This movie's premiere was pushed back, following the shootings last month at Sandy Hook. The main star of the film, Jamie Foxx, who plays the title character Django, even conceded the point that there is too much gun violence portrayed in movies and other outlets, such as television and video games.
Still, director Quentin Tarantino did not concede so easily, and essentially asked when the time would come when the perpetrators of such crimes would be given full responsibility.
With that backdrop, this movie finally was released in public. It is a violent movie, of course, and deals with a chapter of American history that was also filled with violence - slavery.
***Spoiler Alert***
This movie takes place late in the 1850's and early 1960's, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Christoph Waltz plays Dr. King Schultz, a German bounty hunter with a long list of those he needs to hunt. Christoph Waltz is an amazing actor, and he delivers wonderfully in this movie, again, although he is in the seemingly unfamiliar role of playing a hero, rather than the villain, such as he played the last time that he worked with Tarantino. In this film, however, he plays a decent man, albeit one obviously prone to violence, with the fastest draw in the South reputation preceding him, and making his living by killing people.
Dr. Schultz liberate Django, a slave, who used to be owned by some brothers that the bounty hunter is trying to hunt down. So, he brings Django along, and it does not take long for Dr. Schultz to realize that Django could prove to be a valuable asset to him. He begins to train him, until Django himself proves so skilled, that his abilities with a gun start to rival those of Dr. Schultz.
Django wants to find his still enslaved wife, Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington, and Dr. Schultz is moved enough to go help him. But liberating her will prove far more complex than anything that either of them have done before. They have to travel to "Candieland", the isolated Mississippi residence of Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. She is there, but freeing her will prove to be incredible difficult. Still, they have a well conceived plan themselves, and are determined to make it work. And it does, rather brilliantly, until the plot is discovered by Stephen, the butler of sorts of the residence, played by Samuel Jackson.
Candie owns slaves that specialize in fighting to the death. He owns warriors, and Dr. Schultz pretends that he is into this, as well, and that he is interested in purchasing one of them. As an afterthought, he shows interest in Django's German speaking wife, Broomhilda, a rarity for a slave. He makes a deal with Candie, and will take five days to examine the fighter. But as an afterthought, he offers a small amount in order to purchase Broomhilda.
But Stephen informs Candie before this can take place, and Candie utilizes this knowledge to his advantage, counterattacking and essentially setting Dr. Schultz and Django up to pay an enormous price in order to take Broomhilda away.
Once their plan is compromised, Candie plays his advantage for all it is worth. But perhaps Candie goes too far in this regard, and Dr. Schultz struggles to hold down the wrath that he feels, deep down. We learn, however, that his distaste, and outright anger, towards this man, Candie, has less to do with his being forced to pay such an enormous sum of money for a slave that he had expected to get for a bare minimum price, but rather by an inhumane act that has cost the life of another slave in a violent way, and specifically for the viewing pleasure, if you will, of Dr. Schultz.
From that point onwards, it becomes the constant shoot out and attempts to outmaneuver the other that everybody expected from this movie, and which is the trademark of Tarentino movies.
Another defining trait of Tarentino movies is the over the top style, and this movie certainly delivers on that score.
I heard some criticism over these last few weeks about this movie. Some by gun control advocates, and again, Jamie Foxx suggested that these critics may have a point, that there simply is too much portrayals of violence, particularly gun violence, in movies today. Also, I heard some criticism about the way that slavery itself is portrayed in this film. All of those points are well taken, and there will be no counterarguments as to their validity here. Indeed, the arguments against this movie have some legitimacy, and perhaps deserve to be explored further.
But reviewing this movie through the lens of entertainment, I will say that it is, indeed, a highly entertaining film. Typical of Tarentino on so many levels, it delivers an exciting plot laden richly with good humor, and that makes this a very entertaining movie worth the price of admission! I recommend it for anyone who can appreciate it on it's own terms.
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