Django Unchained

Set two years before the American civil war in the deep South of the USA, the titular Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave from a plantation in Texas.  He fell foul of his masters when he married another slave Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) in secret – regarding as crime within the plantation culture. The couple are punished with a bullwhip and separated by their sadistic charges – both to be sold to new owners.

On his way to a slave auction in a chain gang, a broken Django crosses paths with Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German bounty hunter who is posing as a dentist – who’s business is killings rather than fillings. Schultz is after the bounty for Django’s former masters who have fallen foul of the law and Django is the only one who can identify them for him. Schultz makes a deal with Django – if he helps Schultz’s to find and kill the bounty, then Schultz will buy his freedom and help him to find and free his wife. The deal is simple, but it leads to an epic quest which will require Django to learn the tools of the bounty hunting trade.

If stripped down, the story of Django Unchained is a relatively straightforward one – a simple tale of good versus evil. What makes this story a little different is the subject matter of slavery, an issue which given America’s history will always run the risk of courting controversy. As such, quite often cinema has handled this powerful issue a little too dryly and blandly – focussing on the legal and political overtures. Neither are adjectives that will ever be applicable to Tarantino, so his focus is on entertaining first and foremost but in a grounded context and setting. In the film’s production notes Tarantino explains “It can’t be more nightmarish than it was in real life. It can’t be more surrealistic than it was in real life. It can’t be more outrageous than it was in real life”

That’s not to say that he holds back on this film compared to his previous work, he still has a lot of fun and in one of his favourite genres. The spaghetti western has been a staple ingredient in the Tarantino recipe from the very start and elements of it creep into all his films. So there’s no new ground being broken really, just a chance for some extra revelry and enthusiasm on an epic scale from an already passionate director doing something that he does well. And therein lies the strength of this movie, it’s not a broken record but a favourite one that just being played loudly. All of the Tarantino trademarks are present and correct – great dialogue, interesting characters, a funky soundtrack, dark humour and plenty of blood’n’guts. But it’s all bigger!

What does feel a little different with this larger scale is the pace of this film, there is very much the sense that the director has taken his time with this one. The 165 minute run time is his longest film to date, but that’s only eleven minutes longer than Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds. It’s more that this story is told in an entirely linear fashion without being episodical – so it unravels at a steadier pace and with a feeling of greater depth.

Even from a technical point of view the approach is slower, in particular with the cinematography. Gone are the trademark tightly framed close-ups with fast cuts, and instead we get long static wide shots which soak up the stunning vistas of the American landscape or the intoxicating atmosphere in the room/location.

Providing and feeding the latter, is a cast that are all exceptional. And they needed to be, because on screen there are potential scene stealers everywhere. So what we get is chemistry rather than competition from the actors.

As Django, Jamie Foxx provides a measured and mature performance as his character’s story arc takes him from forsaken victim to focussed avenger. And while the story is a good versus evil framework, his character is not so cut and dry - which is what makes him and the performance that much more interesting. Django isn’t some kind of black Spartacus, he’s a man who’s only priority is getting his wife back, and he’ll do anything he can to achieve that – even if it’s morally reprehensible. Foxx manages to capture that magnificently.

The reprisal of an on screen partnership with Kerry Washington as his wife (she also starred in Ray with him), also helps to get the best out of him and indeed her. As Broomhilda, Washington has some of the more difficult and emotive scenes within the film, but she handles them perfectly.

Some mud has already been thrown at Christoph Waltz for his role as Dr King Schultz playing a little too close to his Oscar winning turn as Hans Landers in Inglorious Basterds. There’s no getting round it, the accent and a lot of the delivery is incredibly similar – but the characterisation is distinct enough for Waltz to make the role a successful one. Both are effortlessly charismatic, but the menace of Landers is replaced by the humanity of Schultz. The director had faith in his star from the start, by attaching him to the project from an early stage and sharing the early drafts of the script. In my opinion, the faith is justified.

Unfamiliarity rather than faith was the case when Leonardo DiCaprio was added to the cast list, in his first outing as an on screen villain as the despicable plantation owner Calvin Candie. Audiences should delight in his performance – which could not be further from his role in Titanic which made him an A-lister – but they shouldn’t be entirely surprised by it, considering the consistent high quality of his work over the years. There’s certainly a suggestion that DiCaprio enjoyed working with Tarantino, so hopefully another future collaboration is in the pipeline – preferably with DiCaprio playing another rotter.

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