Dances With Wolves (1990) Orion Pictures/Majestic Films International 📢 Director: Kevin Costner 💰 Producer: Jim Wilson, Kevin Costner 👫 Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney Grant. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -63rd Academy Awards: March 25, 1991. Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -Awakenings. -Ghost. -The Godfather Part III. -GoodFellas. 📕 Plot summary: Set in 1863 during the American Civil War, a wounded soldier (KEVIN COSTNER) is assigned a post at Fort Sedgwick, way out in the middle of nowhere on a prairie. There he makes an unlikely alliance with a large Sioux Indian tribe. Slowly the tribe come to accept him as one of their own and the soldier falls in love with one of their members. 💥 Standout scene(s): There are a few scenes that capture the atmosphere but the very opening scene where Costner refuses to have his leg amputated was one hell of a way to start a movie! 🔑 Facts: -The 63rd Academy Awards. -Nominated for 12 Academy Awards, it won 7: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (adapted), Music, Sound, Cinematography, Editing. 🙂 Personal opinion: Mixed feelings with this one, to be honest. I definitely recognise the quality in the film but at 234 minutes (I watched the extended Director's Cut for this project) it was one of those movies that I really had to psych myself up for. The opening scene with Dunbar refusing to have his leg amputated was an immediate cringe moment and hard to watch. As the film went on it did feel like quite a journey. The interactions between Kevin Costner's character with the Sioux tribe were really well done and it didn't feel as though it was rushed at all. Costner's direction and the cinematography were big plus points for the story. At times it felt as though Costner's character was living a life some of us dream about having, albeit temporarily: the rolling hills, the peace and quiet, surviving out there in the wilderness with nobody around and of course the ability to be balls-naked on a prairie. Mind you, it started to seem like he had access to a convenient store, a hardware store and must have had a refrigerator with him at the fort due to a seemingly unlimited amount of resources he had! It's a very visual film and the wide landscapes fill the screen with colour. Surprisingly for a film of its length it does manage to hold the interest but you really have to be in the mood for it. It's okay, but let's move on.... Did it deserve the Oscar? ❌NO, although I can see why this type of movie would be given such a prestigious award. Just look at the other films that were nominated (you can excuse Godfather Part 3). And what about Home Alone? 5/10

Review date: 19 April 2025