Talking about Quentin Tarantino’s filmography and trying to make a list of his best titles is a tough challenge that has every chance of ending up leading to a fierce debate of those that last for hours. What leaves practically no room for doubt is that his foray into the western was and continues to be one of the great successes of his career.
In 2012, after his extraordinary war film in the ploliglot key ‘Inglourious Basterds’, good old Quentin borrowed the name of Sergio Corbucci’s mythical character to shape ‘Django Unchained’; an essential “western” film with soul blaxploitation that you can now watch for free on RTVE Play —as well as on Netflix, HBO Max and Movistar+—.
tarantino unchained
‘Django Unchained’ is a new sample of what an author with unleashed creativity and unafraid to play with his ideas and references can achieve. In this way, we find ourselves before an almost perfect cocktail of a quintessential western with revenge as its leitmotif, comedy, iconic characters and murky passages with an enormous dramatic charge; all this to the rhythm of a 100% house brand soundtrack.
To all this, integrated into an impeccable narrative, we must add some truly savage —and harshly criticized— explosions of violence that win integers thanks to superb cinematography by veteran triple Oscar winner Robert Richardson; regular Tarantino collaborator since ‘Kill Bill’. A dream tandem that shone especially on this occasion.
However, beyond the elements mentioned so far, if anything makes ‘Django Unchained’ great, it’s its cast; as stellar as he is inspired in front of the cameras. Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson They head a list of names that turn the acid verbiage of the director and screenwriter into a poignant work of art.
To this day, this feature film continues to be the highest grossing of Quentin Tarantino’s career, adding 450 million dollars worldwide; comfortably surpassing ‘Once upon a time in… Hollywood’ —with 377 million— and the aforementioned ‘Inglourious Basterds’, which, with 317 million dollars, surpasses ‘Pulp Fiction’ by almost 100, ranked fourth on the list.
Is ‘Django Unchained’ the best movie of your head? I am one of those who believe that his filmography is diverse enough so that his films do not deserve comparisons; but having to locate it in some area of a hypothetical list, I have no doubt that he would be at the top of the table.
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