Django unchained

I can see now why ‘Django Unchained’ was the talk of the town and why my male friends professed over and over again that they needed to re-watch this film. This was 2 and a half hour of pure entertainment! Certainly not what I expected, as it was a glamorous, violent and revengeful type movie stacked full of unpredictable humor, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino (whom you may remember from the series of successful ‘Kill Bill’ movies) and based on the original Django played by Italian Franco Nero nearly 50 years prior this film although adapted from this Western idea proved to be like no other film of its kind because it made a black person ‘Django’ played by Jamie Foxx the hero of the story – in the south – pre-civil war – which is unheard of! It’s difficult to say what genre of film this is because Tarantino carefully melds drama, with action, with comedy, with romance, with so many other things and does so effectively.

With an estimated $100 million USD budget, filmmaker Tarantino gave his audience a widely versed pop soundtrack, exquisite cinematography, laughter, adventure, empowerment and pure un-adulterated show business. He also managed to have a fantastic cast of talented actors to bring his vision to life including the immensely gifted Leonardo DiCaprio, versatile Samuel L. Jackson, hilarious Jonah Hill, beauty Kerry Washington and my favourite German Chistoph Waltz who played ‘Dr. King Shultz; the original Franco Nero as well as Quentin Tarantino also make guest appearances.

Nominated for 5 Oscars, another 20 nominations and 13 wins, it’s easy to say this is becoming the height of Tarantino’s career; and well-deserving. Despite high gore, violence, language and brief nudity, he possesses knowledge on film and pop-culture and knows how to execute what the masses want. It is not only a story of a free-slave post-civil war in America turned bounty hunter to rescue his wife, it is also a story showing how ruthless, jealous, silly humans can be, the pain that was caused and the pain we still continue to cause and how love even then was able to survive and be something worth fighting for! J