REVIEW - DJANGO UNCHAINED

Quentin Tarantino loves movies. Everyone knows this but, lest anyone ever forget, he intermittently makes one to remind us just how big of a cinephile he is. Django Unchained is no different. From the opening shot of slaves being led across a desert, the film oozes with influence only gained from a lifetime of poring over film after film and absorbing anything good they have to offer. As a result of Tarantino’s willingness to pay homage to the history of cinema, each of his film’s ultimately becomes a mishmash of virtually every genre you can imagine. Again, Django Unchained is no exception, but two genres undeniably shine through: ‘70s Blaxploitation and Spaghetti Western. Tarantino has somewhat visited both of these genres before.

Jackie Brown was Tarantino’s first foray into full-on blaxploitation film… almost. Jackie Brown had the names: Pam Grier and Sid Haig, both iconic faces of the blaxploitation genre; and it had the soundtrack, utilizing soul/R&B music from the like of Minnie Riperton and Bill Withers, as well as borrowing songs from ‘70s blaxploitation films, like Coffy and Foxy Brown (which both also starred Pam Grier). Jackie Brown had the look of a blaxploitation film, but it wasn’t really well-defined within the genre; the biggest reason being: it’s adapted from Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, which is wholly and unequivocally not within the genre. Jackie Brown is a great movie, but I get the feeling Tarantino always wanted to revisit the blaxploitation genre and make a legitimate blaxploitation film.

Inglourious Basterds is 100% a Spaghetti Western… almost. With its avenger protagonists who largely operate outside of two opposing forces for an ulterior motive, heroes who prove to be nearly “superhuman” with their skills (and their reputation), and several characters who are spurned to revenge by tragedy. Beyond that, the film’s soundtrack makes use of Spaghetti Western elements, and the film’s opening scene is almost identical to the opening scene from Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Its theatrical poster even looks reminiscent of the poster for A Fistful of Dollars. What keeps Inglourious Basterds from being firmly placed within the Spaghetti Western genre is its war setting; it’s a war film, first and foremost. Inglourious Basterds is yet another great film, but not really a Spaghetti Western.

Django Unchained feels like the culmination of, perhaps, a little frustration on just how close to those genres Tarantino got, without really utilizing them to their fullest potential; Django Unchained is, without question, Spaghetti Western Blaxploitation, a genre blend that would be a complete mess in the hands of anyone other than Quentin Tarantino.

The Spaghetti Western half of the film is delivered by Dr. King Schulz, a lone, drifting bounty hunter; an outsider (a German in the United States), who exploits two opposing enemies in order to make money. He’s not the laconic and rugged killer that is Eastwood’s “Man with No Name”, but he embodies nearly everything else you expect from the hero of a Spaghetti Western, up to and including his nearly unbelievable proficiency with guns. He’s, of course, played by the actor with an almost addictive presence, Christoph Waltz; no matter what else is happening on screen, your eye is drawn to Waltz, and it matters only what he’s doing. Waltz also played Hans Landa, in Inglourious Basterds; I’m convinced Tarantino made Dr. King Schulz a German just to be like, “I obviously know that not all Germans are bad.” Beyond Waltz’s character, the film also makes use of Western fixtures like wide-angle lens long shots, horizon-line shifting, and the quick zoom. Also, “Dr. King”, you see what Tarantino did there?

The Blaxploitation half of the film is delivered by Django, a slave. That’s really all you need to know about that character to see why he would fit perfectly in the blaxploitation protagonist role, but there’s more: he has been separated from his wife by a racist white guy (the incomparable Leonardo DiCaprio). So, he’s obviously dealing with racism and revenge. Jamie Foxx plays Django really well; Foxx is adept at playing characters who are vulnerable on the surface but brazen on the inside. The first example of this that I think of, mainly because I think it’s a great movie, is Collateral. In that, Foxx plays a weak and frightened cab driver who slowly is forced to show who he really is. The best scene of this is when Jamie Foxx’s character is pretending to be Tom Cruise’s character; that is a fantastic scene, and it illustrates exactly what I mean about Jamie Foxx and why I liked him as Django.

Outside of these things, to erase all doubt that this is a Spaghetti Western Blaxploitation film, Tarantino made up the soundtrack from songs taken from Spaghetti Westerns, like: Django, They Call Me Trinity, Day of Anger, and The Hellbenders; and he mixed them with songs from black musicians, like: 2Pac, RZA, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and James Brown.

In summary, Quentin Tarantino is amazing.

-John