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.