Tarantino releases his 'love letter' for the Spaghetti Western genre in the film and it's an interesting mix of violence and metaphysical discussions of Freedom. There's a lot of great things to love (or like) about Django Unchained from the visuals, to the humor to the action right down to the themes in the film.
Also before I proceed, I'd just like to point out that I'll keep things simple. Lots of reviews have already been released using high-fallutin' words and I don't want that. I don't want to use a lot of fancy snazzy terms that other reviews used for their review of Django so I'll make it simple.
Jamie Foxx plays the titular Django Freeman, a former slave who buys his freedom from bounty hunter Dr. King Schulze (Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz) and later goes on a blood-soaked mission to rescue his wife Broomhilda Von Shaft from rich plantation owner Calvin Candy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Uncle Tom archetype butler Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson). The movie is set in the Southern states from Texas all the way to Mississippi and occurs two years before the United States Civil War just so you know.
I love the visuals here in the film. Django Unchained is set in different locales native to the story and to America. There's snowy mountains and rough terrains like badlands and even the basic sleepy town. Since this is a Tarantino film, you can be damned sure that thing the guy who also directed classic films like "Kill Bill" and "Inglorious Basterds" will play with the settings. One great example here is the use classic blood spurt on cotton plants. This of course happens in Big Daddy's plantation (Big Daddy is played by Don Johnson). This is also very symbolic in the sense that this completely ends the days of Django living as a slave.
Another thing that might appeal to you in Django Unchained is the thematic use of the Germanic myth 'Ring of the Nibelung' to shadow Django's quest to rescue his wife Broomhilda Von Shaft. I believe the right term to use when a film draws parallels to a myth is called monomyth. That's what Tarantino used in this movie. In the original myth, the epic's hero, Siegfried had to overcome three obstacles before reaching his beloved wife Broomhilda. He had to scale a high mountain (which might be the analogy for Big Daddy), bathe in the blood of a dragon (Calvin Candy) and in the end he had to go through hellfire in order to win back Broomhilda. It's amazing how Tarantino used all three and still manage to develop a pretty good flick.
The music is pretty awesome here. Of course Tarantino'd be stupid if he didn't call in the superb stylings and scorings of Ennio Morricone. The main title track, Django is a throwback to the classic Western and Spaghetti Westerns that prevailed in the 70s and 80s. Luis Bacalov and Rocky Roberts provides the first track which pretty much got me hooked. Other tracks in the OST that appeared in the film was "Who Did That To You" by John Legend which is a nice mix of modern themes together with classic sensibilities. Awesome shit.
Thus ends part 1 of my review for Django Unchained. The film is now showing with an R-16 rating from the Philippines' MTRCB. No cuts whatsoever so you should steel yourself for the violence and the racial slurs and Jamie Foxx's junk.
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