Quentin Tarantino displays his own brand of social consciousness with Django Unchained, his violent and passionate tale of a slave looking to liberate his wife and take revenge on his tormentors in the American South of the 19th century.
When Django (Jamie Foxx) is freed from a pair of slave traders by the cultured German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), it's the beginning of an unlikely partnership – one that goes from business arrangement (Django knows the faces of three outlaws Schultz is tracking), to a mentor-protege relationship as Schultz teaches Django the finer points of bounty hunting (Django proves a quick study when it comes to quick-draw gunfighting), to genuine friendship.
It culminates in a quest to find and free Django's beloved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from the clutches of the loathsome Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a plantation owner with a penchant for 'mandingo' bouts where slaves fight to the death.
The filmmaker's tangible outrage at the degradation and inhumanity of slavery is depicted in a no-holds-barred manner. But while Django Unchained is a fiery, fierce rebel yell of a movie, it's also a sparkling piece of entertainment – to borrow a line from his Kill Bill movies, it's a “roaring rampage of revenge,” albeit one that's also surprisingly moving and hilariously funny.
In cinemas Thursday 24 January
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