Django Unchained (2012) // dir. Quentin Tarantino
Set two years before Lincoln passes the 13th amendment outlawing slavery, former dentist turned bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) simultaneously frees and enlists the help of slave, Django (Jamie Foxx). In return for Django's knowledge surrounding bountied plantation owners, Schultz agrees to help him rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from the clutches of the infamously evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
After getting a taste for subverting history (and subsequently killing off Hitler) in 2009's Oscar-winning Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino is at it again. Swapping Nazi-occupied France for the antebellum Deep South, he attempts to tackle the extremely controversial, and not-so-distant dark past of American slavery. This is a topic that would generally be broached with a level of sensitivity and historic accuracy, but in the hands of neo-noir auteur Tarantino, it becomes a pop-cultural riff on a classic genre; the spaghetti western. Bold move, you say? Tarantino ain't scared.
Judging by the title you'd assume Foxx's titular slave would be the centre of the Django Unchained universe, with the supporting cast orbiting around him, right? Wrong! It's all about bounty hunter Waltz; swaggering across the screen, and brimming with so much irreverent charm, that Foxx occasionally feels like a backstory in his own film. But eventually, Foxx frees himself from his metaphorical chains and steps out from Waltz's shadow in the show-stopping shoot-em-up finale. Despite Waltz's slight superiority, the pair do make an unlikely, compelling and almost brotherly pairing; the films first act feels more like a road-trip buddy movie than a satirical swipe at slavery. But this mix and match of genres is Tarantino's forte, and he navigates between them all with complete ease. Stealing the limelight entirely is DiCaprio, on terrifyingly brilliant form as malevolent plantation owner Calvin Candie. As one of this generation's most unrivalled actors in terms of commitment and consistency, this should've been the year he finally took home that golden statuette. But he has yet again been criminally overlooked in this years awards season; you can't help but feel that the Academy Awards are an annual wedding in which DiCaprio is always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.
Django Unchained is a minefield of in-jokes and trivia which will make die-hard spaghetti western fans 'yee-haw' with glee. But for the rest of us, we can simply revel in the enjoyment of what is a typically Tarantino affair. With his inimitable B-movie meets blockbuster mash-up style, he eschews CGI in favour of the old-school effects he was inspired by. All the elements of previous Tarantino offerings are here - the gratuitous swearing and use of the 'n' word, the anachronistic score, the loquacious dialogue, and the ultra-violent B-movie effects - and Django Unchained is all the better for keeping faithful to his well revered style. It might not be an entirely flawless film, but it's the imperfections and incongruities that make Django Unchained both mind-boggling and mind-blowing in equal measure.
Ultimately though, Tarantino is a true cinephile making films for other cinephiles, and the level of care and precision put into his films ensures maximum viewing pleasure for his audience. One of the finest, yet atypical and unorthodox filmmakers of our generation; it's fair to say no one makes a film quite like Tarantino.
