SPOILERS ABOUND!
Quentin Tarantino's essay on slave revenge, Django Unchained opened to blockbuster business, critical acclaim and won 2 Academy Awards. After seeing it I must say that instead of calling it Django Unchained, it should have been titled Django Chains Transferred or Django Enabled.
I've given my retrospective on QT's filmography and have became increasingly less enchanted with his style and technique over the years. And the trend continues. Let's just say I wasn't impressed. If you're going to give me a black hero then give me one from the beginning. Yeah yeah , I've seen the interviews where Tarantino says that he wanted to show the journey and development of the character from born in slavery to full on action hero. To that I say...meh. Its not necessary since his quest, the purpose of the film is to find his wife Broomhilda (played by Kerry Washington), escape slavery and exact some payback in the process. It isn't necessary to show Django (Jamie Foxx) getting acclimated to freedom. But because Tarantino made the choices he did in writing the story what we end up with is movie that diverts itself from its primary goal (purportedly a love story and rescue mission) to show how the titular character develops into the fastest gunslinger in the south.
Will Smith gave an interview where he said he was offered the role and turned it down: “Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!” Smith was a big fan of the final product. “I thought it was brilliant,” he says. “Just not for me.” Smith was correct in his assessment.
Through out the run up, premier and theatrical run of the movie, there were countless interviews and reviews that stated repeatedly that Django was a hero. The problem was he really didn't act like much of one for most of the film. The hallmark of the hero is one who initiates action. Someone who is doing something because they have the most to gain or lose in the situation. The hero is always playing the angles and looking for opportunity even if he or she isn't sure of the outcome. For most of the film that's NOT how Django himself acts. The movie is about two and half hours long and for the first hour or so what do we see of the titular character who has the most to gain or lose in this flick:
Do we see Django the escaped slave (because his successfully escaping would illustrate him taking control of his life)? No. We see Django very much in slavery being bought by another white man. Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a kindly dentist turned bounty hunter.
Do we see Django striking a deal with Dr. King Schultz? No. We see Schultz make a deal with Django that includes GIVING him his freedom eventually even though Schultz says he hates slavery himself.
After Django is free does he strike a deal to continue to work with Schultz in exchange for help in getting his wife back? No. We see Schultz offer to help Django and provide the plan to do it.
And what's the good Doctor's motivation for risking his life needlessly? It's because Django's life happens to be similar to the quest of a character in a German fairy tale about Siegfried and Brunhilde. A story he heard as a kid...no, seriously, that's his motivation.
All of this renders the title character, the person who's journey we're following, a passenger in his own life. The first part of the film is more about Schultz's treatment of Django more than the slave's growth. Tarantino likes to use chapter titles for his films well the first half of the film could be titled: When King met Django. If that sounds like the title of a romantic comedy that's because the first half of Django Unchained plays more like a bromance than anything else.
READ MORE
