We Come Far

Just as there are books that have left a lasting impression on me, there are movies that have as well. I will forever remember going to see Gone With the Wind at the old Tivoli Theater in Chattanooga with Mom and Dad or Steel Magnolias with a group of gal friends in Florida the weekend before we moved to Kansas City. There are several movies that have touched me or that hold a special place in my heart, but there is one that I would probably rank as my all-time favorite ... Dances With Wolves. I remember the first time I saw it in the theater with my ex-husband and our next-door neighbors, and though I own the DVD, I will still stop and watch it every time I stumble upon it on television. Which was the case yesterday ... a cold, windy, rainy gray day, a day when my mood was as gloomy as the skies outside my windows ... yesterday, I spent three hours snuggled on my couch with my dogs watching Dances With Wolves.

The film begins with a scene in which the main character, Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, is wounded in the American Civil War. Not wanting to have his leg amputated, Lieutenant Dunbar takes a superior officer's horse and rides back and forth adjacent to enemy lines "to produce his own death." While the Confederate soldiers are focused on trying to shoot the lieutenant, the Union army attacks and wins the battle. Dunbar survives and is given a commendation and his choice of posts at which to serve. He chooses the western frontier, saying that he wishes to see it before it disappears. He finds the fort abandoned and in disrepair but decides to stay and man the post himself, keeping a diary of his daily life on the prairie. He meets and is accepted into the Sioux tribe, is given the name Dances With Wolves, and marries a woman who had been brought into the tribe as a child when her family was killed. When Dunbar returns to the fort to retrieve his diary before the tribe moves to its winter camp, he is captured and treated as a traitor. While transporting him back for trial, his Sioux family attacks and kills the soldiers to save him from certain hanging. The movie concludes with Dunbar and his wife Stands With a Fist leaving the tribe in order to try and protect them from retribution for the soldiers' deaths.

The opening scene in which Lieutenant Dunbar rides across the field with his arms stretched open is powerful to say the least. His whispered words of "Forgive me, Father," as he attempts to bring about his own death always bring tears to my eyes. I can completely identify with the words he writes to identify his lonely existence at the fort ... "I remain alone, however, and should troops not arrive soon, I fear that all may be lost." But it is the words that are spoken in the final scenes of the movie that continue to impact me the most. Dunbar is saying goodbye to Kicking Bird, the tribe's medicine man whom he admires and respects, and who has become his close friend. As they exchange pipes each has carved, Kicking Bird says, "We come far, you and me." And Dunbar replies, "I will not forget you." Then as Dunbar and Stands With a Fist ride out of the Sioux camp that has been their home, the young warrior, Wind in His Hair, who initially most strongly opposed Dunbar, sits on his horse at the top of a hill and shouts, "Dances With Wolves! ... Dances With Wolves! ... I am Wind In His Hair! ... Do you see that I am your friend? ... Can you see that you will always be my friend?"

While some would say that the film is violent and not very well done, I would say the movie is about love and friendship and commitment and discovering one's true identity and purpose in life, and that it offers a great glance into a way of life from days gone by. It reminds me each time I watch it that there are bonds between people that transcend the boundaries of time or social standing or race or distance. It reminds me of people in my life who have come far with me, of people I will not forget. But most of all, it reminds me of my one true Friend ... my Friend who says to me each morning ... "We come far, you and Me." I will not forget You, Lord ... I will not forget You.