Valerie Ettenhofer
Staff Writer
Slavery and comedy are one set of unlikely partners in famed director’s newest film
Quentin Tarantino, heralded as cinema’s offbeat auteur since the early 1990s (“Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction”), turns his creative eye toward slavery for his latest adventure-comedy, “Django, Unchained”.
The setup is this; charismatic German bounty hunter Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) liberates abused slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and the two of them set out in search of the latter’s wife, who is still enslaved by a ruthless plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).
True to form, the movie includes Tarantino’s trademark wandering scenes, abrupt and over-the-top violence, ironic situations and scene-stealing characters, the best of which are a bunch of clueless Klansmen whose short screen time provided some of the biggest laughs.
It tackles a heavy subject without flinching, juxtaposing the human brutality of death by dogs or slave fighting for sport against a good old-fashioned quest of love and vengeance that drives the narrative’s unlikely Western hero.
Jamie Foxx carries the movie splendidly, managing all the subtleties required for a character whose luck and determination often carries him from the frying pan to the fire. If not the legendary hero his catchy spaghetti Western theme song implies, he is at least a uniquely sympathetic character surviving among the angry and the ignorant.
If Foxx is the soul of the movie, Christoph Waltz, as his mentor and accomplice, is the heart. Waltz won an Oscar for his breakout performance in “Inglourious Basterds” (also a Tarantino production), and he shows off his acting chops once more as a man of conviction who can—and does—talk his way out of any number of dangerous situations.
Waltz’s bounty hunter is the Atticus Finch of it all, a modern-day progressive character who is remarkable only because he does not match up with the morality of his time period. Much of the film’s humor comes from his ability to see Django as an equal while the rigidly traditional southerners the duo encounter are inclined to punish the man for his race.
Countless other familiar faces appear throughout, including a fully committed Leonardo DiCaprio who should add the ability to perfectly play an intriguing man of controlled cruelty to his resume. Samuel L. Jackson, as plantation owner DiCaprio’s ancient right hand man, is the only hit-or-miss character. The actor is almost unrecognizable behind heavily aging makeup and with a practiced stoop, yet he still manages to be grating and irredeemable.
While interesting cinematography, a sharp script and a killer soundtrack keep moviegoers on their toes, the majority of joy comes from seeing well-known actors mingle and move toward the inevitably bloody climax. Django’s and Schultz’ strange odyssey is perhaps the most cohesive and straightforwardly satisfying of any Tarantino story so far. A good guy faces evil and tries to get his girl, and the adventure unfolds with the delicious and devious signature flair of its director.
