Django Unchained [Blu-ray] [2012] [US Import]

Worth watching

Director Quentin Tarantino's last film  Inglourious Basterds [DVD] (2009)  was very loosely based on a much older movie, and had it's own take on history.He does the same again here, moving from war movie to Western. And drawing on  Django [1966] [DVD ]. A fact that it will slightly help you to know. British viewers who may not know anything about the American civil war might want to research that as well. But you won't need to in order to watch the film.Drawing on probably every other spaghetti western ever made as well, Django Unchained is the story of Django Freeman [Jamie Foxx]. He is not free at the start of the film, but is rescued from slavery by Dr. King Schultz [Christoph Waltz] German Dentist turned bounty hunter. Because he needs Django's help with something.That's only the start of a relationship that both finds goes in ways that they didn't expect. As they pursue Django's ultimate goal. To find and rescue the wife he was separated from long ago. A quest that gets tricky when it brings them up against ruthless plantation owner Calvin Candie [Leonardo Di Caprio]. Will Django get to live up to his new surname?This is a long film, but the first half fairly flies by. There's so many delights to take in. Beatiful locations and production design. So many homages to other movies. And the commanding performance of Christoph Waltz, who makes the Doctor a silver tongued charmer who can talk his way out of almost any situation and who is also very good with the gun when required.There's lots of strong language and violence and usage of a certain racist term. But back then, it was par for the course. Many of the people of the kind depicted here did regard themselves as the right overlords of what they saw to be an inferior race.The point of the film is to make you think what it's like to be on the receiving end of that.Come the second half of the movie we do get more amazing acting with Leonardo Di Caprio as the absolutely monstrous Calvin. But as with all good villains, he's not just bad for the sake of it. He really believes in what he's doing. The pace of the movie does slow down at this point since, as usual with the director, we start to get long scenes of conversation. But as with his previous film [and not with the one before that] these always do feel as if they are going somewhere. And the end result is vicariously satisfying when it does come along. Mind you there are two unforgettably good scenes in the first half that do show how to write great film dialogue.The movie gives Samuel L. Jackson a chance to do more acting than playing tough Samuel L. Jackson style role like he often does. Surrounded by all this great acting Jamie Foxx as Django doesn't come off as strong a character or performance initially. But then he's a character who has the most growing and changing and developing to do across the course of the film. All of which is pretty satisfying by the end.It is perhaps too long in the second half, but the end results are well worth it.A long and satisfying piece of movie making, drawing on so much but with so much of it's own as well, it's a very satisfying experience and deserved all the accolades and awards.Do keep watching to almost the very end of the closing credits.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English, Catalan, Spanish.Subtitles: English, Hindi, Spanish.The disc begins with a very short anti piracy ad, but that can be skipped via the next button on the dvd remote.The only extras are:A short trailer for a box set of Tarantino movies on dvd.A short trailer for the soundtrack of Django Unchained on CD.A twelve minute long look at the production design of the film, which is also a tribute to one of the designers who passed away during production. A fascinating look at the work that went into this, and a very good tribute also, it's well worth a watch.And in addition to direct scene access, the scene selection menu also lets you go directly to points in the film where certain bits of music are played. Be aware though that it will take you right back to the menu once the music is done.Plus there's a flyer with a website address and a code to put in on that which will let you download a copy of the movie to a digital device.

Satisfactory

Django Unchained is the story of a slave (Jamie Foxx) rescued by a German bounty hunter called Dr. Schultz (played brilliantly by Cristoph Waltz) to help identify three money earning targets. Django becomes the bounty hunter’s partner and fulfils his search for his long-lost wife. They find her working in the house at a plantation run by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) where Samuel Jackson hams it up as an old butler character. Chaos ensues – you would be disappointed if it didn’t. It is almost as if by the end of the film Tarantino can’t hold himself back any longer and shouts for bloody mayhem.The tricky subject matter and the proliferation of the dreaded ‘N’ word go some way in explaining the controversy surrounding the film. However I would suggest that most of the controversy was probably drummed up by the studio to get bums on seats. Only the most backward of white Americans would see anything to complain about in this film. For me it seemed less violent than Kill Bill or Inglorious Basterds and the only thing that perhaps would unnerve a few racist rednecks was the fact that it was a black man killing white folk (and getting paid for it).Django is a natural quick draw and sharp-shooter and uses his new-found skills to great effect during the story. As a Western this is part of the cannon and not to be questioned. Equally it is a given that Django can not only ride a horse but do so very well. What sets the film apart from most Westerns is the brilliant dialogue and the humour. Dr Schultz in particular gets some great lines and slowly reveals himself of somewhat of a humanist despite his killing ways. He is the light to Calvin Candie’s dark racism and the final scenes between the two are some of the best Tarantino has filmed. There is a similar thread to the anti-Nazi history rewrite finale of Basterds, but in this case the outcome is loaded with more tension and heart.Foxx’s character very quickly becomes the strutting black hero that we would expect from Django if we reference back to the glut of similarly titled films in the 60’s. In some ways his character is less three-dimensional than Dr Schultz and indeed Candie, and this is perhaps a drawback of Tarantino ‘reloading’ an old film concept in much the same way as he did with Basterds. I love Westerns and I love Tarantino and so for me it is a brilliant combination, but I would like him to try something wholly from his own imagination next time around.3 additional factoids I gleaned after my second viewing -I was curious over the man at the bar just after we see the bloody mandingo fight and are introduced to Candie. The mysterious man has just seen his fighter bested and killed with a hammer, but still has the time for a a tequiela at the bar and a quick word with Django posing as a black slaver / mandingo expert. The man says he knows that Django is spelt with a ‘D’. It is a bit of an incongruous comment and made me wonder ‘who was that guy?’ Well, that guy was a cameo by the original actor in the 1966 version of Django - so of course he would know how it was spelt. It was another nod to the previous ‘Westerns’ gone before by Tarantino; just not as subtle as the pulllling-the-man-and-horse-down scene or even subtler other references.Secondly was the female tracker. We see her briefly in two scenes. One where she is holding a hatchet and her face is mostly covered by a bandana just before D’Artagnian is ripped apart by dogs, and one where she is looking at a 3D photo in the trackers lodge just before she is gunned down in revenge for D’Artagnian’s death. ‘Who’s that girl?’ I thought twice over. The subject of a deleted scene mayhaps? Well, as there were no deleted scenes on my Blu-ray I don’t know, but I was watching the credits and saw the name Zoe Bell. Which rang a bell (scuse pun). IMDB to the rescue! She was Uma Thurman’s stunt double in Kill Bill and she has worked on an amazing number of films (including Deathproof). Tarantino slipped her in as a favour it would seem and there is rumour that she failed the audition for Candie’s sister, so he probably felt obliged to include her somewhere in the film.Third. The blood on Candie’s hand. I thought it was a brilliant piece of writing and helped emphasize the darkness of the character when he smears it over Broomhilda’s face. I also liked the way the blood develops naturally, it is not overtly referenced by the camera and Candie continues his tirade without seeing to the cut. It turns out that this was real blood and a real cut and DiCaprio (true artiste that he is) carried on going even though he had genuinely accidentally cut himself. Bravo.

Somewhat of a fantasy but the good guys win over in the end. One or two harrowing scenes but they set the narrative and context very well. You'll enjoy this film.

Must watch

Just quality storytelling from start to finish!Action sequences are just brilliant! Cinematics, love story, character development!If you haven't watched it WATCH IT you'll thank me later 😁