Maverick filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has delivered several cult films in the past. But critics and masses feel that Tarantino's latest 'Django Unchained' is by far the director's best.
Set at a time when slavery dominated America, the story is of a slave (Jamie Foxx) whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.
Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced 'a lot of trepidation' about filming the slavery scenes. The director was in fact hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped initially and even considered filming outside of the United States.
But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a 'father figure,' changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not 'be afraid' of his film.
The film has received good reviews from critics abroad and even got a Oscar nod for the best original screenplay.
In a male centric film- the film features Foxx, Waltz, Leonardo Di Caprio and Samuel L Jackson- there is only one female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington. Washington's character moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in 'Kill Bill' and Diane Kruger in 'Inglourious Basterds.'
Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the 'princess in exile.' He said he was 'annoyed' when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's 'Kill Bill' character. The film, he said, is 'Django's story.'
"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.
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