Django Unchained – Tarantino’s First Western Doesn’t Hold Back

Six-shooters, horses, dynamite, and cowboy hats, Django Unchained taps into the core gunslinging western theme and delivers a satisfying story of freedom and redemption. Django, a black slave, is freed by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter, and aids him in killing criminals. The skilled duo eventually moves onto searching for Django’s wife, blazing a trail of blood and explosions. Set in Texas two years before the Civil War, slavery and racism are rampant and Django Unchained makes sure that you get a horrifying look into one of the worst moments in American history.

Remember though, Tarantino’s movies are set in his highly stylized alternate universe and should not be taken to be historically accurate. Take his other movie, Inglourious Basterds, where Hitler is assassinated in a burning movie theater. Django is full of anachronisms, and Mandingo fighting did not even exist.

Nevertheless, Django brings you a tense, gory, and comical experience, and is what I think to be Tarantino’s most entertaining film (though not his best). Watching how Schultz handles deadly situations with such confidence and Django develop into a gritty killer makes this movie nearly 3 hours of pure badassery. Tarantino’s style absolutely shines and I love his characteristic mixture of suspense and well-timed comic relief. One disappointment I had was that the ending was a little too easy; it was a grand finale just the way you’d expect it to be, but the handshake scene was where it all fell apart and the movie just finished up like they couldn’t figure out a smart way to end it.

One of the most controversial issues with this movie was the topic of blaxploitation. Spike Lee calls the movie “disrespectful to [his] ancestors” and bashes its heavy use of the n-word. It is a complicated and touchy subject because first, the film has an empowering black lead, but it also promotes racial stereotypes and misrepresents a crucial time in black history for entertainment. I’m sure the producers were aware of the risky nature of this setting but they built upon it and provided scenes that were both humanizing and dignifying.