DJANGO UNCHAINED

Western drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Jamie Foxx: Django, a slave

Christoph Waltz: Dr. King Schultz, a dentist

Leonardo DiCaprio: plantation owner Calvin J. Candie

Samuel L. Jackson: Candie’s trusted head slave Stephen

Kerry Washington: Broomhilda Von Shaft, a slave

REVIEW

Set in the South two years before the American Civil War this story about a slave is not for everyone. Despite some terrific acting, great cinematography, lots of humorous situations, some hilarious dialogue and a twist for the dramatic the unremitting violence will be too much for many.

Although some of the violence is almost cartoonish what with all the blood spatters and too much gore, some of it definitely is not. The squeamish like me will have to avert their eyes more than a couple times. And some movie-goers will be offended with the frequent use of the “N” word.

                                

Another thing: it’s long. Real long. It runs for 2 hours and 25 minutes, time some people do not have for a movie.

However, given that this is definitely a “Quentin Tarantino film” those who enjoy his work will relish every moment of it.

CLASSIFICATION

for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, brief nudity and language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• While camping two horses are a short distance away from Dr. Shultz but then the camera cuts to a close-up and now one horse is directly behind him.
• On the way to see Candie, one of his henchmen angers Django so he pulls on the saddle resulting in both rider and horse falling to the ground. In a medium shot we see the henchman struggling to get up but the horse is standing there like nothing happened.
• As Django and Dr. Schultz approach Candie’s villa, the long shadows of the entranceway sweep across the path in front of them. But when they stop in front of the porch steps the shadows are short, like those seen around noon.
• While talking with Candie, Django and his horse are in a different location from one shot to another, sometimes besides the horses pulling Dr. Schultz’ wagon, sometimes back beside it.
• Dynamite is used a couple of times throughout the movie but it did not exist when these events took place. The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel took out a patent for his new invention in 1867.
• One of the slave drivers is wearing a Confederate style kipi hat, some 2 years before the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 when they were first issued.

P.S.

The word nigger (the so-called “N” word) as a term to refer to black people is a variation of the Spanish noun negro. It was not always considered derogatory: it simply meant a person who was black-skinned. Nineteenth-century English language literature features the usage of nigger without raciest connotation. For example Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published in 1885 refers to Misto’ Brandish’s nigger, a straight-forward description of the relationship between the two men. But by the 1900’s nigger had become a pejorative word and today the term black has become a mainstream alternative.