I'm curious about the slagging of "Dances With Wolves" and the comment that it is the "liberal's western". I thought it refreshing to get the viewpoint from the other side, unlike the "only good Injun is a dead one" we came to expect in most.
The slaughter of the buffalo was a travesty, hardly a high water mark in western history. The destruction of a way of life that had existed for milennia was a form of genocide, no less reprehensible than the Nazi Holocaust or the Balkans "ethnic cleansing" in that it was government sponsored and endorsed.
It is a fact that the US Army lived in fear of Indian attacks' often holing up in their forts hardly daring to forage for firewood. It took overwhelming miitary action to defeat them during the 'Indian Wars' despite the loss of their mobile food supply - the buffalo. Treaties were meaningless as they were never made in good faith.
Tribes were relocated at the point of a bayonet, shot down on the merest pretext. This theme is also brought out in the movie "Legends of the Fall" with Anthony Hopkins.
As for sheer cinematic beauty and musical score, DWW has to be one of the best. Right from the get-go, with Costner riding 'Cisco' in front of the Rebel lines hoping to get shot. His interaction with the Indians he met makes me wonder what I would have done in the same situation - cringed in fear like the soldiers who had preceeded him or take the bold step of initiating contact through the saving of the white captive.
Compared to the premise of so many other fanciful western movies, this one had drama, pathos, empathy and a deep philosophic theme throughout.
I'm not a bleeding heart liberal by any stretch, even referred to as a white red neck by some for my dislike of current Indian politics, but I recognize history unapologetically - good or bad.
Just another opinion ... ;>)