By Jack Macias ’14
THE ROUNDUP

“Django Unchained”- Starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson
8.5 out 10

Directed by Quentin Tarantino, who is notorious for creating controversial and cult-classic movies such as “Pulp Fiction”, “Django Unchained” (pronounced Jango) keeps viewers shocked and laughing.

The Spaghetti-Western is an “R” rated action film, and as usual when directed by Tarantino, has its share of violence and does not shy away from issues such as race.

Being set in 1858, approximately two years before the civil war, “Django Unchained” takes place in the Deep South, which is entrenched in racism and slavery.

The movie follows a newly freed slave turned bounty hunter attempting to free his wife with the help of Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz.

Academy Award winner Waltz, who also played a major role in Tarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards, is nominated for “Best Supporting Actor” for his role in this film.

Django, who is played by Jamie Foxx, is portrayed as a unique former slave with a knack for unabridged violence and a short temper.

Throughout the film Django makes a transformation from a naïve slave into a weathered killer who will not let any man be between him and saving his wife from the most brutal slave plantation in Mississippi.

The amount of blood and the constant use of racial slurs, which almost seem excessive at times, make this film only suitable to viewers that can handle and appreciate such movies.

The main antagonist of the film was Calvin Candie, played by Academy Award nominee Leonardo Dicaprio, who convincingly plays a racist plantation owner that participates in Mandingo fighting and owns the second largest and most well-known plantation in Mississippi.

Another complex character of the film was Stephen, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who acts as loyal servant to Candie and eventually becomes intertwined in a struggle keeping Django from his wife.

“Django Unchained” has the ability to be another classic, alongside “Pulp Fiction” and other Tarantino films.

“Django” has been nominated for several golden globes including Best Motion Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay while receiving almost exclusively positive reviews from critics across the board.