"Django Unchained": reviews, cast, storyline, critics' opinions

"Django Unchained" is a 2012 film made by cult American director Quentin Tarantino. Despite the director’s long-standing love for spaghetti western films, in this film he first decided to work in this genre himself. As a result, the reviews about the movie "Django Unchained" were very different - however, like about any Tarantino work. The plot, actors, soundtrack and much more information about "Django Unchained" - in this article.

Plot of the film

The picture unfolds in 1858 in the southern US states. Before the Civil War, which in the next hundred years will change the situation of black Americans, another three years, but because slavery and the slave trade are quite legitimately flourishing. The main character of the film, the Negro Django, appears in fetters among the five slaves bought in Texas and following with their new owners on a plantation in the Far South. The viewer learns that Django tried to escape from his previous owner, for which he was carved by a whip and sold separately from his wife named Brumgilda, with whom he had not previously been separated. On the same forest road where the slaves were led, the second protagonist drove at night - a former dentist and a German emigrant, Dr. King Schulz, currently hunting for bounty hunting. For personal reasons, Schulz wanted to redeem Django, but, having been refused, took him for nothing - before that, of course, he killed one of the merchants, and broke his leg to the other and left him to be torn to pieces by the remaining free slaves.

The next morning, sitting in a bar in the nearest town, Schultz told his freed friend that he was now engaged in the capture of a trinity of bloodthirsty killers known as the Brittle brothers - at one time they were overseers of the Django plantation, and he should help to identify them. For help, the doctor promised the former slave absolute freedom and monetary reward. Having successfully tracked down and destroyed the Brittle brothers, Schultz suggested that Django continue cooperation on equal terms, and he agreed, taking a promise to help find Brumgild. All winter they successfully catch criminals, having made a fortune on this, and, finally, find out to whom the wife of Django was sold. Its new owner was the brutal cynic Calvin Candy, a lover of fights to the death among his slaves.

Schultz and Django come to Kelvin Candy as if to buy a “fighting” slave, offering a huge sum for him, and “in the appendage” they ask to sell also the slave Brumgilda. At first, Candy agrees, but Stephen, his black butler, from the first minute dissatisfied with the free behavior of Django, finds out that he and Broomgild know each other, and they wanted to fool his master. Candy was furious and demanded that he be paid as much for the slave as for the slave - and Schultz had to do this. But the slave owner had already shown himself to be too cruel and wayward man - during a handshake that was supposed to complete the deal for the sale of Brumgilda, the doctor, unable to restrain his contempt, grabbed a gun and shot him. Schultz did not have to repent for a long time, since he was shot dead by the bodyguard of Candy at the same second, and then they all started firing at each other, arranging a wild shootout. Django, who had run out of ammunition at the most inopportune moment, was captured by the people of Candy and sent to life for slavery in a quarry, but he managed to return, having deceived and killed the convoys. This time he managed to free his beloved wife and finally deal with all the inhabitants of Candy's estate.

Creature

The film "Django Unchained" 2012, but his idea came to mind Quentin Tarantino back in 2007. Even then, in an interview, the director told me that he really wants to make a film about the horrors of slavery, about the "bloody pages of American history." Tarantino dreamed about the film in the spaghetti western genre even before the start of his career, and finally a good story turned up to the genre. The script was completed in 2011, and filming began.

The name and the name of the protagonist were borrowed by the director from one of his favorite films - the Italian western "Django" of 1966. He already used references to this picture in his early films - for example, the scene with a cut off ear from "Mad Dogs" was borrowed from there. The general background of the endless bloodshed, which became Tarantino’s signature, was also inspired by this western - extremely cruel for its time. Filming of "Django Unchained" began in California in November 2011 - exactly six months after the completion of the script. In February 2012, the crew moved to Wyoming, and in March of that year, to the Evergreen Plantation National Park, Louisiana. The film is completely shot in analog format on a 35 mm film. After 130 shooting days, all the scenes of the picture were shot by July 2012.

Film actors - photos and names

The actors of "Django Unchained" changed several times during the casting process. For example, Quentin Tarantino initially invited the famous actor Will Smith to the role of the protagonist, but he refused. Chris Tucker, Idris Elba and Terrence Howard also tried, but in the end the choice of director settled on the lesser-known actor Jamie Foxx. The role of Dr. Schulz was played by the German actor Christopher Waltz - Tarantino first worked with him in his previous film "Inglourious Basterds" (2009) and already then offered Waltz a role in "Django". In fact, Christoph Waltz was the first actor approved in the film. Leonarodo DiCaprio, who played the role of Calvin Candy, first appeared in the film Tarantino, although he had long dreamed about it. He auditioned for the lead role in Inglourious Basterds, but she went to Brad Pitt. With this in mind, Tarantino himself invited DiCaprio to a new film. The main actors of "Django Unchained" - the photo is presented below.

The role of Brumgilda was performed by actress Kerry Washington, previously little known in the main female roles. The characteristic image of the butler Stephen went to one of Tarantino's favorite actors and a good friend - Samuel L. Jackson. Among the secondary actors, it is also worth noting the owner of the slave-mandingo Amerigo Waseppi - his role was played by the Italian Franco Nero, who played the main character in the 1966 film "Django". In the photo below - secondary actors of the movie "Django Unchained".

Actors of Russian dubbing

Russian dubbing of "Django Unchained" was performed by famous dubbing actors whose voices are familiar to every viewer. The main role was voiced by Alexander Noskov - before his voice in Russia spoke Heath Ledger ("Brokeback Mountain"), Vincent Cassel ("13 Friends of Ocean"), Ryan Reynolds ("Green Lantern") and others. Christopher Waltz was given his voice by one of the best actors in Russian dubbing Leonid Belozorovich - his voice in most films is spoken by Christopher Walken, Kurt Russell, Rutger Hauer, Harvey Keitel, Robin Williams, James Belushi, Gary Oldman, Michael Douglas, Rowan Atkinson, Jason Steth John Malkovich, John Travolta and many others. For Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor of voice acting in “Django Unchained”, as usual, was Sergey Burunov - to date, he voiced the Hollywood star in more than 15 films, being also one of the permanent understudies of Johnny Depp, Adam Sendler and Brad Pitt.

Actors Inna Koroleva, Aleksey Kolgan (the constant voice of Samuel L. Jackson), Nikita Prozorovsky, Alexander Klyukvin and many others gave Russian voices to the secondary heroes. Voices of Russian dubbing can be heard in the trailer for the film, presented below.

The role of Quentin Tarantino

The pre-premiere reviews of “Django Unchained” from loyal fans of Tarantino’s work contained the same question - will the maestro appear in the film? In his debut films, Quentin appeared in small but full-fledged roles, playing Mr. Brown in Raging Dogs and Jimmy in Pulp Fiction. In his novel of the film "Four Rooms" Tarantino completely assigned himself the main role of "The Man from Hollywood." But then the fans had to “look for” his appearance - for example, in the picture “Jackie Brown” the voice of the main character speaks in the voice of Quentin, and in “Inglourious Basterds” his face flashed for a second in the role of a German soldier, from whom the character of Brad Pitt removed the scalp. In "Kill Bill," the director did not appear. And so, to the delight of the fans, Tarantino acted as the guard of Django in one of the culmination scenes of the film - he was blown up by the main character along with the convoy wagon.

Soundtrack

As in all his films, Tarantino approached the musical accompaniment of this picture with all its inherent scrupulousness and extravagance. Ennio Morricone , the great spaghetti western musician, was appointed to the post of composer. In addition to specially written music by Morricone, the film included the song of Luis Bakalov Django from the tape of the same name in 1966, as well as the tracks of Tupac Shakur, Johnny Kesha, the band The Heavy and many others. About the soundtrack to the movie "Django Unchained" the reviews were purely positive, despite some tunes that became unexpected in the costume movie.

Interesting Facts

• The scene in which Calvin Candy during his remark breaks a glass glass was not conceived - DiCaprio played the double, overcoming the pain from a cut. Because of this detail, the scene turned out to be so powerful that Tarantino included it in the film.
• A comic scene in which Django introduces himself to the character of Franco Nero, emphasizing that "D is not pronounced," and he in turn replies, "I am aware," alludes to the role of Nero in the 1966 film of the same name.
• The blue costume, chosen by Django for the image of Schultz's servant, was created by the costume designers under the impression of the painting “Boy in Blue” by the English painter Thomas Gainsborough.

• "Django Unchained" was the first Tarantino film created without the participation of editing director Sally Menke. She died in 2010, and her place was taken by Fred Ruskin, who participated in the installation of "Kill Bill."

Awards and nominations

Despite being nominated in more than 50 different categories, he has not received a single award for the best film "Django Unchained". But the victory in the nomination "Best Original Screenplay" went to Quentin Tarantin as many as six times (out of the eleven nominated) - the director received an award from the Hollywood Film Festival, as well as Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Saturn and Critics' Choice. Among other victories - 5 awards for the supporting role by Christoph Waltz (Society of Film Critics of San Diego and St. Louis, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Oscar), one in the same nomination by Leonardo DiCaprio (National Council of Film Critics of the USA ), Best Louis Award for Best Scene and Best Music from the Society of Critics of St. Louis and two entries on the list of ten best films of the year from the American Film Institute and the United States National Film Critics Council.

Critics and viewers: reviews

The 2012 Django Unchained movie, like all of Quentin Tarantino’s previous films, has been mixed with perceptions from both critics and viewers. The society was divided into two camps - some were delighted with what they saw, others were horrified. However, among critics, reviews of the movie "Django Unchained" are mostly positive. The picture has 88% advantages on the Rotten Tomatoes website, which puts it in fourth place among the director’s films after Pulp Fiction (94%), Mad Dogs (90%) and Inglourious Basterds (89%). The Kinopoisk website shows 87 percent of good reviews from international critics and 89 from Russian. Bad reviews published in Russia by Kommersant, Vedomosti, Lenta.Ru, and Afisha agree on the same points in their dissatisfaction: authorial copying and excessive cruelty. Simply put, these critics do not like exactly what attracts the director’s fans the most. It is sad that beyond unrealistic cruelty they could not see the real problems of our time, about which Tarantino wanted to tell.

In addition to statistics, the Kinopoisk website offers reviews of Django Unchained from ordinary viewers, including 466 positive, 66 negative and 61 neutral. Fans of the directorial style of Tarantino were mostly satisfied with what they saw, expressing sincere joy that Quentin did not depart from his own canons. Also, the film was liked by Western lovers and those who are close to the ideas of the struggle for freedom and a non-standard presentation of the story. Negative reviews of “Django Unchained” were left mainly by those who have not yet encountered the work of the director or have encountered, but have not appreciated it. A neutral position was expressed by those who liked the film, but less than other Tarantino films, or other 2012 premieres released simultaneously with it.

Best movie quotes

Like all Tarantino’s paintings, Django Unchained is rich in quotes and catchphrases. Next, the best of them are selected.

• King Schulz, in response to the slavers who asked who he was:

I'm Dr. Schultz, and this is my horse Fritz.

• Schultz again, giving parting words to the freed slaves:

In case there are astronomy lovers among you, the Polar Star is over there.

• Simple passers-by seeing Django on horseback:

This is a nigga on a horse!

• Dispute with Calvin Candy:

―He doesn't want the niggas you want to sell. He wants a nigga you don't want to sell.

― I don't sell niggas that I don't wanna sell

• Candy after hearing about 12,000 dollars:

Gentlemen, at first I was curious. But now you have captured my attention.

• Candy introduces Django to his butler Stephen:

Django! It's the same cheeky nigga like you, Stephen. Stephen, this is Django. You will hate each other.

• Stephen, unhappy with the free manners of Django:

What the hell does this nigga afford ?!

Then he did not know that subsequently he would "allow himself" Django.