Dances with Wolves

Kevin Costner’s 1990 film follows Lieutenant John Dunbar, whose suicidal ride at a Civil War line becomes a victory and wins him the western posting he wants. The outpost is deserted, and he slowly reaches the Lakota band nearby and a white woman raised among them. Costner, directing for the first time, could not fund it in America and took money from a British investor, paying the rest himself. The five month South Dakota and Wyoming shoot ran in temperatures between roughly 46C and minus 7C, and scenes were shot in sequence for weather continuity, so the season turning on screen is real. Doris Leader Charge of Sinte Gleska University translated the Lakota dialogue, coached the cast and appears onscreen. Russell Means noted that Lakota has male and female speech and that some actors, Costner included, use the female forms. At the 63rd Academy Awards it won seven of twelve nominations: Best Picture, Directing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score and Sound, losing Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Art Direction and Costume Design. A good fit if you do not mind 181 minutes given to observation more than incident, built on Dunbar’s diary. Not for you if you want the Lakota linguistically right as well as present; the error Means identified runs throughout.