Strong, powerful movie.

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2013)

This movie is a spoof on the so-called spaghetti western genre, but with the violence ratchet up to a level probably unimagined in years past when the the spaghetti westerns gained popularity. The entire story is permeated by violence, which is shown in all its graphic goriness. There is no act of violence too gory for this movie. People are shot, clubbed, knifed, blown up, whipped, cudgeled, mauled, beaten and stomped as well as humiliated, put down, made fun of, laughed at, bullied, and yelled at. The theme of this movie is that interpersonal conflict can be resolved only through violence, and not just nineteen-thirties type violence, i.e., a drive by shooting or a quick ambush, but by violence that is sadistic, that is, gives pleasure to the character perpetrating the mess. But along with the violence is the use of the "N" word which is uttered probably hundreds of times in the movie, and by all the principal characters, black and white. In a way, it seems that the "N" word has finally arrived. Now, is all this violence gratuitous? The answer to that question is NO! No way. Although the violence is Hollywoodish and played up to the extreme for dramatic effect, it still belongs in the movie because the story is set in a time and a place when physical violence as a way of regulating people was a norm and when people were openly exploited and physically abused. The idea of a white slaver raising a bunch of mandingoes may seem ludicrous, but such activities occurred. Black people were slaves; white people were masters, and the "N" word was part of the normal lexicon of the time. The acting in this movie is outstanding. Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz deserve special recognition, and the rest of cast is excellent too, especially Leonardo De Caprio who plays a villain to great dramatic effect.