Django Unchained…(Quote) “The D is silent”. A Western by Quentin Tarantino? What the hell was he thinking? Well, let me reassure you, it may be his best film yet. In fact Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” may revive the Western genre that has been lacking golden stars since the 60’s when features like “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”, “For a Few Dollars More”, “Once upon a Time In the West” and “The Wild Bunch”epitomized the best of the Western.

“Django Unchained” is pure, if not great and the cast saddle up for it with Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Don Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is loaded of strong graphic violence, vicious fight and some nudity. The script impresses with an ample range that flows from comedy to drama seamlessly and never fails to suspend disbelief despite the parade of Tarantino’s stylims and contemparery sensibilities. Django Unchained is about racism, and it portrays racism in all of its ugliest forms. For instance the “N word” is constantly used; I lost count at 78. The story tells of a crafty German named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) who invites Django the slave, (Jamie Fox) to join him as a bounty hunter. Their journey eventually leads them on a quest to rescue Django’s wife Hildy (Kerry Washington) from Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).  Calvin Candie is a ruthless owner of a plantation in the deep South. Tarantino has added the ripe example of creative casting. We rarely see DiCaprio in the antagonistic light but within it he shines, giving us a villain that entertains surprises and most importantly suggests a rich backstory.

As always with Tarantino, the soundtrack is a wildly eclectic thing. It’s his first film to make extensive use of original music. The list includes tracks from spaghetti Western maestro Ennio Morricone (5 tracks some recycled and one original), Elisa, Jamie Foxxand Rick Ross, Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton, James brown and 2Pac. “Django, the Main Theme is by Luis Enriquez Bacalov and Rocky Roberts. Just for the music alone it is worth going to see Django.

Django abounds with gorgeous cinematography and believable Hollywood liberalities. The film provides a dramatized South that speaks to a period of America’s darkest history during its 3-hour runtime. The cast, an amalgamation of brilliant thespians, is led by the charming and empowered Jamie Foxx. Not since Kirk Douglas’s Spartacushas a revolutionary slave been made so heroic and graphic on the silver screen. While these much loved actors have been brought to the forefront with Django’s marketing the secondary and tertiary cast do an amazing job to surprise, providing a level of depth that is unexpected and well appreciated.