Django Unchained Is Not Just Black And White
By Victoria Pietrus in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 4, 2013 7:20PM
Django Unchained faithfully lives up to what many may argue is a predictable expectation for Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film: there’s no use crying over spilled blood. Tarantino fans will get everything they are coming to see and then some.
Tarantino’s writing and directing for Django Unchained was inspired by 1960s Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone’s iconic spaghetti westerns. One of Tarantino's many strengths and hallmarks as a filmmaker has been to study his cherished predecessors with astonishing intention and promptly stylize it; this project is no exception. His ability to infuse not only his intimate knowledge of the genre but also his passion and deep appreciation is what makes watching his films so satisfying.
Set in the American south prior to the Civil War, Django Unchained begins as a buddy film when former German dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) frees Django (Jamie Foxx) from slavery in order to help identify three criminals he intends to kill. Dr. King (no subtle allusion there) then convinces Django to be his partner and, after much success, together they embrace the task of rescuing Django’s wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who was very unfortunately sold to abhorrent plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). It is at his plantation ironically named Candyland where viewers are also treated to a performance from Candie’s most trusted slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) whose strident remonstrations and gleeful insults shock, impress, and amuse everyone both on screen and off.
DiCaprio is devastating in his incorrigible brutality and sociopathic disregard for human life. Waltz is a joy to watch as he meanders about murdering for profit yet demonstrating great heart and soul in his effort to salvage what he can for Django and his wife. Waltz and Foxx together have a distinctive chemistry, and Foxx’s portrayal of Django is ambitious and wildly successful. Django Unchained is funny and romantic, yet Tarantino manages an incredibly thorough revenge sequence so climatic you’d think he invented the concept of revenge himself.
Aside from extraordinary acting, dialogue, music, and camera work, this film’s greatest accomplishment is its ability to take the white male hero we associate with American Westerns and shove it deliberately back where it came from. Tarantino is admittedly discussing race and power in a way that many find controversial, especially as he takes great liberty in reinventing some facts (not dissimilar to his work in Inglourious Basterds). That being said, DiCaprio’s Candie operates as a disturbingly charismatic symbol for the generations of ignorance and bigotry that supported a system of slavery and atrocious inequality. The conversations of black versus white and rich versus poor will never go away, and here Tarantino seeks to reinvent and glamorize some very ugly events from our nation’s history. He has no regard for passing legislation or influencing politics in any tangible way; his film is art’s way of asking: What could have happened if slaves were accorded the carte blanche option to fight back?
Do not make the mistake of getting mired in the debates of truth versus fact or black versus white. Indeed, Django Unchained contains many things including but not limited to friendship, growth, strength, revenge, and love. Ultimately, I am not one reviewer who finds any joy, relief, or fascination from the constant spraying of blood and assaulting liberal use of the “n-word,” but these things serve to strengthen his objective and lure his audience away from Hollywood fluff and engage in memorable and meaningful conversations.
Django Unchained
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
With Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson
Running time 163 minutes
Rated R for intense violent sequences and hard language.
Now playing at local theaters.