Dances With Wolves [1991] [DVD]

great film and had subtitles for when the indians speak would recomend

Favourite film

Easy to play, Easy viewing, good product

With the possible exception of Little Big Man, this film brings to life the uniqueness of an indian culture - the Sioux - with a sensitivity and intelligence that is without equal. Not only that, but the film aged extremely well and did not in the slightest feel outdated. Given the quirkiness of the Kostner character, who is not by any means some kind of noble hero, and absolutely first-rate acting, and you have a masterpiece.The films starts during the Civil War, when an injured Kostner makes a gesture of despair and hope, to gain access to the officers' surgeon to save his wounded leg. Offered whatever assignment he desires, he chooses the frontier, to witness it before it disappears. So starts a journey in which he joins a Sioux tribe and achieves the status of warrior. It is a success that I have not found in any other cinematic experience - utterly convincing, painfully intimate, full of mistakes, and ultimately sad. It is a spiritual journey to find his true identity and completely believable, even with the ambiguity of the ending. I believe it is Kostner's best work.As he gets to know the tribe, the individual personalities emerge with wonderful clarity, but it is the portrait of the tribe as a whole, the culture, that was by far the most beautiful for me. There is grace, love, camaraderie, the sacred, and brutality all rolled into one. Little Big Man did the same for the Cheyenne, but there was always an element of parody and tall tale to the film that I felt was aimed at children. This film is adult, with realistically awful violence next to the beauty. Indeed, it has inspired me to research Sioux culture more deeply.My only criticisms include how crude the white interlopers appear. It makes you cheer when they are killed, though there is a good captain. Also, when becoming part of the tribe, Kostner supplies them with guns to fight another tribe, which I think is a profound violation of his duty as an army officer. Finally, the bit with the wolf is stretched to the point of the truly maudlin.Warmly recommended. My wife and I had seen this shortly after she moved with me to the US, so it was an introduction to American history for her, a European. Now, we watched it with our kids (in our European home) and they were utterly absorbed by it and full of questions, to the point that they will want to learn more. What more could you want?

A successful yet quite underrated big film from Kevin Costner. His amazing debut behind the camera reveals an ambitious and clear approach to cinema (Costner, as he's always done as an actor, looks at classic cinema masters, so no wonder his debut is a western) and to an idea of America that has emerged throughout his filmography. Dances with wolves is a tale of rebellion and redemption, almost a way to re-elaborate the myth of America foundation under the critic eye of a pioneer (or a son of the conquest) that realizes that was not the right way to approach the New World. And so he metaphorically dies and resurrect, trying another way: that of the embrace of the unknown. As in the most maverick and unconformed american films, the hero is an outsider and someone who does not join the civilization and the impositions of the community or collectivity, but a guy who wanders alone, neglected and free, and just join who he recognize as his similar, meaning all those who have been banned or decided to escape from the major interests and values of Society. But it's an exile that finds no solution, and I appreciate that even at the end, Costner leaves us with an apparent hope but with no guarantee for the future to come (managing to make a film consistent up to the end with no big concession to Studios and Producers, despite the big budget he spent on this film).Through a compelling, sometimes ironic, mostly spectacular and totally enojable storytelling, Costner tells us all those things, with the essential performance of a fifties actor and the passionate innocence of a genuine director, who does not care about what the critics will think or how many people will watch his creation. But just with urgent need of putting all himself into it and make it memorable

The item arrive in time.

Fast delivery,all good.

Thought I would give my view of this Blu-ray and maybe dispell any buyer apprehensions, in the process.My b-ray came today, taking nine days to arrive, from Momox Germany.There is a little confusion here, as regards the feature running times as printed on the two included discs.If you zoom examine the posted photographs of the discs - the 'director's cut' disc is printed as 134 min - BUT it actually runs for 181:04 mins ( 3 hrs 4minutes ). This, I believe is the theatrical extended cut.The second disc running time is printed as 181 min - BUT - it actually runs for 236:39 mins ( 3hrs 56mins 39 seconds ) - which I believe is the FULL director's cut of the film.The Blu-ray quality of picture is excellent, with DTS 7.1 master audio on the full director's cut.If you are able to alter the viewing aspect ratio on your tv ( mine is a 55" LG ), you may have to retain a black bar on the bottom of the film, rather than zoom to full cinema screen aspect, as the sub titles ( which can be configured in English ) appear slightly lower than the actual displayed film (which is widescreen ) and take up a second dialogue line on the bottom black bar itself. So maybe its better to watch in its original 16:9 aspect - but that's a matter of personal preference. Why couldn't we get an English blu-ray release of the longest cut, If the Germans could? Hope this helps someone else in debate of this foreign release.