I have been
waiting for this film for so long. SO. DARN. LONG. Ok, peeps, please don’t
except anything even remotely resembling an objective review of this film. I am
such a massive Tarantino fan that I could not possibly… I mean, the guy can do
no wrong ok? That’s why there is nothing wrong to find. This is, in a way, the
good thing about Tarantino’s films. It’s clear cut. You either love it or you
hate it. It is either a whole bowlful of filmic goodness you dive into
headfirst or you run from it screaming. As there is no doubt at all which side
I’m rooting for, let’s move straight onto the film and what it is about…
Meet Dr. King
Schultz (Christoph Waltz). To the untrained eye he may well look like just
another travelling dentist touring the Wild West, but you couldn’t be further wrong.
Dr Schultz is a bounty hunter, and he is one of the best, if not the best there
is. Fate brings him face to face with Django (Jamie Foxx). Django is a slave
like many, many others you could find in the country at the time, but he holds
a specific interest for the good doctor. Back in the days where technology was
not widespread, you had to know what the person you were bounty hunting looked
like to be sure to “hunt” the right man. And Django just so happens to be in
possession of such information about a specific group of scoundrels Dr Schultz
happens to be looking for. While he is about it, Dr Schultz frees Django, gets
him fresh clothes and a horse, teaches him how to shoot and, when the pair seem
to hit it off particularly well, partners up with him in the bounty hunting
business. Over time, the pair become fast friends and Dr Schultz agrees to aid
Django in a personal matter. His wife is still a slave and she has had the sad
misfortune of falling into the hands of a particularly sadistic plantation
owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). However, saving Broomhilda (Kerry
Washington – Django’s wife) from Monsieur Candie (as he likes to be called) and
his motley crew headed by his loyal old butler Stephens (Samuel L. Jackson) is
not going to be easy. It’s a good thing our friends have a bit of penchant for
short cuts…
There is a
reason this film shot to number 41 in the IMDB TOP 250. There is a reason it
got 5 Oscar® nominations. First of all, hats off to Mr Tarantino for assembling
such a brilliant cast and for getting the best possible performance out of a
group of quite extraordinary actors. You know all the hype about Christoph
Waltz? Well, guess what, it isn’t hype. He is THAT good. Heck, he is nothing
short of brilliant. He deserves any and every glory and award he gets. And the
villains? Oh my. Oh my, my, my. Calvin Candie is one of the most loathsome
villains I have met in my time and Stephens is the perfect sidekick. OK to be
fair, Stephens is actually a tad bit more than just a sidekick. But I’ll let
you work that out as you watch. The point is the acting is beyond brilliant.
As for the
plot? Ok, one small thing. It turns out that the original of the film was five
hours long. It was CUT DOWN to three hours. Now, personally I don’t see what is
wrong with a five hour film, especially if it’s directed by Quentin Tarantino
but hey. I guess it is slightly impractical from the cinema owner’s point of
view. Now, the problem is, you feel the missing footage. Here and there, there
are hints of things that you could have sworn were going to be further developed,
but are not. Luckily they are not frequent. As for the blood? The gore? Is
there much killing? I hear you ask. To which I respond, is that not why we
came? The blood and guts start flowing around 10 minutes into the film and only
intermittently stops, with “tarantinian” surprises around every corner. And
trust me, if these surprises don’t make you love King Schults / Christoph Waltz
even more than you already do, you really have no heart. Or sense of humour.
Then of
course, we really, really mustn’t forget Django. Because, to be absolutely
fair, that is what this film is about. And Mr Tarantino makes an excellent
point about slavery. There are strong messages in the film, to the point that
some may find some of the bits a tad bid didactic. Then again, I think those
bits would have gone much better within the five hour framework. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying, in any
way, that they shouldn’t be there – slavery was a terrible, shameful time and
we need to talk about it openly. This is probably why, in actual fact, Quentin
Tarantino is the best man to talk about this. I mean, accuse him of what you
will, shrinking from portraying brutality is not, nor ever can be on that list. But anyway, back to Django and Broomhilda. Jamie
Foxx is the perfect Siegfried to his beloved Broomhilda, and if there was any a
couple whose sweetness and suffering justified a whole plethora of villains
being sent to a bloody grave, it is them.
In short,
to all my Tarantino fans, fear not. It’s all we have been waiting for and more.
For those who aren’t…
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