Django Unchained has been a long time coming. For
years, fans have wondered when Quentin Tarantino will finally tackle the genre
that has so greatly influenced his filmmaking. Indeed, some argue that the man
is incapable of making a film that is not a western; even his Second World War
masterpiece Inglourious Basterds is a
spaghetti western in disguise. Citing his favourite director as the late Sam
Peckinpah, and describing the Good the
Bad and the Ugly as his “favourite movie ever”, Tarantino was destined to
contribute to his beloved genre sooner or later, and boy, was Django Unchained worth the wait.
Marketed and
released as a film rooted in the western genre, Django Unchained controversially defies genre conventions and
expectations. Tarantino himself does not consider the film a western at all,
opting instead for the label of “spaghetti southern”. Needless to say,
Tarantino’s vision of the Wild West differs dramatically from anything you’ve
seen before.
Set during
the antebellum era in the Deep South, Django
Unchained follows the quest of a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) and a
freed slave (Jamie Foxx) to rescue a captive love interest from the clutches of
an evil rancher (Leonardo Di Caprio).
First off,
Django Unchained can be seen to violate many conventions typical of the
classical western genre. Controversially for a film of the western genre, the
central hero is black. Jamie Foxx struggles valiantly to hold his own amidst a
superb cast including Christoph Waltz, Samuel L Jackson and Leonardo Di Caprio.
The sheer physicality of Foxx’s performance lends great credibility to the
character arc of Django and his desperate plight.
It would
certainly seem that Tarantino has modelled the character of Django on the
classic protagonists of the spaghetti western; in which there are no heroes, at
least not in a traditional moral sense. The way of the spaghetti hero is
brutal, for there can be neither gentleness nor compassion in the cruel world
they inhibit. Certainly, the world of Django
Unchained is steeped in brutality; men are torn apart by dogs, unarmed
women are gunned down and slaves fight to the death. Django himself must be
ruthless to survive this hazardous environment.
Waltz is on typically
brilliant form as the bounty-hunting dentist King Schultz. His comedic timing
is impeccable, and along with noble steed Fritz the duo are at the centre of
most of the films laughs. In an interesting twist, Di Caprio is cast as the
villain of the piece; plantation owner Calvin Candy. Candy is a truly twisted
creature, who openly seeks pleasure in the pain and misery of others. His gross
demonstration of wealth is typical amongst western villains, and Di Caprio
delights in portraying this sinister being as a combination of the selfish
banker and the tyrannical rancher stereotypes.
Ennio Morricone,
the infinitely gifted composer who scored the original Leone spaghetti westerns
back in the 1960’s contributes greatly to the soundtrack. In trademark genre
splicing style, Tarantino injects the film with the occasional jolt of
contemporary hip hop. The use of Rick Ross Black
Coffins synchronised with images of Django confidently riding into
Candyland is just one fine example of many super slick visual juxtapositions
within Django Unchained.
Like all of
Tarantino’s best films, Django Unchained has been the subject of great
controversy since its release. In more specific terms, the film has been
labelled racist. Director Spike Lee refused to watch Django Unchained, stating that slavery was not designed to
entertain as a spaghetti western, but was a holocaust in which many perished.
Whilst
racism is undoubtedly a key theme of the film, I would not consider it racist
by any stretch of the imagination. Racism has been a central component of many
westerns, often conveyed through the stark opposition of Native Americans and
western settlers. Tarantino has simply taken this classic narrative strand and
adapted it to convey the Southerners ill treatment of African Americans. The
power of Django Unchained relies
heavily on its focus on the issue of slavery, which in turn acts as a
historical social mirror to a dark subject contemporary America is rightly
ashamed of.
Whilst not the film many were expecting, Django Unchained shines diamond-like in
the already glittering filmography of Quentin Tarantino. Referencing western
patriarchs from Siegel to Leone, this is the western Tarantino was born
to make. Django Unchained remains one
of 2012’s finest offerings.
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