Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is a brutally violent,
two hour, forty-five minute cinematic masterpiece. Blending truth and fiction,
Tarantino carefully and craftily weaves a compelling narrative that quickly
catches hold of the viewer’s attention and refuses to let go. Not for the faint
of heart, Django is gritty, dirty, and
bloody- easily earning its R-rating- but woven throughout is a thread of charm
that offers relief from the darker moments in the film. The story is
compelling, the cinematography is spectacular, and the acting is masterful. Django Unchained is an example of
cinematic craftsmanship at its finest.
Set
mostly in the Deep South in the years just prior to the American civil war, Django is very much a film highlighting
the brutality of slavery in the United States. Race relations and slavery are
perhaps the two most sensitive issues to address in United States history, but
Tarantino doesn’t hold back at all in his depiction of the treatment of slaves.
This was a risky decision, and, were it not done well, could have ruined the
film. It was done well, however, and provides a sense of realism that
underlines the fictional narrative being told. There no gratuitousness to the
depiction of brutality by slave owners, however. Each time the viewer sees a
slave being tortured or killed, as happens in a handful of occasions
throughout, it is to serve a specific narrative purpose. In each case, there is
something revealed to the audience either about one of the characters or about the
story itself.
There
are two scenes that may cause a viewer to feel compelled to look away: the
scene in which two slaves fight to the death and the scene in which a slave is
killed by dogs. While some may find the intensity of the violence in these particular
scenes to be objectionable, the violence in these scenes is a very important
aspect of this film for two reasons. First, they introduce and then reinforce
how evil the film’s antagonist, Calvin Candie, is. In both cases, these acts of
supreme brutality are perpetrated at his command and in both cases he directly
observes the violence taking place. Second, it is by confronting his audience
with such graphic depictions of violent brutality that Tarantino forces the
viewer to consider the way slaves were treated. It is only by taking the
audience to such an uncomfortable place that the truth of slavery can be made
real to the viewer.
The
acting in this film is superb. Christoph Waltz command of the quirks of German
dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz to quickly seize the audience’s
interest and curiosity and drive the story forward in the first act. Jamie Foxx
is wonderful as the titular Django and does a great job handling the extremely
difficult emotional toll that Django undergoes as he transitions from slave to
free man and as he studies bounty hunting under Schultz’s guidance. Waltz and
Foxx make an excellent team portraying an unlikely partnership of outcast
bounty hunters determined to rescue Django’s still-enslaved wife, Broomhilda. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays her new owner, the
villainous Calvin Candie, a plantation owner who forces slaves to fight to the
death, with an over-the-top grandiosity that fits the character and the film
just perfectly.
From
a technical standpoint, Django Unchained
is a masterfully shot film. Django is
simply beautiful. Director Quentin Tarantino and Director of Photography Robert
Richardson clearly have a deep understanding of film as a visual medium and
each scene is meticulously shot. A perfect example is a scene in a saloon near
the start of the film. Dr. Schultz and Django find themselves alone in a saloon
and Dr. Schultz decides to pour them some beer while explaining to Django what
a bounty hunter is and why he needs Django’s help tracking his current target.
A lesser director would possibly have shown this scene in one or two wide shots
while the actor talks. Tarantino and Richardson do it in 11. There’s a long
shot as Schultz walks to the bar, a medium shot on Schultz as he pulls on the
tap, a tight shot of his hands on the tap, a tight shot of the beer filling the
glass, a tight panning shot from his hands on the tap down to the stick he will
use to scrape the head of the beer off the glass, a tight shot of his hands
doing so, and then it repeats for the second glass, all while Dr. Schultz is
delivering a monologue. It is a masterful way to prevent the film from
stagnating while large amounts of expository dialogue are given. There’s also
the expert use of slow motion at dramatically significant moments, such as the
scene in which Dr. Schultz shoots a wanted man off the back of a horse. There
is a brief slow-motion shot of his bright red blood spraying the white cotton
in the field of the plantation. It’s details like these that take Django from being a good movie to
being a great one.
Overall,
Django Unchained is an excellent
film. It tells a compelling story against a backdrop of the darkest period in
American history. It is well written, beautifully shot, and superbly acted.
Quentin Tarantino demonstrates through Django
Unchained he is uncompromising in his desire to tell his stories and he is
unafraid to tackle even the most controversial topics to do so. Django is humorous, brutal, charming,
violent, challenging, and is a cinematic experience well worth having.
