Review of Django Unchained (2012) by Jorge Q — 20 Dec 2016

If you don't like Django Unchained, I probably don't like you. It's rare that a film can have such a rich and distinct artistic vision and be so stirring and fun at the same time. It will make your heart pound and your eyes gloss over. You will giggle and cringe, clench your fists and grit your teeth. It is a remarkable tale of discovery and retribution that is grounded in a brutal, cathartic search for revenge and adorned with a witty, whimsical sense of humor. And it is fucking awesome.

It is aesthetically brilliant and stylistically daring. Django is a beautiful, blood-spattered Western whose stunning backdrops, pristinely vintage costumes and outrageous violence create an arresting visual experience. Their vengeful odyssey wanders through the snow-capped mountain vistas of the west, the opulent Southern plantations, the hellish, muddy slave trades and grim forests of the deep South. The slaves tattered rags contrast with the colorful, immaculate suits and dresses that the wealthy plantation owners don. Django's clothes, his blue suit and his leather bounty hunter garb, make for some of the best costuming in the film. The film also has a very unique soundtrack, mixing slave spirituals with modern rap and hip hop. But Django is one of the few films where you could turn off the sound and just let the screen serenade your eyes.

It is not for the faint of heart. There are beatings, murders, whippings, dogs tearing slaves apart, slave hunting, and especially the Mandingo fighting, which are all very sobering, often disturbing moments in the film. The bombastic violence is captured with incredible style, though. When Django whips his old field-hand and shoots his brother off his horse, you only see the blood spattering the cotton plants as he falls. The bloodbath at Candyland towards the end of the film is some of the most ridiculously orchestrated carnage and violence I've ever seen. It seems to have fun being bombastic and brutal, but manages to still resonate in its more serious, disturbing moments.

Django is also an incredibly cathartic and rewarding film. An escaped slave becoming a badass bounty hunter and rescuing his wife from slavery makes for a spirited, compelling story. I also loved that it tied into the dentist's German legend of the damsel Broomhilda, who is saved by a brave warrior from the dragon (who turns out to be Mr. Candy). The narrative twists, turns through one bloody adventure after another and ends in two brilliantly brawny brawls in Candyland. The characters are rich, relatable and incredibly entertaining. Dr. Schutlz is magnificent as the witty, quirky dentist-bounty hunter hybrid that comes to care for Django and outsmarts his dim-witted counterparts throughout their journey. I think the only issue with the film is that the performance is so good, he outshines Django. But other than that slight critique, I can't really complain because I am entirely captivated every single time I see this movie.