John
Barry’s marvelous score.
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