On Django Unchained

I recently watched Django Unchained. Here're my thoughts, which are poorly written (I have no idea how to write movie reviews):

The movie is all about escapism. Watching Django, a slave, straight up murder everyone perpetuating the institution of slavery,  is a lot of fun. Django is an unkillable, remorseless, quick-drawing sniper who, upon picking up a rifle, is somehow immediately capable of shooting a moving target several hundred feet away from him. His companion Dr. Scholtz remarks that he is a "natural", but then subjects him to a training montage anyway.

Watching the Scholtz/Django dynamic duo slaughter their way to fortune and justice was a cathartic romp of a good time. Outlaws and slaveowners are gunned down with no effort and all the moral high ground you can imagine. I've never felt this good about seeing faceless mooks explode into blood and gore. I think this is the only action movie I've watched that's made me laugh with the awesomeness of its shootouts. The two men are demigods, and I like that. It's ridiculous in a good way.

The brutality of the reality of slavery made me cringe, which is exactly what a slavery movie should make me do. This movie taught me what mandingo fighting was. It's absolutely disgusting to think that mandingo fighting not only existed at one point, but was somehow normal to people. The mandingo fight scene, the man getting torn apart by dogs, the variety of whipping scenes, and the "hot box" all made me gag. Good! Spare no expense depicting the evil of slavery.

Candie (I forgot his first name) is an interesting character in that he uses that pseudoscience of "phrenology" to justify the status quo. In reality, it's his slave, Steven, that actually figures things out. Steven seems to run the farm. He controls the slaves, which is why he hates Django. Django represents a threat to everything Steven worked so hard to build for himself. Steven is a despicable character, but only if the institution forcing him to act this way isn't also despicable.

Django Unchained is fun, it's escapism, and it's a good reminder of a dark chapter in American history. I liked it.

-Me