Django Unchained

Django Unchained

By: Nicolette Karter

        I like Quentin Tarantino’s films, even though they are a little graphic, both language-wise & gore-wise. And Jamie Foxx & Kerry Washington are both divine actors who I love. The little I’ve seen of Christoph Waltz is good; Samuel L. Jackson is awesome; and while I am surprising not a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio like other girls, I did think he did a good job in this. His character is awful, but I think that’s the point.

        It starts with Django (Foxx) meeting Dr. Shultz (Waltz), who is awesome, in my opinion. The formal way he talks & conducts himself is funny. We then find out that Shultz needs Django to help him find his mission, because he is a bounty hunter who is looking for people who used to oversee Django & his wife Broomhilda (Washington). He agrees to give Django his freedom & money if he points out these men, but after the bounty is collected they go into business together.

        After a montage of the two partners becoming friends & Django learning how to read (& how to not look ridiculous in a bright blue suit I’m both glad & sad are no longer in style) while collecting a fair amount of money bounty hunting together over winter, they sent off to find & buy Broomhilda so she can be free with Django. They figure out she was sold to Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), who is a powerful plantation owner & into a competition were slave owners pit slaves against each other to fight to the death. Brutal, right? But Mr. Tarantino is not known for shying away from having brazen content in his films.

        Speaking of, he is nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for this movie. I think the Academy snubbed the costume designer for this, because they were amazing (remember me mentioning a bright blue suit?). Not that the other nominees don’t deserve to be nominated, I just wish this film was nominated as well. Not to mention, Jamie Foxx got snubbed by not having more nominations; he & Kerry Washington only got one each, & the entire ensemble got only one nomination. But hey, what are you gunna do?

        Anyway, as our heroic duo makes their way into the plantation of Mr. Candie, & hence get closer to Broomhilda, we see more brutality from slave owners. Now, I understand that the makers wanted this to be realistic, but a lot of people get shot & only a few who exploded made sense (like the Hitchcock-esque cameo Mr. Tarantino had with dynamite). I’m thinking someone wanted to see a lot of things blow up, so they just wrote it in a few places. The very last explosion was awesome, so look forward to that when watching this film. But that’s beside the point.

        In any case, Mr. Candie is awful, and so is his main house slave, Samuel L. Jackson’s Stephen. He figured out (really quick, I might add) that Django & the Dr. were there for Hildy (as she’s nicknamed) rather than to buy a slave for a ridiculous price; which somehow didn’t raise any questions or suspicions as to why they would go to such trouble for one stranger at a time when slaves were considered inferior to their masters. So, as soon as Stephen informed Mr. Candie that his guests were lying to him & will run off with Hildy, Mr. Candie got really dark & scary.

This is about the time of the climax, & because it’s a Quentin Tarantino film, it’s about time for the final shootout. I liked the way this ended, overall I liked the film. I also liked how over the course of the film, as time passed for the characters, you could see Django changing. His demeanor, the way he talks, & his attitude all transform from the beginning of the film to the end; which is another reason why I’m surprised Jamie Foxx didn’t get more nominations for this role. Oscar or no, everyone involved did a great job, & I would totally recommend watching this movie.