When I first saw Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, I wrote that it was as deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette. This second time around I'm still dizzy, from something meaner than nicotine. This brilliant and brutal revenge western, with its bromcom double act from Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, is set among the slave plantations of pre-civil war America.
It is partly based on the 1960s cult Django westerns starring Franco Nero (who returns in cameo here) and partly on the notorious 1975 exploitation picture Mandingo, but it's distinctive on its own fantastically outrageous terms: an audacious and horribly funny comic-book nightmare.
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz's search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of "Candyland," an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie's trusted house slave.
guardian.co.uk
When I first saw Quentin Tarantino 's Django Unchained , I wrote that it was as deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette...
