DANCES WITH WOLVES

I had never seen this movie before this class and I was a little worried that it would be a snooze fest. I had a hard time watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and I was sure this would be another tough one to sit through. However, I was pleasently surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. It is a little bit of a western with the gun fights, monologue, and wide open landscape shots but I believe it is mostly a drama due to the real life characters in real life situations. It also has Man vs. Man and Man vs. Nature as well as diary entries. Throughout the film Kevin Costner writes in a journal about his experiences with the indians and such. 

Music plays an important role in this movie. It helps set the mood and scene for the movie. It is only instrumental music with no words or singing which is fitting for this movie. I think it would be odd to put songs with lyrics in this movie. It would throw things off. It can go from peaceful music showing the open landscape as Kevin Costner rides horseback to being anxious about the sound he hears in the early morning light creeping around his fort which turns out to be his beloved horse to pain and sadness when watching the infamous wolf Two Socks is killed. It really helps put the audience in the moment and feel the emotions the characters are feeling. 

Overall, this was a great film and I am glad that I have now seen some of these amazing films in class. The acting was very good in my opinion. Stands with a Fist is very believable. You feel her pain as she is mourning for her husband and her fear of the white men when she encounters John on the prairie. I love the way the actors portrayed the language barrier. Keven acting out a buffalo and then Stands with a Fist trying to remember how to speak english. Even later in the film when she's had practice she has some trouble and it is believable and realistic. It was a very well done film and it absolutely deserved to win the Oscar. There is a little of everything in this film. There is lonliness, trimph, sadness, anger, love and romance, war, drama, and even a little humor. It tells a believable and evertaining story.