Review: 'Django Unchained'

The Weinstein Company 

Director Quinton Tarantino has managed to deliver some of the most memorable films during the past twenty years. He is one of the most creative, daring directors working today and his most recent film Django Unchained is no exception as it is one of the most original, entertaining and interesting films of the year.  Tarantino’s style of filmmaking, more specifically his use of violence is seen throughout Django Unchained but is handled and presented in way that hasn’t been seen in any of his previous films. With that said though, Tarantino once again offers a film that is as daring as it is well-crafted and with out a doubt will be something that will not soon be forgotten.

In Django Unchained, bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), formally a dentist in Germany, is looking for a group of murderers that are known as the Brittle brothers when he encounters Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave that is being transported by his new owners. Because he has seen the Brittle brothers before, Dr. Shultz needs Django to recognize them so that he can kill them. Django agrees to help Dr. Schultz when he is offered temporary freedom in exchange. The two men are able to track down the Brittle brothers and successfully kill them which leads Dr. Schultz to free Django for good and he begins to work with him as a bounty hunter. When working together, Django reveals that he has a wife by the name of Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) that was also sold as a slave. Dr. Shultz and Django later find out that Broomhilda was sold to Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). In an effort to get his wife back, Django along with Dr. Schultz travel to Candie Land (the name of Calvin’s ranch) disguised as two slavers interested in purchasing a slave from Candie.

Django Unchained is similar to past Tarantino films in terms of its vengeance plot. With Django being out for vengeance and to get his wife back, this type of story shares similarities with Kill Bill and Inglourious Bastards. Where Django Unchained differs from these two films is that one major motive of Django is his love for his wife. Unfortunately though, Django is not given enough emotion to make this motive or relationship compelling or all that interesting. When Broomhilda was being treated badly, all that was shown from Django was him going to his gun or becoming somewhat angry. More emotions other than anger would have caused for a much more intriguing character.

The films dialogue is like nothing that Tarantino has done before. Tarantino is a master with words and his films are always dialogue heavy. Django Unchained still features plenty of dialogue but does not have the long conversations or monologues between characters. Also absent from the film is the quick fire dialogue that is a common occurrence in a Tarantino film. Django Unchained ‘s less sharp and drawn out dialogue works well though with the character’s relationships that are on display and their feeling for one another. The reason it fits so well is because it allows tension to build and like the dialogue, this tension is equally important. With a running time of over two and a half hours, the meaningful dialogue along with its structure and pacing that allows the tension to thicken becomes very intriguing and causes for this long running time to not be an issue.

Tarantino has always made films that feature plenty of violence. The body counts are normally high and blood is always shed in an artsy, quirky way that has become a signature style of Tarantino’s. Even before watching Django Unchained I knew that violence would play a major role and I was right but nothing from past Tarantino films could have prepared me for the violence that this film featured. The quirky, blood bath violence was still there and in some ways heavier than ever before. This primarily is seen when Django is doing the killing (who happens to rack up quite a body count). In these moments, blood is shed, and shed and then shed some more as it completely takes over a scene at times. This is the type of violence that we are used to seeing in a Tarantino film and is meant for entertainment purposes.

The other type of violence that the film features is a very serious violence that has never been used by Tarantino at the level that it is in Django Unchained. This violence occurs when slaves are being beaten, killed or even fighting each other. These moments are presented in a much different way than the other violent moments that I previously described. The hate and pure evilness that is driving this violence makes it clear that these scenes are not to laugh at and are to be taken seriously. These scenes are very hard to watch but they help in showing what kind person Calvin Candie is and what kind of person Dr. Schultz is becoming. Candie is a horrific man which is seen in how he treats slaves. As Dr. Shultz sees what Candie does to slaves, he realizes how horrific both slavery and Candie really are. Without this violence, it may be hard to see who these characters really are.  

Tarantino has always been criticized for how freely he uses violence but with Django Unchained he clearly shows that he knows how to handle violence with care. The clear separation of this violence and the way it is handled is Tarantino’s greatest accomplishment in this film and arguably his entire career. If any director were to do this it would be Tarantino as he is always willing to push the envelope and create a work that in some ways has never been done before. Because of this he is a step above the rest in his field and Django Unchained is just the latest example of this.   

Grade: A-