Quentin Tarantino

Django Unchained

backdrop. In Django Unchained all of Tarantino’s admiration and devotion to everything about the blaxploitation and western genre is clear to see. From the pinching of classic Ennio Morricone scores to the use of James Brown’s pounding soul/funk, Tarantino is throwing plenty at the screen. With regards to the director’s famous penchant for graphic violence there is indeed a heavy influence of exploitation splatter on Django Unchained. Some of it is comical and fun, but there is also a representation of true brutality and sickening cruelty

From the opening credit sequence, accompanied with Luis Bacalov’s romping ‘Django’ theme, it’s clear that Tarantino knows westerns as much as he knows grindhouse and blaxploitation cinema. And strictly speaking, Django Unchained isn’t Tarantino’s first Western. His previous outing, Inglourious Basterds, was a reminiscent take on Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch with a wartime

Words ByJack Jones

‘a vision of the American South like never before

put on screen’

‘a vision of the American South like never before

in some very crucial scenes. Because of the film’s central focus on slavery, there is a sense of trepidation whether Tarantino would pay enough due care to such a sensitive subject matter. Yet, just as he had proven with Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino is perfectly capable of moulding his recognisable style to his own fantastical take on history. At 165 minutes Django

Unchained might seem overlong for a narrative arc that mirrors a straightforward revenge film. But Tarantino spends great length at detailing the horror of the Antebellum South and America’s slave history. The story of Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) itself also mirrors that of an epic Leone western. The father/son - master and his apprentice -

relationship between the two is a brilliant journey to follow. And the more time you spend in their charismatic company, the better. The introduction of Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his detestable confidante Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), however, is handled with a masterful changein tone. Suddenly Tarantino unveilsthe cruel truth of slavery and its

beneficiaries. The humour and theunbearable tension of the verbalsparring in these later scenes is the crowning achievement of this film. It may not be as intricately woven a story as Jackie Brown or PulpFiction, or even as shockingly different as Reservoir Dogs. What Django Unchained is, is a vision of the American South like never before put on screen.