-Entertainment- Movie Review HUE HERALD WedimdajT March 1M1 Dances With Wolves doesnt live up to expectations By NADEAU Herald Special Kevin Costlier directs pro duces and stars in the threehour epic Dances With Wolves Set during the Civil War Wolves por trays the death of the American frontier and the passing of a way of life that of the North American native in this case the Sioux Heroic stunningly photograph ed nicely acted Dances With Wolves is worth the threehour sit However this reviewer isnt sure that its worth the 12 Oscar nominations it has received And if it wins any of the major awards it will not be justice serv ed Wolves is good but its not great By the time this review appears the Oscars will have been awarded I make no predic tions Costner plays JJ Dunbar a Yankee lieutenant who begins the film by trying to kill himself He winds up a hero Instead and choosing his own post opts to head out to the very front of the frontier somewhere out in NebraskaSouth Dakota ter ritory He arrives to find a demented officer in charge Canadas own Maury in a brief but memorable role and is taken by a foolish lout to Fork Sedgewick a tiny outpost in the middle of nowhere One realizes that for these two white men Robert Eldin of Murphy Brown plays the driver the frontier has not been liberating but has forced them into madness by the very vastness and isolation of the area It has the opposite effect on Dunbar He loves it settles in happily finds a pet wolf and eventually meets the Sioux Gradually he gets to know them and the more he sees the more he loses himself in their harmonious culture He ends up falling in love with one of their tribe a white woman Mary McDonnell and marrying her Soon he loses all idea of being a white man The story ends unhappily as the Union soldiers move further west the Civil War was fought for control of the west not for the liberation of slaves and the cultural genocide that occurred begins to happen The only way Costner could have had a happy ending would have been to rewrite history The film moves rather slowly until the intermission then it begins to pick up as Dunbar becomes more entangled with the Sioux The movie could have been shortened by a good fifteen minutes or more by some judicious editing but had been selfindulgent enough as a firsttime director to cut himself a little too much slack There is an epic feel to Dances but it seems to lack a heart There are some exhilarating moments scenes where the au dience feels for a few minutes the reality of the period the beauty and the tragedy the buffalo scene is especially elevating the way the west was and its about time that someone gave the native point of view Yet the movie really doesnt say anything new or anything deep Its pretty much all on the sur face There are some good per formances here including Costners and Graham Greene a Canadian native who plays Kick ing Bird has a nomination for best supporting actor I would again be surprised if anyone ac tually won because I have seen better and Costner has been bet ter in other movies I think hes just a little too earnest here Dont miss Dances With Wolves but dont expect quite as much as you should Perfect Harmony to debut in April on Canadian television Thomson News Service Perfect Harmony an in teresting family drama makes its Canadian TV debut in early April on Family Channel The drama set at a segregated South Carolina boys school in vividly captures the emo tions of a white youth torn two ways- He can bow to peer pressure and treat blacks as a subspecies or retain his friend ship with an orphaned black teenager who works at the all- white private school Perfect Harmony despite too many stereotyped characters is an excellent vehicle for parents who want their children to understand how much it can hurt individuals if others treat them as lesser beings or mere animals who cant be part of their peer group The drama airs April at pm Perfect Harmony was produc ed by Sea Breeze Productions in association with The Disney Channel Another drama about segrega tion also airs in early April Separate But Equal which opens in 1949 South Carolina is a twopart that dramatizes the events leading up to the US Supreme Courts decibion to desegregate American schools Sidney Poitier in his first dramatic TV performance- since portrays Thurgood Mar shall chief counsel for the Na tional Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People Marshall leads the campaign to end school segregation Burt Lancaster plays John Davis a former presidential can didate who argues the case sup porting school segregation in South Carolina Tommy Hollis portrays Harry a service station atten dant who risks everything for his sons education The blacks in Clarendon Coun ty fighting for equality come under intense pressure children are terrorized homes attacked The miniseries depicts the drama and some of the human pathos leading up to the land mark human rights decision In Canada Separate But Equal airs April 7 and on at pm both nights Mississauga Choral Society presents final concert A presentation of works by three masters will highlight voice and orchestra when the Mississauga Choral Society presents its final concert of the 199091 season Four by Three is the title of this last per formance and the will pro udly perform four works by three of the worlds greatest Choral enthusiasts wont want to miss Mozarts Regina and Ave Verum Corpus Bachs cantata Ich and Haydns Nelson Mass to be per formed on Saturday April 1991 800 pm at St Dominics Church Road Mississauga Note This concert replaces the Welcome Spr ingtime performance which was scheduled for April 28 Newcomers Jane Soprano and David Arnot Tenor will join MCS audience favourites Marcia Swanston Mezzo Soprano and Bruce Schaef Baritone in various solo roles and once again the MCS is accompanied by members of the Toronto Symphony with Leslie Knowles as Concert Master Tickets are on sale now and can be reserved by calling 2787059 Prices are for adults and for students and seniors Say saw it in The Herald When a movie is based on a bestselling novel the producers usually use the same title that graced the cover of the novel The producers of an upcoming romantic drama however have gone one step further putting both the authors name and the name of the novel in the movies title Danielle Steels Changes airs April I on CTV Cheryl Ladd portrays a top TV correspondent who has to decide between a life in Los Angeles with the man she has fallen in love with or accepting the coveted post of cohost on The Morning Show in New York The twohour movie airs at 9 pm A onehour special on childrens rights airs April II on YTV Through music videos and in formal discussion Rights On ex plores the promises world leaders made at the first World Summit For Children last September The special features The Dream Warriors performing a rap song about childrens rights and such young Canadians as Sarah Road to Avonlea and Jerry My Secret Identity who will help explain what the summits definition of childrens rights really means Rights On airs at 8 pm and on April GEORGETOWN CINEMAS 235 GUELPH STREET 8731999 NOW PLAYING THE SECRET OF THE OOZE Evenings at pm Matinees Sat Sun at 200 pm WINNER OF 7 AWARDS 2nd GREAT WEEK AWARDS BEST PICTURE lyiNCHfOlllEy IJDSfeaiH Evenings at 700 pm Only THE NEXT CHAPTER Matinees Saturday Sunday at 200 pm fcjlMJJS LAST2DAYS enemy Evenings at 700 pm rrsrMfWNnTMommruuu A Matinees Saturday Sunday at 200 pm COMING THIS FRIDAY HARD WAY THE DOORS ADMISSION General 700 Children Seniors 375 Tues Password Thurs 375 THIS WEEKS PASSWORD BREAK ON THROUGH