Calm yourselves gentlemen, I mean you no harm. I'm simply a fellow weary traveler.

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2020)

A story of revenge, devotion, faith, aspirations, and sadism, relentless tragic indigestible sadism. What can I say about Tarantino that has not been said before? I will not chuck more wood into his already flaming fire; I will instead talk about the symbolism and plot of this movie: A charismatic and cultured foreigner in 1858 Texas had to be the one to bestow Django (Jamie Foxx) with a chance to challenge all the odds and save his wife from slavery in a plantation in Mississippi. Progressively both characters develop a friendship that will even position Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) in danger while attempting a heroic.
The movie explores themes like sacrifice, acceptance, love, union, solidarity, betrayal. The scenes elucidate excellently the unbearable nature of the life for slaves; it is difficult to even glance at some scenes and ascertain the phenomenology of the slaves: the circumstances they endured. Few contemporary movies have tried to give us a detailed rendition of the phenomenology of slaves: 12 years as a slave, Harriet, Mudbound, come to mind. Django pushes our sensibilities and attempts to expand our understanding of the sadism and unjust reality that slaves were forced to endure. Extraordinary imaginative effort would be required to dimension the magnitude of their suffering without works of art like this one.
The story of the wise man and the apprentice begins when Dr Schultz starts to make deals with Django to hunt criminals. Django learns lessons and skills that will, ultimately, allow him to face the biggest challenge he has had in his life, remain calm in the biggest storm he has ever experienced. He learns how to suppress his instincts and emotions to be able to receive criticism even from a black person being excessively servile to white people.
Maybe revenge was not the best dish, but it paints a picture of drama and tragedy very emblematic in Tarantino's films. It also serves to amplify the passions of many of the characters that give absolutely outstanding performances: Calvin Candle (Leonardo DiCaprio), Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), and Broomhilda (Kery Washington). I'd like to highlight DiCaprio's performance as one of the best ones I have seen from him. His ability to go from 0-100 and make his character believable and simultaneously terrifying is masterful feature of this film that gets under-appreciated. His dialogue and antics are a highlight of the movie.
Django had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for Broomhilda, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make from the beginning of the movie. Despite all the immorality, sadism, hate, ignorance, and irreverence we see a gesture of sacrifice born out of care and love. It is rare to see Tarantino explore these topics, but it was beautifully displayed in the reencounter of Broomhilda and Django.