Django UnchainedTrue love makes men brave the fires of Hell and the fury of the dragon to save the one they love. True love empowers men with the determination and resolve to face their fears and tower over the forces that would attempt to harm and destroy them. True love unshackles the chains which bind men, and sets them free. Django Unchained is the story of the the titular Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave in the pre-Civil War, antebellum southern states in America, separated from his wife, condemned to a life of woe...that is, until one fateful night, when his destiny intertwines with a German bounty hunter--and former dentist--by the name of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).
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Django and Schultz are partners by necessity at the onset, but it is clear that Schultz is different than so many other white men Django has met: Schultz respects him and deplores the convention of slavery. He treats Django as a person, not an object, and offers to compensate him for his assistance in locating a trio of plantation foremen (and wanted criminals, foremost), whom Django has the misfortune to have crossed paths with previously. For Django, who has apparently only known life behind the shackles of his unfortunate past, his freedom is a shock, to him and to passersby, who are unaccustomed to sights such as a black man on horseback--their particular brand of phrasing a shade far more offensive in the course of "polite conversation". The scene where Django and Schultz ride into Daughtry, Texas shares unmistakable parallels with Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, a precursor to Django Unchained, in as much as it is a western which deals frankly with the hypocrisies of racism. Another astute metaphor for the absurdity of using race to apply value to one's worth is showcased when Django and Schultz arrive at the plantation of Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett (Don Johnson), and as Schultz identifies Django as his "valet", and a free man, Bennett is forced to try to describe just what a "free black man" is to one of his servants, stumbling over the definition, and failing to clearly offer a logical reason for the distinction in the first place. And just as with Blazing Saddles--and other works by Brooks--director Quentin Tarantino recognizes that the most effective way to subvert racism and the like is with absurdity and mockery, such as when Bennett later rallies his fellow klansmen to raid Schultz's coach in an ambush, only to stumble blindly into a trap because of their ridiculous hoods and the accompanying poor visibility. As Schultz takes Django under his wing to locate his quarry, it proves to be a learning experience for him, who makes such discoveries as the pros and cons of picking out his own outfits for their charade, and learning that subterfuge can be more effective than simple gunplay--although a lot can be said for Django's superior marksmanship. Earlier moments key us into Django's history, how he was a slave on the Carrucan plantation, where following a savage whipping by the "Brittle Brothers", he and his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington)--called "Hildi"--were separated and sold away. These scenes are portrayed by flashback, and the film is intentionally washed out--as though visitations from a forgotten cinematic gem--yet vivid, burned into Django's memory as an example of the cruelty of his slavers. So when Django discovers that the Brittle Brothers (now under aliases) are preparing to whip another young woman for something so inconsequential as breaking eggs, it awakens the heroic emancipator within him, and he turns to a spirit of vengeance, seeking justice for the cruelty inflicted upon him and Hildi before at their hands. He commits to the role of a bounty hunter, and revisits the torments upon the tormentors.
Django Unchained is steeped in western film lore and style, from the opening credits reminiscent of classic spaghetti westerns--like the one from which Django Unchained is adapted, namely the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci--to the bloody shootouts, save for the occasional anachronism in the musical score. This gives Django Unchained a unique style and flourish all its own, although it is immediately recognizable as belonging to the oeuvre of Tarantino. When Schultz recalls the traditional German legend of Siegfried and "Brunhilda" from the Völsunga saga to Django, it is because he senses parallels between the story and Django's own ordeal, not to mention the similarity in the name of Django's wife and the princess of the tale. This ancestral geas motivates Schultz in part to train Django in the ways of the "warrior" by wielding a gun, and the profession of a bounty hunter. And just like Siegfried, Django must brave hellfire and face his own inevitable "dragon" in his pursuit to rescue Hildi. Django and Schultz discover that his wife is being held as a servant in the ironically named "Candyland", the name attributed to a cotton plantation owned by resident Francophile and "Mandingo fighting" enthusiast, "Monsieur" Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a discovery which fuels Django's urgency to free his wife from a life in the service of such a depraved lunatic. But Schultz observes that force will not only surely get them killed, but will only result in Hildi's eventual return to Candyland all the same; so Schultz proposes that they go undercover, posing as an amateur investor in the "sport" and Django as his consultant. Django adopts the role of a black slaver, one which he observes is the "lowest of the low", but he has become emboldened as a result of his new profession as well as the confidence in his abilities to execute them, not to mention his own reaffirmation of his humanity--he accepts that this is their best plan to free his love...to walk into the proverbial lion's den. And although Schultz worries at just how much "method acting" Django indulges in, concerned he might antagonize Candie and ruin their chances at their bigger goal, Django reassures him that he is committed to their little drama. He tells Schultz that he needs to "get dirty" to make it convincing; he even makes this claim as he flashes a look right into the camera, involving the audience directly in this deception against these repulsive enemies.
Django Unchained is a story of "the South", a representation of a dark time in American history, when slavery was not only legal, it was a fundamental part of the economy and way of life for the country. The very nature of slavery is to dehumanize another--in this case, African-Americans--on the basis of their skin tone, as a justification to treat them as property, as less than human, like dogs or cattle. In the case of the abhorrent Calvin Candie, this mentality reaches unnatural levels of cruelty, and his arguments to justify his evil ways mirrors those espoused by the likes of Josef Mengele of the Third Reich of Nazi Germany one century later. And there is a pointed irony in Schultz's presence in Django Unchained, as a German, when he recalls the events following his "negotiations" with Candie for Hildi, recalling Candie's slave, D'Artagnan (Ato Essandoh) being ripped apart by Candie's dogs, no longer fit to fight and having run off. He struggles to contemplate the kind of inhumanity present in such a people as the Americans, given to such wanton cruelty. Interestingly enough, Christoph Waltz would play a Nazi officer in another film by Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, where although the Americans in that film remain cruel, they have the advantage of moral righteousness in that scenario. Candie represents what is most detestable and ugly in negative perceptions of Americans, a spoiled rich brat turned adult psychopath, without morality, feigning culture to disguise his ignorance. Candie is fatted on the suffering of the poor, and his penchant for seeing scantily clad men beat each other bloody suggests something else about his own predilections. His demonstration about the "science" justifying slavery exposes not only his callousness but the monstrousness behind his fancy dress and his villainous quellazaire. But Django's true "dragon" comes in the form of Stephen--played by Tarantino regular, Samuel L. Jackson--who represents not only the head house servant--a position only slightly less disgraceful to Django than that of a black slaver--but also a canny foe who can see through Django's ruse. Stephen represents the antithesis of Django, a black man who not only represents a kind of "Uncle Tom" figure of subservience and acquiescence to the tenets of slavery, but even seems to relish the torments inflicted upon his brethren in that capacity. And Stephen represents the last barrier Django must tear down before he can call himself free of his past, and stride forth a free man into a new age with his love, one where race has no part in determining the value of one's worth, for one cannot put a price on a man.
Recommended for: Fans of a tribute (in the style of auteur Quentin Tarantino) to the "spaghetti western", full of bloody action and a story of love in the face of evil. It is also a condemnation of racism, as important in the 19th century as it is in any era where one judges another on the basis of race.
Django Unchained is steeped in western film lore and style, from the opening credits reminiscent of classic spaghetti westerns--like the one from which Django Unchained is adapted, namely the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci--to the bloody shootouts, save for the occasional anachronism in the musical score. This gives Django Unchained a unique style and flourish all its own, although it is immediately recognizable as belonging to the oeuvre of Tarantino. When Schultz recalls the traditional German legend of Siegfried and "Brunhilda" from the Völsunga saga to Django, it is because he senses parallels between the story and Django's own ordeal, not to mention the similarity in the name of Django's wife and the princess of the tale. This ancestral geas motivates Schultz in part to train Django in the ways of the "warrior" by wielding a gun, and the profession of a bounty hunter. And just like Siegfried, Django must brave hellfire and face his own inevitable "dragon" in his pursuit to rescue Hildi. Django and Schultz discover that his wife is being held as a servant in the ironically named "Candyland", the name attributed to a cotton plantation owned by resident Francophile and "Mandingo fighting" enthusiast, "Monsieur" Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a discovery which fuels Django's urgency to free his wife from a life in the service of such a depraved lunatic. But Schultz observes that force will not only surely get them killed, but will only result in Hildi's eventual return to Candyland all the same; so Schultz proposes that they go undercover, posing as an amateur investor in the "sport" and Django as his consultant. Django adopts the role of a black slaver, one which he observes is the "lowest of the low", but he has become emboldened as a result of his new profession as well as the confidence in his abilities to execute them, not to mention his own reaffirmation of his humanity--he accepts that this is their best plan to free his love...to walk into the proverbial lion's den. And although Schultz worries at just how much "method acting" Django indulges in, concerned he might antagonize Candie and ruin their chances at their bigger goal, Django reassures him that he is committed to their little drama. He tells Schultz that he needs to "get dirty" to make it convincing; he even makes this claim as he flashes a look right into the camera, involving the audience directly in this deception against these repulsive enemies.
Django Unchained is a story of "the South", a representation of a dark time in American history, when slavery was not only legal, it was a fundamental part of the economy and way of life for the country. The very nature of slavery is to dehumanize another--in this case, African-Americans--on the basis of their skin tone, as a justification to treat them as property, as less than human, like dogs or cattle. In the case of the abhorrent Calvin Candie, this mentality reaches unnatural levels of cruelty, and his arguments to justify his evil ways mirrors those espoused by the likes of Josef Mengele of the Third Reich of Nazi Germany one century later. And there is a pointed irony in Schultz's presence in Django Unchained, as a German, when he recalls the events following his "negotiations" with Candie for Hildi, recalling Candie's slave, D'Artagnan (Ato Essandoh) being ripped apart by Candie's dogs, no longer fit to fight and having run off. He struggles to contemplate the kind of inhumanity present in such a people as the Americans, given to such wanton cruelty. Interestingly enough, Christoph Waltz would play a Nazi officer in another film by Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, where although the Americans in that film remain cruel, they have the advantage of moral righteousness in that scenario. Candie represents what is most detestable and ugly in negative perceptions of Americans, a spoiled rich brat turned adult psychopath, without morality, feigning culture to disguise his ignorance. Candie is fatted on the suffering of the poor, and his penchant for seeing scantily clad men beat each other bloody suggests something else about his own predilections. His demonstration about the "science" justifying slavery exposes not only his callousness but the monstrousness behind his fancy dress and his villainous quellazaire. But Django's true "dragon" comes in the form of Stephen--played by Tarantino regular, Samuel L. Jackson--who represents not only the head house servant--a position only slightly less disgraceful to Django than that of a black slaver--but also a canny foe who can see through Django's ruse. Stephen represents the antithesis of Django, a black man who not only represents a kind of "Uncle Tom" figure of subservience and acquiescence to the tenets of slavery, but even seems to relish the torments inflicted upon his brethren in that capacity. And Stephen represents the last barrier Django must tear down before he can call himself free of his past, and stride forth a free man into a new age with his love, one where race has no part in determining the value of one's worth, for one cannot put a price on a man.
Recommended for: Fans of a tribute (in the style of auteur Quentin Tarantino) to the "spaghetti western", full of bloody action and a story of love in the face of evil. It is also a condemnation of racism, as important in the 19th century as it is in any era where one judges another on the basis of race.