“He Is A Rambunctious Sort, Isn’t He?”0

Written by Dynn

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Western
Running time: 165 min­utes
Classification: M18
Release date: 21 March 2013
Rating: 5/5

Say what you want about Quentin Tarantino; the prodi­gious direc­tor never dis­ap­points. A highly polar­is­ing fig­ure in Hollywood, he returns with Django Unchained, his first film in three years and a mes­meris­ing pas­tiche of spaghetti-western con­ven­tions and modernism.

In the film, Tarantino addresses black peo­ple issues, a sub­ject he has not touched since his last “Blaxploitation” ven­ture, Jackie Brown. Once crit­i­cised by the African-American direc­tor, Spike Lee, for his alleged overuse of the word “n*****”, the irre­press­ible auteur once again pep­pers the script with the deroga­tory term for blacks. In this case, how­ever, the con­stant usage of the expres­sion fits the sen­ti­ment of late 1800s America, where racism and the slav­ery of black peo­ple were ram­pant. Also mak­ing a return is Tarantino’s uncanny abil­ity to craft witty dia­logue packed with punchy one-liners. A per­fect exam­ple would be an exchange between Django (Jamie Foxx) and Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

“He don’t wanna buy the n***** you wanna sell. He wants the n***** you don’t wanna sell,” says Django to Candie.

“Well, I don’t sell the n*****s I don’t wanna sell,” quips Candie, deadpan.

The peer­less oeu­vre of a script is exe­cuted with aplomb by a cast dis­play­ing top-notch act­ing finesse and daz­zling chem­istry. Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz, who plays King Schultz, dole out most of the films mono­logues with mes­meris­ing savoir faire, and deliver lines with a panache that make pro­tracted chunks of chin­wag mes­meris­ing. Another stand­out per­for­mance comes from Jamie Foxx, who plays the lead char­ac­ter with plenty of poise and a cap­ti­vat­ing inten­sity. The devel­op­ment of Django from a sim­ple­minded slave to a ruth­less bounty hunter with a soft human side is a thrill to watch.

The actors’ per­for­mances are com­ple­mented by Robert Richardson’s mas­ter­ful cin­e­matog­ra­phy, with sud­den unset­tling zoom-ins hark­ing back to the days of Sergio Leone, and long track­ing shots accent­ing the action in the film. Also paired with the story is an unbri­dled amount of vio­lence and gore, another Tarantino sig­na­ture. The film is def­i­nitely not for the faint-hearted, but it has to be said that the onscreen bru­tal­ity never puts the audi­ence off from the plot itself, and comes across as pur­pose­ful, if a bit schlocky.

Tarantino’s indul­gences stip­ple the length of the film. Amongst other his­tor­i­cal inac­cu­ra­cies, mod­ern hip-hop music blares in the mid­dle of a scene tak­ing place in 1858 Deep South Texas. The black slaves in the film also speak in a patois straight out of a 21^st-century ghetto, not an Antebellum-era crop plan­ta­tion. However, these serve to add a quirky flavour to the film that makes it a lot more entertaining.

Possibly Tarantino’s best film to date, Django Unchained is an excep­tion­ally witty and deli­ciously grue­some spec­ta­cle to behold. For those who are fans of the direc­tor, keep a look­out for his cameo appear­ance close to the end of the film, a recur­ring event in all his works since Reservoir Dogs (1992). He might have had your curios­ity prior, but after watch­ing this film, he will def­i­nitely have your attention.

Check out the trailer below!