A tale of an unlikely duo who does the impossible

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2014)

This plot themed film is about a free slave, named Django (Jamie Foxx) who, with the help of a bounty hunter by the name of Dr. King Schultz(Christoph Waltz), tries to free his wife Broomhilda Von Shaft (Kerry Washington) from a large plantation in Mississippi (Candy land). Django and Dr. Schultz encounter many adventures along their bounty hunting trip to Candy Land and cause a lot of controversy by having Django riding a horse and having freedoms that black people during that time period did not have. The unusual duo finally encounter Mr. Calvin Candy(Leonardo DiCaprio) and instead of just saying they would like to by Broomhilda they devise a story about how they are into Mandingo fighting and are interested in buying some of Mr. Candy's slaves. Needless to say, the duo's intentions are figured out by Mr. Candy's head slave and a battle ensues causing a lot of death. In the end, Django gets his wife Broomhilda free and they ride off together.
This film, much like "Twelve Years a Slave", shows some of the hardships that African American slaves faced on southern plantations in the U.S. prior to the Civil War. The film shows how salves were forced to fight to the death of either themselves or their component, and then when they were "no longer able to win fights" they were killed themselves. The film also shows the horrible ways that slaves were tortured for disobeying rules or running away. For example, one slave was eaten alive by dogs for trying to run away and Broomhilda was locked into a small metal box without food or water and expected to survive in there for ten days as punishment for running away.
The use of camera angles zooming in on the faces of the characters to show raw emotions during some of the more gruesome scenes in the film was done perfectly and really helped to tell the story in a compelling way. The use of sound effects also played a large role on the film by allowing the audience to hear the clear sounds of the dogs gnashing their teeth at the slaves who have run away and the quick snaps of the whips used. This film does a good job telling its story of vengeance and good triumphing evil while also giving a glimpse of the horrible sufferings that slaves once endured in our country.