What can I say? I love Quentin Tarantino and I love this movie!

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2016)

What can I say? I love Quentin Tarantino and I love this movie. It is very funny, very exciting, very shocking and very thought provoking. It is has a great script, is incredibly well acted, and it goes without saying the direction and cinematography are outstanding. Set in 1850, this 'Black Western', is the story of a German bounty hunter, who helps a freed slave to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. In his typical, Tarantino-esque way, the master film-maker amuses us with his dark, blood-curdling humour. In graphic detail, he reveals to us the horrendous barbaric cruelty of the darkest times in American history – the slave era.
Particularly noteworthy were the performances of Jamie Foxx in the lead role, Christoph Waltz as the German bounty hunter, Leonardo DiCaprio in a spellbinding performance as the brutal plantation owner, (his best cinematic performance up to that point by a million miles), and Samuel L Jackson in an outrageous over the top 'Uncle Tom' performance as Stephen - Di Caprio's faithful slave-servant. A host of brilliantly played cameo roles also added to the overall quality of this 'must see' movie.
I'm not claiming this is Tarantino's best movie- Pulp fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill 1 take a lot of beating. But none of those excellent, ground-breaking movies received any Oscars, so why indeed should Django Unchained? Frankly, I can't answer that, except to state the obvious – Tarantino has never been accepted by the Hollywood community as one of their own – in spite of his movies' universal popularity and wide critical acclaim. Was it ever thus? To this reviewer, he is right up there with the best. Go and see it and be entertained, be shocked and see something that might shake you out of your lethargy. Even if you hate it, you cannot fail to be moved and provoked by it.