Django Unchained has won 2 Academy Awards: Best
Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz) and Best Original Screenplay (Quentin
Tarantino).
My heartiest Congratulations to Christoph and Quentin on their success.
Django
Unchained is my favorite Quentin Tarantino movie since Pulp Fiction. Inglourious
Basterds was Quentin's revisionist take on World War II and this movie takes an
unflinching look at black slavery.
The movie is set in the 19th century
and opens with shots of Django (Jamie Foxx) being led along with other slaves
in chains. Like previous Tarantino movies, the opening credits are done in the
genre style - in this case, Spaghetti Western. The song accompanying the stylish
credits is sung by Luis Bacalov and sets the tone for the movie.
Django is soon set free by Dr King Schultz (Christoph
Waltz). Shultz is a German bounty hunter and needs Django’s help to identify
the Brittle brothers. After netting the trio, Schultz agrees to help Django get
his wife, Broomhilda von Schaft (Kerry Washington) and trains him.
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| Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained |
Broomhilda is being held by Calvin Candie
(Leonardo DiCaprio), a young and sadistic plantation owner. Calvin’s right hand
man is Stephen (Samuel L Jackson).
Schultz devises a plan to free Broomhilda. He introduces
Django as an expert on Mandingo fighting and offers an insanely large amount of
money to Calvin in exchange for his top fighters. Schultz’s actual intention is
to acquire Broomhilda as part of the bargain, by showing his affinity for her
knowledge of German language.
The observant Stephen catches Broomilda stealing
glances at Django and confronts her. Broomhilda does her best to convince Stephen
otherwise. The astute Stephen does not buy her arguments and promptly and discreetly
informs Calvin of the situation.
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| Kerry Washington as Broomhilda von Schaft |
The enraged Calvin finishes the business
transaction at gunpoint. He gloats over the fact that he was not deceived by
Schultz’s plan and forces Schultz to acknowledge that fact through a simple
handshake. Schultz has already witnessed the brutal death of a slave and refuses
to (literally) shake hands with the devil.
The resulting showdown is pure entertainment in
Tarantino style.
Both Waltz and Tarantino richly deserve their
Oscars. Waltz is just amazing as Schultz. Schultz has a very dramatic style of
presenting himself and just as accurate with his shooting. Tarantino has done
some of his best writing for Colonol Hans Landa and Dr King Schultz. It comes as no
surprise that Waltz scored Oscar wins for portraying both these characters.
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| Christoph Waltz gives an Oscar winning performance |
Leonardo DiCaprio gives the second best
performance as the villainous Calvin Clandie. DiCaprio’s natural good looks
combined with his French goatee and red clothings make Calvin one handsome
devil. DiCaprio has delivered one strong performance after another in a variety
of roles and Calvin is yet another feather in his cap.
Leo did some research and came up with the idea of
using the skull in the pivotal dinner scene. He is reported to be highly
interested in the Victorian era and looks very much at home, smoking his pipe.
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| Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie |
Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington and Samuel L Jackson give
great performances as well.
Samuel Jackson in particular is excellent as the cunning
and sharp Stephen who has some tricks up his sleeve.
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| Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L Jackson in Django Unchained |
There are a number of supporting performances.
Jonah Hill
and Quentin himself appear in brief cameos. The bag head scene featuring Jonah
is pretty funny and is classic Tarantino.
There
a lot of beautiful outdoor shots and full credit to Robert Richardson for the
amazing cinematography.
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| Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained |
The
costumes, makeup, the sets and the music are all top-notch.
As
expected, the dialogues crackle with wit and energy. Tarantino loves to write
long chatty scenes and Django has a bunch of them. Still, the movie is
consistently entertaining thanks to Quentin’s sharp writing and even sharper
screenplay.
Click on the link below to buy your copy:
The
shootout scenes are just spectacular and will leave a smile on your face. This
is Tarantino doing what he does best: a genre movie that can stand on its own
and simultaneously is an homage to the genre.
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| Quentin Tarantino |
A
must watch for fans of Spaghetti Westerns and Quentin Tarantino.
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Image Sources: The Weinstein Company and Columbia Pictures
