Back from a long seasonal hiatus we resume our film review section in style. Our film of the week means the return to form of Quentin Tarantino, straight back to the heart of pulp by taking the Spaghetti Western genre by storm. Setting it during the times of slavery, the most shameful era in US history, Tarantino has delivered a spectacularly good film, his best since Jackie Brown, already touted by many as another masterpiece from one of the most essential contemporary directors.
Django Unchained shares a similar territory with Inglorious Basterds, both expanding the trademark elements that made of Tarantino such an influential cultural reference (His peculiar sense of humour; a collage of popular culture influences; comic-like violence; pick- and-mix soundtrack expertly selected from a broad range of sources) by taking over different film genres and boasting powerful statements against two of the most devastating chapters in the story of the world, the Nazi Germany in Basterds and slavery in the South of the States in Django. But wherever the irregular Inglorious Basterds was short of fulfilling its grand ambitions, Django Unchained achieves and even exceeds them.