Django Unchained

Remember being a little kid waiting for Christmas?  There was a big anticipation for the wonderful gifts you may receive and from a few suspicious packages under the tree, you guessed it would be all you wanted and more.  That’s kind of how I was waiting for Quentin Tarantino’s new film, Django Unchained, to release on Christmas.  Thing is, instead of unwrapping a remote control helicopter, new bike or whatever would make your head explode into instant joy, Django was like finding an odd kind of gift your lovably weird uncle picked up at a mystical thrift store.  It’s still so unique and undeniably cool, but I’m not sure I know what to do with it yet.  I genuinely like the film and am thankful for it, but I’m not sure if I love it or if I will grow to do so.

Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave in the American south about two years before the Civil War.  You know, the height of southern arrogance, or elegance, depending on your point of view.  Anyways, he is freed by a German dentist turned bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).  He asks Django to help him find and kill the Brittle brothers and earn a share of the profits.  The two become a team and as Django puts it, “Kill white people and get paid for it? What’s not to like?”  When they get word that Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), is on a large plantation owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) plantation, they concoct a plan to buy her and save her from the slave life.

While they are only supporting, Waltz and DiCaprio are the biggest forces driving this film forward.  We clearly see that Django would be nowhere without his quirky German friend, his silver tongue and charismatic reasoning brings them in and out of danger as smooth as the tide.  And DiCaprio is a perfectly evil southern gentleman that we love to hate.  During the dinner scene, his unexpected burst of anger is amazing and made me jump.  He can just seethe that intangible arrogance and disregard for his slaves that we can’t even imagine a real person possessing.  Best of all, he can drink out of a coconut chalice like it’s not a joke.  I wish both men had the Oscar nomination, but I’m happy Waltz is in the game.

Django Unchained is nominated for five Oscars total.  Beside’s Waltz’s Supporting Actor nomination, the film also holds Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing and most importantly a Best Picture nomination.  I was surprised Tarantino was not up for best director, but there have been greater tragedies.

The scene featuring early clan members is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen in a Tarantino film.  The band of about thirty half-wit white men on horses has met out in the middle of nowhere to ambush Dr. Schultz and Django’s camp, but there’s one problem: their masks suck.  An argument brews about them, “I can’t see shit!”  Jonah Hill has a fun part here trying to make his eye holes bigger only to make it worse.  Best of all, the man who supplied the masks gets all huffy about their ingratitude and rides off.  The whole scene works wonders to poke some fun at the KKK and allege that their beginnings were just born out of pure stupidity.

In fact, the way Tarantino treats most of the white southerners feels like such fun and sweet revenge.  They are all either hilariously stupid or so evil that you love to hate them.  That may sound like his treatment of the Nazis in Inglourious Basterds, but it feels much different here.  It’s kind of like how Spielberg treats the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but cranked up to eleven.

Django has all your basic Tarantino elements and keeps them fresh.  There is plenty of blood splashing, gun slinging, slave whipping violence that could be a bit much for the casual film fan.  There is plenty of flowing dialogue, led mostly by Waltz and DiCaprio while Django is a badass hero of few words.  The soundtrack is nowhere near the 1850s, but the selections give such a perfect tone to the film that we shouldn’t care.  Let’s see, there’s also a Mexican standoff, a few fun explosions, and enough use of the N-word to burn the ears off the most politically correct.  It’s a very Tarantino film.

Like I said, I really liked Django Unchained, but I think I need more time and more viewings to find out if I love it.  To be fair, I didn’t love Pulp Fiction at first viewing, and I didn’t even like Kill Bill the first time I saw it, (blasphemy, I know).  But I do know I like Django, this weird Spaghetti Western/Blaxploitation inspired revenge film full of blood, quirky characters and unexpected hilarity.

“I’m just a little more used to Americans than he is.”

In the Heat of the Night

On a hot, sticky night inSpartaMississippi, a businessman from the North who planned to open a factory that will employ the black community is found dead in an alley.  The first thing the local police do is look for any suspicious characters at the pool hall and train station.  Officer Sam Wood (Warren Oates) finds a lone black man sitting at the station, searches him and immediately takes him into custody.  As it turns out, this man, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), is just passing through and is the lead homicide investigator inPhiladelphia’s police department.  It takes a while for Virgil’s credentials to be taken seriously by the officers, but soon Chief Gillispie (Rod Steiger) recruits him to help out on the case.  With the locals less than happy about a black man acting as part of the law, racial tensions start to flare in this tale of drama, mystery and crime.

Virgil represents an ideal person, regardless of race.  He is educated, wears a nice suit, has a well paying, important job and speaks proper English.  He has come further in his life than all the white men surrounding him in this little redneck town and that does not sit well with them.  Through it all though, Virgil doesn’t gloat or lord himself over anyone else.  He simply gives respect and expects it in return.  In fact, the more involved he becomes in helping the police department solve this crime, the more respect he gains from Gillespie.

I believe this film won the Best Picture award because of the progressive way it portrayed racial tensions.  There are two big moments where we are both proud of Virgil and partially fear for his life.  This first is when Gillispie calls him ‘boy’ one too many times and then asks what his people up North call him.  Virgil replies, boldly and slowly, “They call me Mister Tibbs.”  Sounds simple enough today, but in a little racistMississippi town in the sixties a black man asking for respect from white men didn’t settle well.  Later, when Virgil goes to question Endicott (Larry Gates), a man with many black servants who would gain the most from the murder, Endicott slaps Virgil.  And Virgil slaps him right back.  It’s a moment of shock, for the people in the room and the 1967 audiences.  But it’s triumphant, making old Endicott remember that the days where he could just shoot a Endicott black man like Virgil are over.

For some of today’s audience this film may be a stark, unflattering reminder that racism was alive and a big part of some parts of the South.  Those redneck boys trying to run Virgil off the road, the diner guy who refused to serve him and the way he was so quickly arrested for just waiting for a train may be shocking and appalling to some people.  Unfortunately, those incidents were not far fetched for the time period.

In the Heat of the Night is a wonderful and engaging film.  If you’re afraid the racial tensions will be too much, the thrilling crime and mystery helps add great elements that help balance everything out.

“Gillespie…you saw it, what are you going to do about it?”