Django Unchained
Django Unchained
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django
Directed by & Written by: Quentin Tarantino, starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks & Don Johnson
Django Unchained is a 2012 American western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson and was released on December 25, 2012 in North America.
Set in the antebellum era of the Deep South and Old West, the film follows a freed slave (Foxx) who treks across America with a bounty hunter (Waltz) on a mission to rescue his wife (Washington) from a cruel and charismatic plantation owner (DiCaprio). The film received acclaim from critics and went on to be nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Waltz) and Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino).
Plot
In 1858, several male slaves are being transported across Texas by the Speck brothers. In their group is Django, who was separated from his wife Broomhilda when they were sold to different buyers at a slave auction. The Speck brothers encounter Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist and, unbeknownst to them, bounty hunter. Schultz frees Django and kills one of the Speck brothers, leaving the other to be killed by the now-free slaves. Schultz reveals that he sought out Django to aid him in identifying the Brittle brothers, a trio of ruthless killers working for a plantation owner. Schultz confesses that his bounty hunting profession is opportunistic, but emphasizes to Django that he “despises slavery”. The two come to an agreement: in exchange for helping locate the Brittle brothers, Schultz will free Django from slavery and give him $75 and a horse. After hunting down and killing the Brittle brothers, Schultz takes Django on as his associate in bounty hunting. Django is initially uneasy about his newfound role, but soon proves himself to be talented.
After collecting a number of bounties, Schultz and Django confirm that Broomhilda’s current owner is Calvin Candie, a charming but brutal plantation owner. At Candie’s plantation, Candyland, some of his male slaves are trained to fight to the death in a sport known as “Mandingo fighting”. After securing an invitation to Candyland, Schultz and Django devise a plan to reach Broomhilda by posing as potential purchasers of Mandingo fighters. Upon their arrival, Schultz introduces Django as a free man. At Candyland, Candie orders a runaway slave’s execution by being torn apart by attack dogs.
Candie and Schultz come to an agreement to purchase a Mandingo fighter. Schultz also offers to purchase Broomhilda, claiming that he noticed that she speaks German and she would help alleviate his nostalgia for his mother tongue. Schultz and Django’s interest in Broomhilda raises the suspicions of Candie’s staunch head slave, Stephen. He correctly deduces that Django and Broomhilda know each other, and that the Mandingo sale is a ruse. He informs Candie, who, armed with this information, demands $12,000 for Broomhilda, threatening to kill her if they decline. Schultz agrees to purchase Broomhilda at this price. Enraged by Candie’s behavior, including the execution of a runaway slave by dogs on Candie’s orders, Schultz kills Candie after the paperwork finalizing the sale is completed, but Schultz is shot and killed in turn by Candie’s men. Django shoots some of Candie’s men in the household, but surrenders when Stephen threatens to order Broomhilda’s death. As punishment, Stephen suggests Django to be sent to a coal mine and worked to death, and Candie’s sister Lara agrees. En route to the mine, Django convinces the slave drivers that he is a bounty hunter, showing them the handbill from his first kill as proof. Once freed, he kills the slave drivers, takes their dynamite, and rides back to Candyland.
Returning to the plantation, Django discovers Schultz’s body and takes the certificate of freedom that Candie signed for Broomhilda as part of the purchase agreement before his death. Django enters the unoccupied Candyland mansion and plants the dynamite. When the residents return from Candie’s funeral, he kills the gunmen and Lara, frees the house slaves except for Stephen who he shoots in the knees, and lights the dynamite’s fuse. Django rides away with Broomhilda, leaving the wounded Stephen to die in the explosion.
