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Django Unchained

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino

     I think it's safe to say that this film is the most badass film of 2012.  My only explanation; Quentin Tarantino!!!!
     When someone asks what a Quentin Tarantino film is about, I first respond with "that's a good question".  But there is actually a real story behind all of his films, including Django Unchained.  
     Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is a bounty hunter in the pre-Civil War South.  He's looking for a group of bandits known as the Brittle brothers.  He comes across a slave in a slave transport known as Django (the D is silent (Jamie Foxx)), who knows where to find the Brittle brothers.  But Django has a wife he wants to find (Kerry Washington).  She's a slave at a plantation owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).  But they can't just go straight to the "Candieland" plantation; that would be too easy.  They have to do all these fun things before then, like kill the Brittle brothers.  But hey, they'll get somewhere eventually, right?
      I'm definitely a fan of this film for all of the great acting there is.  Jamie Foxx is phenomenal as Django, and I believe is worthy of an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but I was saddened to read that he had not been nominated for the Oscar.  But the best performance in the show is Christoph Waltz.  Whenever he's in a movie, it's hard for another actor to be better than Christoph Waltz in his or her respective role.  He is clearly the dominant performance in the film.    Leonardo DiCaprio is also excellent as Calvin Candie and has the potential to snag the award from Christoph Waltz, but as good as DiCaprio is, I think the award is Waltz's for the taking.
      I like the style of this film.  It's shot in the style of many older westerns.  Django is similar to the heroic cowboy often seen in westerns.  There are scenes that will certainly make your jaw drop.
      Some people have called Quentin Tarantino a racist for making this film and portraying African Americans in this way.  I see it much differently.  I see this film as the story of a man who breaks free from slavery and rises to be considered almost an equal among free people.  This is a story that contains a lot for people to digest.  It's not an easy film to watch at times for many different reasons.  The scene perhaps most difficult to get through is the big Shakespearean style shootout towards the end of the film.  It's incredibly bloody and especially lately with all of this talk about guns in America, it's difficult to see one guy start a massive shootout.
       Overall, this is one of my favorite films of 2012, and while I'm glad it was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy, I fear there are other contenders that make the likelihood of Django Unchained taking the award quite grim.  But still, this is an excellent film, and if you're a fan of Quentin Tarantino, this is definitely the film for you!  I strongly recommend this film, even though it's incredibly long, but absolutely worth the time and the money.
      I give Django Unchained an A+.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 15, 2013 at 5:32 PM

    Thank you, Matthew. I will definitely see it this weekend!!

    ReplyDelete

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