Django Unchained

Django Unchained: The best modern western Holy Jesus I forgot how mindblowingly incredible this movie is. The first movie I ever logged on Letterboxd, the movie that drove me to watch all these movies. Such a reminder of all the great movies I can rewatch now and take more out of now that time has passed. So much I noticed this time around that I didn’t the first time. Candie and Shultz are almost the same character, but also opposites. They both speak fancy, they both put on a civilized act, but Shultz is what Candie wants to be. Candie doesn’t understand the fancy words, only pretends to. He thinks he is superior and biologically smarter to black people, whereas Shultz is as just as they come. He can’t resist good. It’s why he tries to buy that guy that ran off. Also on a simpler level, it’s why he says no to cake, he has control issues for good. His last line is “I couldn’t resist” and it was only because Candie was trying to get the best of him formally with the handshake - Candie’s way of saying, I’m smarter and more enlightened than you. And then you have Django and Stephen who are similar but opposite as well. Django acts bad, whereas Stephen is bad. Candie acts good, whereas Shultz is good. Very interesting character foils. And then you have the elements that make this the best western of the century. The music is epic, in a modern way. The Tarantino dramatic style and great lines make for the perfect western badass moments. Simply cannot be understated how monumental this film is, and it’s not even my top Tarantino, which is why he’s the GOAT.