Friday, 22 March 2013

Django Unchained

Meet Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).  A gentleman of German descent who has made The US of A his home for a little over 4 years.  He is a dentist by profession but of late, he has been using his fine motor skills and reflexes for something far more profitable.  He is a Bounty Hunter.

Meet Django (Jamie Foxx).  A slave.  Who has been moved from plantation to plantation but has his worst experience a few months ago where he was nearly flogged to death by 2 out of three brothers who have been working at the same plantation that he was.  The Brittle Brothers.
 
And why is that little detail important, because The Brittle Brothers are on the list that Dr. King is carrying with him.  And Django is one of the few people who can help Dr. King identify them.  Ergo, a small but inconsequential (for Dr. King) gunfight later, Django is now Django Freedom.
 
Now, we also need to understand a couple of more important characters.  Hildy (Kerry Washington) aka Broomhilda von Schaft who is the reason Django got flogged and branded with the r mark on his cheek – his wife.  And Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is Hildy’s current master and therefore Django’s mission of sorts.
 
That briefly, my friends was the most basic character sketch that I could have drawn for a bunch of characters that have been so vividly caricatured by Quentin Tarantino as always.  And playing those characters are some of the best character artists of our time.  Most of the lead cast is a 1st timer with QT except Samuel L Jackson and Christoph Waltz.
 
Like most movies from QT, Django has some fabulous music (make mental note to pick up soundtrack the next time I am out of country). And then there are those vintage blood and gore shots that seem to have become a tad more subtle and in fact more effective.  I guess everyone improves with age and time.
 
Add to all of this, a fabulous story that had the 2nd Oscar for original screenplay all but sealed.  The first one being for Christoph Waltz who is soon reaching unbeatable status.  One should not have any other nominations if he is nominated.  But why he wasn’t nominated for the lead is a query that I will have for a long time I guess.
 
If you are a QT fan in India then you will watch Django Unchained on the big screen like a dog who has been given a bone after a few months of starvation (that is if you haven’t downloaded the movie by now).  And you will definitely love all those things that have taken this genre of movies into a cult status. 
 
If you aren’t a QT fan, then you may just about like this one because unlike vintage QT, this isn’t a puzzle that you put together at the end.  It is a first for QT – a straightforward story of a slave who is looking for his wife.  Either ways, you must see this over the weekend.  8 on 10. Another one knocked off the list of Best Movie nominations for 2012.
 

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