...like the dust I'll rise

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2013)

The Tarantino film promised to the world since Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction first caused such a commotion all those years back has arrived.
What defines the cinema of Quentin Tarantino, strangely enough, is not - for me, anyway - not so much what goes on on screen, as the feeling you get walking out at the end; you walk tall, you have diamonds on the soles of your shoes, you feel euphoric.
This is fun, this is populist, this is a cartoon, this is where a shootout is a Jackson Pollock painted red, this is history, this is fantasy.
Django's wife 'princess' Brumhilda (played by Kerry Washington) has her hair up on the sides of her head like Princess Leia in Star Wars; do you remember the thrill of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo disguising themselves as Storm Troopers ("Aren't you a little short for a Storm Trooper?") and braving the danger of a whole Death Star full of mortal enemies to save the conceited royal damsel in distress? The fantastic moment where Luke gets to say "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!"
Django is all about the suspense inherent in a dangerous rescue mission, Leonardo DiCaprio plays our Darth Vader here, a truly frightening slave plantation owner and sadist in a brilliant turn.
Han Solo was a bounty hunter and Luke a young knight looking for a quest, this is also a film about a bounty hunter and a knight with a quest: Django's quest is to rescue his wife.
In fact, you could say that by focusing the film on chivalry the bag of loot or treasure becomes the damsel (his true love) in distress and our hero can be purified by his violent actions motivated by love rather than damned by violent actions motivated purely by greed.
Beneath the swagger Tarantino's narratives are grounded in a fervently moral universe where the evil that men do is, if not punished, condemned.
Tarantino's own cameo is one of the funniest I've ever seen - this is mostly because of the explosive punchline - although it is also an amusing Australian accent!
Righteous anger, the basic urge to destroy and revolt against injustice.
This is a beautifully made film, well-structured, suspenseful, funny, inventive, the world created is seamless, the acting rich, the photography glorious, and the violence is sickening and brutal but justified.