“Django Unchained” dishes out fun, ultra-violence

By Sofía Cárdenas,
HUB Staff Writer–

“Django Unchained,” the most recent entry in director Quentin Tarantino’s experimentation with period pieces, has the clock spinning all the way to pre-Civil War Texas, and is filled with all the bloody violence and casual killing that Tarantino fans have come to expect.

The film begins with the purchase and freeing of Django by Dr. Shultz, a dentist turned bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz, who invites Django on a journey, with the opportunity to make historic kills and a glorious fortune.

Django, played by Jaime Foxx, proposes they find his wife and Dr. Shultz is all  game. With their pistols in hand, they travel the South searching for clues as to where Django’s wife was sold.

They find her at the legendary Candy Land plantation, owned by Monsieur Candy (who prefers Monsieur even though he has no idea how to speak proper English, much less French). They sweet talk Monsieur Candy, played the talented Leonardo DiCaprio, and fool him into believing that they too are in the slave trade and are currently looking for a hefty slave for their slave-fighting fetish.

This reviewer was mesmerized by not only the cinematography and brutality of the time, but also the dialogue and monologues that have become a hallmark of Tarantino films. The strong male leads, usually partners, are also evident in this film.

Another strictly Tarantino favorite is the recurring presence of his favorite actors. Samuel Jackson plays the “head [n-word]” in the Candy household, and yes, he does say his favorite phrase “mother f—” many times. Another would be Christoph Waltz who, being German, always plays, well, a German, and likes to very much play up being German.

One drawback to “Django” the ultra-violence and its possible characterization as a “dude’s movie.” The blood, the shot guns and the brutality of slavery are all probably not things you want to bring your children.