Director
Quentin Tarantino
Leading Actors/Actresses
Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson
Genre
Drama, Western
Language
English
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz)
Date of Release
2012
Producer
Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher
Setting and Context
1858 Texas, Tennessee and Mississippi
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: N/A
Point of View: Django Freeman
Tone and Mood
Dramatic, vengeful, ultra-violent, blackly comic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists: Schultz and Django; Antagonists: Calvin Candie and Stephen
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between Schultz and Django, and Calvin Candie and his army of loyal servants.
Climax
The climax occurs when Schultz kills Candie, prompting a shootout.
Foreshadowing
Schultz's use of a quick-draw to kill Sheriff Bill Sharp with a derringer foreshadows the fact that he will kill Calvin Candie in exactly the same way.
Understatement
Schultz casually says, "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!" after murdering Calvin Candie, and immediately before being killed himself.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
The film updates the genre of the "Spaghetti Western" by making the "cowboy" hero a liberated African American slave.
Allusions
The "Mandingo fighting" sub-plot alludes to Richard Fleischer's 1975 exploitation film "Mandingo."
Paradox
Stephen is a black slave who is more loyal to his white overseer than to the other black slaves in his position.
Parallelism
At the beginning of the film, Schultz says "Auf Wiedersehen" before killing Bennett and Ellis Speck. At the end of the film, Django says "Auf Wiedersehen" to the deceased body of Schultz.
