Dances With Wolves

SUMMARY OF MOVIE:
During a US Civil War battle, Union Army Officer Lieutenant John J. Dunbar learns that his injured leg is to be amputated. Seeing fellow soldiers with amputated legs, he refuses amputation and attempts suicide by riding a horse across the line of fire, between the Union and Confederate. His action has the unexpected effect of uniting his mates, who storm the distracted Confederates and win the battle. After the battle, an experienced general's surgeon saved Dunbar's leg. The commanding officer recognizes Dunbar as a hero and gives him Cisco, the horse who carried him in battle, and offers Dunbar his choice of posting. He was anxious to see the Western frontier before it ended so he requested to transfer west. After a long
journey, Dunbar arrives with supplies at the desolate Fort Sedgwick, finding it deserted except for a lone wolf that Dunbar later befriends and names Two Socks, because of the coloring of its front legs. Dunbar, while waiting for reinforcements to arrive, sets about bringing order to the deserted post, left in complete disarray by its previous occupants. Meanwhile, Dunbar’s companion left to go back to the city, in attempt to ask for assistance of Dunbar’s post, is ambushed by Pawnee Indians and scalped. His companion’s death and the suicide of the major who sent them there prevents Union officers from knowing of Dunbar's assignment to the post, effectively isolating Dunbar. He remains unaware of the full situation and its implications. He notes in his journal how strange it is that no more soldiers join him at the post. He initially encounters Sioux neighbors when the tribe's medicine man, Kicking Bird, fumbles upon the fort while Dunbar bathes out of sight, and, assuming it abandoned, attempts to capture Dunbar’s horse, Cisco. After Dunbar scares off Kicking Bird, he is confronted by an aggressive warrior named Wind in His Hair, who declares that he is not scared of the white man. Eventually, Dunbar establishes a relationship with Kicking Bird, but the language barrier frustrates them. On his way to visit the tribe's camp, Dunbar interrupts the suicide attempt of Stands with a Fist, a white woman captured by the tribe as a child, who recovers and acts as a translator. Dunbar finds himself drawn to the lifestyle and customs of the tribe, and becomes a hero among the Sioux and accepted as an honorary member of the tribe after he helps them locate a migrating herd of buffalo, which they depend upon as a source of food, material, and clothing. He further defends the settlement against a Pawnee raiding party, providing the Sioux warriors with surplus rifles and ammunition from the fort. He eventually is accepted as a full member of the tribe. After members of the tribe witness him playing with Two Socks, he is named "Dances with Wolves". Dunbar falls in love with Stands With A Fist, a relationship forbidden by the recent death of her husband in battle but consummated in secret. The two eventually win the approval of Kicking Bird, who takes on the role of her father, and marry. Dunbar subsequently spends more time living with the tribe than at his post at Fort Sedgwick. Wind In His Hair, his last rival, recognizes him as a friend. Dunbar's paradise ends when he tells Kicking Bird that white men will continue to invade their land. They tell the chief, who decides it is time to move the village to its winter camp. As the packing finishes, Dunbar realizes that his journal, left behind at the deserted fort, is a blueprint for finding the tribe, revealing that he knows far too much about their ways. Wearing Indian clothing, he returns to Fort Sedgwick to get the journal but finds it is has been occupied by new troops. They see Dunbar and initially assuming he is an Indian, kill his horse Cisco and capture him. When they recognize Dunbar as a white man, they treat him as a deserter, and beat him during a questioning. Dunbar tells Lt. Elgin (whom Dunbar met earlier in Maj. Fambrough's office) that he has a journal containing his orders for his posting to Fort Sedgwick. One of the first soldiers to arrive at the fort, denies the existence of the journal, which he had found and has in his pocket. After further beating, Dunbar declares in the Native American language that his name is Dances With Wolves. Army officers and a few troops set off to deliver Dunbar to Fort Hayes for execution. When they come upon Two Socks, they shoot at the wolf, who refuses to leave his only companion-Dunbar. Despite his attempts to intervene, Two Socks is fatally wounded, and the group moves on. Soon after, warriors from the tribe attack the white men, rescuing Dunbar. One of the head Indian leaders retrieves Dunbar's journal floating in a stream. After returning to the camp, Dunbar realizes that as a deserter and fugitive, he will always draw the negative attention of the Army and endanger the welfare of the tribe if he stays. Under the protests of his Sioux friends, Dunbar decides that he must leave the tribe, saying he must speak to those who would listen. His wife decides to accompany him. As Dances With Wolves and Stands With A Fist leave the camp, Wind In His Hair cries out that Dances with Wolves will always be his friend, a remembrance of their first confrontation. Shortly afterward, a column of cavalry and Pawnee army scouts arrive to find their former camp site empty. As far as the historical background of the film is concerned, the Lakota chief called Ten Bears was actually a Southern Plains Yapparika Comanche chief. The real Kicking Bird was not a "medicine man", but a chief in another Southern Plains tribe called the Kiowa.
The original novel centered around the Comanche of the Southern Plains. However, due to the fact that the film production company secured filming access to a herd of buffalo in South Dakota, a change of tribes occurred. The most significant historical error involves the winter campaign launched by the United States Army in search of Dances With Wolves and Ten Bears' band. The year is supposed to be 1864. No United States Army winter campaigns were launched against any Native Americans until November of 1868. The massacre that took place that month was led by Lt. Col. George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry against Chief Black Kettle's people of the Cheyenne Nation. It occurred at Washita Creek on Thanksgiving Day. The necessity to work more in harmony with our environment is a constant theme of our age, and it is interesting to see how a historical film can also accommodate modern concerns. “Loyalty and Betrayal”: Dunbar is honored by being given a commission early in the plot to take up a post of his own choosing, because of his loyalty to the Union army. We see the deep sense of loyalty within the Dakota people. Dunbar decides to leave the camp at the end of the film because of his feelings towards the Dakota and gives himself up to the
white Union authorities. “Love and Friendship”: The Dakota demonstrate these emotions better than any other group in the film and they build powerful connections through harmony and order. There is a strong bond within the group and they give strict obedience to the elders. Each member is treated with dignity and individuality is profoundly respected. The culture succeeds because of this atmosphere of trust, fellowship, and love.

REFLECTION OF MOVIE:
The portrayal of history exemplified by “Dances with Wolves” was very interesting and mostly factual.
The perspective showed both sides of the story-both from the whites and the Native Americans. At the beginning, they showed the whites’ point of view by showing Dunbar’s transformation and rapid-growth of understanding of the ways of the Indian’s lifestyles. The plotline and the part of romance made it more captivating for me. The part about the wild west and the ways and culture of the Native Americans were exposed and recognized. This movie taught me much about the knowledge of the Native Americans and their relationships with the white men. The movie proved that both sides-both the white and “the savages” were even when it came to abuse and misery they created for the opposing side. I would personally recommend it to anyone who has the patience to sit down and learn about the old ways of the wild west between the Native Americans and the whites. Also to all the women that appreciate a plotline with romance. This movie has received 7 Oscars, and has, in addition, been nominated for 5 more; won 3 Golden Globes, and has, in addition, been nominated for 3 more; has won one Grammy. The contribution to my knowledge toward the AP exam has immensely increased by the unbiased view and perspective toward the Native Americans, and visually a story unfold from the west and the separate viewpoints from the whites versus the
Indians.