Category: Western/ Action
Actors: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, David Steen, Dana Gourrier, Nichole Galicia, Laura Cayouette, Ato Essandoh, Sammi Rotibi, Clay Donahue Fontenot
Duration: 165 min
Rated: R

You might Like this Movie is you enjoyed:
Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Long Story Short:
A freed slave is trying find his wife and rescue her from the barbaric hands of her owner. A former dentist – a Caucasian – is helping him.

Review:
I know people have mainly praised this movie, called it a classic, or a Spaghetti Western (?) – only the wind knows why. And while I have to admit that the entire cast was simply brilliant with their performances, and I also like Quentin Tarantino, I cannot recommend this movie. I don’t understand how someone can enjoy it.

Let me explain, that when I watched the movie, I was the only light skinned person in the movie theater. Well, I am kissed by the sun, but I stood out. While the movie was playing I felt the rage growing. I heard people say “Yes, that’s exactly what the white man did to us.” The anger felt real and current, not for something that happened in the past. It felt like an anger that is still slumbering insight people’s minds that creates the (mis?)perception of still being oppressed.

I am currently living in a mainly black neighborhood and every day I get a different impression from my surroundings. There is definitely a pattern that shows that “someone” or “something” is trying to oppress the people who live here, or at least holding them back; for instance: the only internet connection that’s available here is so slow that I can barely post an entry on my blog because it takes up too much speed that I am not provided with. So even looking for jobs online is a pain, especially if you have to fill out application forms when the connection keeps crashing. Furthermore the gas prices here are outrageous. But if I drive towards the areas where mainly Caucasian people live the prices are lower. Why is that? Is someone or something trying to keep the poor or less fortunate people down while making the privileged people richer?

At the same time, I get the feeling that a lot of people are complaining about this situation but no one is standing up or willing to do something about it, so basically they are doing it to themselves. People are complaining about having no money, but they rather go to the gas station and buy a roll of toilet paper for 1$ every three days instead of going to the grocery store and get a package with 14 rolls of toilet tissue for 7$ which is half the price of what they are paying. Instead of keeping their neighborhood clean I see people throwing out trash on the streets, when there is a trash can three feet away from them.

Movies like Django Unchained don’t really help making a difference. Django got more than half a million votes on IMDB and a rating of 8.5/10, while inspirational movies like, Akeelah and The Bee(2006), Remember The Titans(2000), A Time To Kill(1996) – hard to watch but with the most impressive pleading- , The Blind Side(2009), Antwone Fisher(2002), Soul Food (2007) or even the The Color Purple (1986) hardly get one hundred thousand votes. So does violence succeed over inspiration? Choosing violence over inspiration creates anger, and anger holds us back. Why? Because we keep focusing on the negative aspects in life rather than the positive ones. Eventually we think that we don’t deserve any better and start accepting. Eventually we stop caring, and this attitude will reflect on our children. And unfortunately I see this behavior every other day.

Yes, I admit, people of color – and by people of color I mean anyone other than Caucasian – still have a harder time being hired in certain establishments than Caucasians, especially in the U.S. – the country of freedom but also segregation; where else do we have China Town, Greek Town, Polish Town etc.? But if we work hard enough we can get just as far as anyone else, maybe even further, we might not even have to depend on anyone to hire us, and become successful entrepreneurs?! There are no limits in life. And until we understand that, there won’t be any change.

Now, coming back to Django, here are a few more things I didn’t like about it:

The release date:
Why would someone chose Christmas time to release such a movie? I am not looking at Christmas as a Christian holiday, but a time families usually spend together and have a peaceful time. Well, not if they went to see Django. But Les Miserable was too depressing too, in my opinion. So either choice would have caused anger or depression. Though one to choose from.

The use of the n-word:
It was used at least 110 times. I mean, I get it, black people were treated and talked to in the most horrible ways, but do we really have hear it to an extend where I am pretty sure it starts to feel normal for some people? I myself felt a pain in my stomach every time I heard the word. I despise the n-word, and not even a black person should use it if you ask me. Why would you use a word today that represents anger, pain, torture and humiliation? Like Maya Angelou once said, “The “n” word is like poison, whether you take poison from a vial or pour it into Bavarian crystal, it is still poison.”

The idea of turning tragic events into a comedy:
Sure, I had to giggle, too, about certain scenes, but at the same time I couldn’t believe the fact that I was actually watching a movie about slavery and had to laugh.

The glorification of violence:
Django was not only brutal in the revenge scenes, but the torture scenes of the slaves seemed even more gruesome to me, which raises the question: If a director choses to show a scene more graphically than others, does he want to create a more dramatic effect, or does he actually enjoy it more?

Those were my honest and true feelings about Django Unchained. Like I said, I admire the entire cast and their acting, and I really like Quentin Tarantino, From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill are two of my all time favorite movies, but in this particular case I just can’t agree with the majority and applaud him for a master piece that in my opinion was a slap in the face.

Rating: N/A

Published by Elias

Biracial Kid, born in the late 80s. I write short stories, lyrics, books, I love Food, and I watch as many TV shows and movies as I can. My dream is to share my happiness and joy with the world... and to open a luxury hotel. View all posts by Elias