Ronnie's Blog Spot

Dancing with Wolves

“Dancing with Wolves” won seven Academy Awards in 1990 – and this could not have happened if the film had not accurately portrayed both the dominant and the oppressed cultures that were the subject of this movie. I was moved by director Kevin Costner’s and writer Michael Blake’s portrayal of the Indian population of South Dakota and of the transformation of Lt. John Dunbar, from an uncaring and solitary Union Army officer into a man who learned to love and respect – and to even become – a member of the Sioux-Lakota Indian tribe. Of course, Dunbar could not ride off into the sunset with his new compatriots. Dunbar kept a journal, which he careless left behind at the deserted fort that was supposed to be his to command. When he returned, his troops had arrived, discovered his journal, and turned on the man who was supposed to be their leader.

The dominant group, -- in this case the Union soldiers – acted true to form – in a way that still characterizes some members of the military today when confronted with something or someone that is alien to them. That explained their reaction to a Dunbar gone “native” and to the Indians who had accepted Dunbar into their tribe.

Overall, I cannot see much that Native Americans might object to in this movie. Effort was made to maintain language accuracy with a Lakota/Sioux language instructor brought on the set as dialogue coach. (Wikipedia). The late Severt Young Bear, co-author of the book, “Standing in the Light” A Lakota Way of Seeing” was music and dance consultant for the film. I think members of the tribe were portrayed as real people with all their own individual quirks and personalities within the Sioux culture.

There are two things in the movie that I think the Sioux/Lakota of today might find objectionable. At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene that shows an Indian warrior killing and then scalping a white man. Another is the fact that in the end Dunbar fell in love with Stands with a Fist, a white woman who had been raised as a Sioux. Why her and not another woman of the tribe who was Sioux by birth?

posted by Ronnie @ 8:22 PM