Django Unchained (Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington) – Quinton Tarantino doesn’t make understated movies. Everything about Django Unchained is big and bold from its casting to its sets to its score. This is one fantastic film. Django Unchained starts with original music that could have been right out of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. From that opening scene and the credits running over it, the film feels like a grand “spaghetti western” (as they were called since they were often helmed by Italian directors). And why not? The Django character dates back to 1966 in a violent film simply called Django (starring Franco Nero) described on IMDB as a “coffin-dragging gunslinger (who) enters a town caught between two feuding factions, the KKK and a gang of Mexican Bandits.” (Believe it or not, there is an absolutely hysterical KKK scene in this film, really!)
Tarantino’s tour-de-force centers on Django, a slave who is freed by Dr. King Schultz, a German, wisecracking former dentist-turned-bounty hunter. Set in the Deep South (though much of it was filmed in Wyoming) in the pre-Civil War 1850s where blacks were anything but free, Schultz needs Django to help him identify three brothers who will bring a big bounty. Django shows an uncommon talent for bounty hunting. The odd duo travels the South, killing men for money and growing quite fond of each other. But Django has a greater purpose. He desperately wants to find his wife, Broomhilda (yes, she had this German name because she was raised by Germans), from whom he was separated when the two of them were sold.
From here, the 2 ¾- hour movie becomes a very old fashioned Western with a twist or two. First, it is genuinely funny. Secondly, it is really gory. What else would you expect from Tarantino? If this combination of gore and comedy reminds you of Inglourious Basterds, it should. That was a Tarantino film, too. And the comparisons are inevitable. Christoph Waltz co-starred in both. If you thought his Col. Hans Landa character in Basterds (he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) was as memorable as any in film history, you have got to see his performance at Schultz. Another nomination is certain. Brad Pitt starred in Basterds; here it is Jamie Foxx as Django in what may be his best performance ever (and yes, I saw him as Ray Charles in Ray). Django goes from compliant slave to confident killer between Acts II and III, and it is a wonderful transformation. Add to these incredible performances the evil turn by Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, the brutal Mississippi plantation owner of (yes) Candie Land, and Samuel L. Jackson as Candie’s loyal lieutenant/valet, you are witness to a truly marvelous, quirky, bloody film.
The female lead, small as it is, belongs to Kerry Washington (Save The Last Dance, Ray with Foxx, The Last King of Scotland, and Lakeview Terrace with Jackson). She doesn’t really grace the screen until the last act but her appearance propels the last 45 minutes of the film.
The typical Tarantino touches emerge throughout the film, among them:
(1) lots of cameos – Jonah Hill, Bruce Dern, Don Johnson, Tom Wopat, Ted Neeley and, of course, Tarantino himself
(2) blood, more blood and body parts
(3) nudity (but not much)
(4) seemingly misplaced music (Jim Croce’s I Got a Name)
For those of you who are squeamish, you will definitely squirm and keep your head buried for a fair amount of the movie. But if you missed Basterds because of the scalping and war scenes (like my wife did), don’t make that same mistake again. Keep saying to yourself: “This is just a movie.”
Of course, Django Unchained is much more than that. It is this amazingly modern, intelligent, clever, funny, violent film that is truly Glourious.