Django Unchained

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Kerry Washington, Walton Goggins

Dir & Scr. Quentin Tarantino

It needs to be said up front: I’m not the biggest Tarantino fan. His early work is, at times, excellent and you’re never in doubt that he’s always got something to say. But in recent years he’s got self-indulgent and a tad sloppy. Django Unchained is a perfect example of the best and worst of Tarantino, with not enough of the good to balance the bad. According to the man himself, he’s telling us something new about slavery. That’s dubious at best. Django has style, it has humour (some of it very clever), it has some lovely against-type performances. But, make no mistake, this is Tarantino’s version of history and it’s too shallow and it’s too showy and it’s too blooming long.

Django (Foxx) – the ‘d’ is silent – is a slave in 1850s American South, separated from his wife and on the way to be sold to his next owner. Enter former dentist Dr King Schultz (Waltz), an eccentric German who is in the business of killing for money. Joining forces, Django and Schultz track down Broomhilda (Washington), Django’s German-speaking wife, in the possession of infamous and brutal plantation-owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). And, it goes without saying, there will be blood.

And on that note, first things first – this is a violent film. Of course it is. It would be refreshing for Tarantino not to resort to extreme violence, but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. And it is gratuitous. Not all the time, but there are certainly two scenes which could have been just as effective if they had been reduced to thirty seconds rather than several minutes. I don’t accept that this is anything but self-indulgent. It’s not worthy, it’s no longer original. It’s just lazy. Another big problem with the film, also due to self-indulgence and ill-discipline, is its length. The story comes to almost natural conclusion, but instead of taking advantage of this, Tarantino adds another thirty minutes. A completely pointless and simply terrible thirty minutes, featuring Tarantino himself with the worst Australian accent I have ever heard. What were Australians even doing in the American South in the 1850s? And how did they have such clichéd Australian accents by that time??

The story itself hinges hugely on the characterisation of Django and Schultz, and when they are together the film is compelling and engaging. Once the repugnant Calvin Candie enters on the scene, we are fully on side with Django and Schultz, understand what motivates them and care about what fate befalls them. I’ll turn to the actual performances in a moment, but kudos to Tarantino for some chunky character development, including a very clever power shift, as well as a rewarding underlying fairy-tale theme.

I think what really saved Django Unchained for me were three key performances. Foxx was very good as the freed slave driven by the love of his wife. When he takes on the cold, unfeeling character Schultz encourages him to play, he truly shines. DiCaprio is excellent, perhaps the best I have ever seen him. He has moved so far from his Titanic days, he’s hardly recognisable as the slick, inhuman Calvin Candie. But for my money, Waltz is the stand-out. He is a stranger in a very strange land and the gradual breakdown of his character is nuanced and extremely well played. A somewhat inconsistent act by Schultz towards the end of the film does not do enough to mar an excellent performance. Much has been written about Jackson’s portrayal of Stephen, Candie’s elder statesman slave, and just how accomplished and difficult his performance is. I was less impressed – throw in a few ‘motherf**kers’ and he’s basically playing the same role he always does in this type of film.

Django Unchained has been heaped with critical praise and will no doubt continue to pick up an award here and there. This doesn’t annoy me as much as perplex me. Tarantino is fundamentally making the same film over and over and I’m just waiting for him to surprise me. I think I’ll be waiting a long time. See it if you like this sort of thing; avoid if you don’t.

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Calvin Candie: Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. But now you have my attention.