The movies made by Quentin Tarantino have always been received with great acclaim and instantly develop a cult following and Django Unchained is no exception.
All of his movies have a unique style, laced together with strong characters, great scripts, fantastic camera work and obvious chemistry between cast and director.
This is the eighth feature movie released by Tarantino, and if you are familiar with the extreme blood and violence of his past movies, you know what to expect from Django Unchained.
What Is Django unchained About?
This movie is not so much challenging the viewer to witness the brutality of slavery but instead pulls the audience into experiencing the horror first-hand and at times can be shocking to watch.
Tarantino himself defended this approach, quoting that his research for the movie was “incredibly shocking” and it seems he wanted the audience to feel angry when exposed so graphically to the inhumanity of slavery.
The style of the movie is a direct reflection of the old gritty spaghetti westerns but is not full of brooding silence from the main characters. Instead, we are treated to constant dialogue that has the usual dark humour prescribed by a Tarantino script.
The cinematography is brilliant, ranging from vast landscapes to confronting close-up shots of bloody violence or tense portraits of the darker characters within the script.
Is Django Unchained Worth Watching?
All in all the movie was nominated for 151 Awards and came away with 59 wins. At the time it was Tarantino's biggest grossing movie ever.
As mentioned earlier, Tarantino seems to develop a chemistry with his cast and gets something unique from each actor. Django is a great example of this – Jamie Foxx (Day Shift) really pulls off the lead as Django capturing the desperation deep within fed by the animalistic need to act revenge.
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) is more than convincing as a sadistic plantation owner who loves nothing more than to watch two black men fight to the death in his living room.
Samuel L Jackson plays a suitably cringe-worthy uncle tom role that is challenging to the audience as he sides with his white Master after witnessing such brutality.
But the outstanding performance is from Cristoph Waltz, who had delivered an exceptional performance in Tarantino's previous film Inglorious Basterds.
Waltz plays the part of Dr. King Schultz, winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe for best supporting actor. The character of Schultz is a German bounty hunter that makes Django a free man and the connection that is fused between these men is what binds this film together.
This is a modern classic of the old-style western that holds nothing back from the audience. All in all Django Unchained is simply a brilliant movie that dares to go to places that no other western could – exposing the uncomfortable past of pre-civil war America.
