Free at Last

    For many years, director Quentin Tarantino has been perfecting his film style and continues to prove that he is one of the most visually and literary unique directors in Hollywood. Tarantino's filmography is a well spaced out list of films that I believe are all equal in quality and none of which don't show true passion or laziness from the director. In 2012, Tarantino released Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx as the main character, who is a freed slave turned bounty hunter on the hunt to free his lost slave wife. Not only is this film one of his most critically acclaimed, but it is one of my personal favorites of his.

    Django Unchained tells the tale of a slave who is bought freedom by a white bounty hunter, played by Christoph Waltz, in order to assist the man find a slave trader that he must hunt down and complete a bounty on. The rest of the star studded cast consists of Samuel L. Jackson, a regular in Tarantino films, Kerry Washington, and Leonardo DiCaprio who all pour their heart and soul into their characters. The plot is extremely interesting because the deal between Django and the German bounty hunter, Dr. Schultz, almost seems to good because not only can Django help the Doctor find his bounty, but the man their hunting happens to be one of the most ruthless slave owners in Mississippi and one of his main house slaves is Django's long lost wife, played by Kerry Washington. From the minute the duo is seen on screen together, there is a chemistry that is made present that goes against the norm of the time but just feels right. 

    At the beginning of the film, Django is a cold, malnourished and and uncleanly slave, who doesn't even have the ability or confidence to talk clearly, but by the end of the movie, he is a well spoken, talented and confident hero. The transition made between a slave walking through the woods with literally no clothes on his back to a successful bounty hunter shows change that the audience roots for the whole time. In most films dealing with times of slavery, the tone of the film focuses more on the hardships of a slave and never shows a side of the slaves winning, but that is the complete opposite of this film. Django Unchained shows a slave being freed and standing back up against his captors and prevailing at the end of the day. Tarantino shows an interesting point of view on slavery that we normally wouldn't see in modern American cinema. 

     I guess what my favorite part about Tarantino's films are that they take a specific time period/event in history, and put a twist on it to capture the audience's attention. An interesting fact about this movie is that during filming, in a scene where DiCaprio's character is having a meltdown on Django at his home, during filming he slammed his hand down on the dinner table and genuinely did get a deep gash on his hand but continued to perform the scene in order to achieve true authenticity, which in my mind is one of the most dedicated and truly dramatic things to do in recent films. For someone to truly hurt themselves and bleed profusely but continue to stay in character really shows passion and diligence in his work which I believe made the scene better than it could have ever been. 

     Overall, Django Unchained not only shows the true hardships slaves had to experience through extremely graphic scenes but also pays off because it over all shows the triumph of slaves and has an uplifting positive message in the end of the underdog over coming his goal. This is one of all time favorite films and believe it holds true educational value for America's history. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

    Coming from my local high school, Jack Nicholson is an extraordinary actor who got his big break in the 1970s with films such as The Shining and Chinatown, but I believe he really showed his range and passion for the art of acting in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This film premiered on the big screen in 1975 and is one of Nicholson's most highly regarded and praised movies in his filmography. The plot of this movie centers around a man, Nicholson, who is admitted into a mental institution and from the moment he walks in, wrecks havoc among the residents and medical staff. The film's cast features Louise Fletcher as the infamous Nurse Ratched, Dean R. Brooks as the head Doctor Spivey, and an ensemble cast of patients including longtime hometown friend of Nicholson, Danny DeVito as Martini. It was interesting to see Danny DeVito looking so much younger as this was only his fourth movie and the difference between his looks and acting skills has changed so much. After viewing this film after most of Nicholson's newer movies, it's very interesting to see how far his skills as an actor have come but still how well they held up in the 70s. 

    In the duration of this film, there is no real "plot", but there is a series of schemes that Nicholson pulls off in order to defy the totalitarian staff that consists of nurses and help with sinister intentions as well as doctors and scientists that are extremely tractable and seem to bow down to the head nurse who always seems to get her way. As the film progresses, it is very evident that the plot holds much more than Nicholson shaking up the norm at the institution. Nicholson's character, McMurphy, single handedly changes the lives of all of the patients in the hospital with his antics that go much deeper for everyone there. From the moment McMurphy walks through the front door, it can be seen that he isn't insane, but merely put in the institution because he's been to jail before and the people around him are starting to think he's going crazy. The men that live inside the hospital haven't seen the outside world in a while and when McMurphy comes in and interacts and treats them like normal human beings they get very excited. McMurphy tries to understand all of the men in there and find out how to get then to open up to him. What follows in the story is a timeline of antics caused by Nicholson's character that change patients forever. This film really shows the range of Nicholson and was a wonderful blend of several different genres that is worthy of several more viewings.