Summary
Opening credits roll as a group of enslaved African-American men trudge forward in shackles, the property of slave-traders named Ace and Dicky Speck. After night falls, a subtitle reveals that the year is 1858—two years before the Civil War. An unknown man in a horse and carriage approaches the group, announcing he is looking for slave-traders by the name of the Speck brothers. He introduces himself as a German dentist named Dr. Schultz, and asks if any slaves are from "the Carrucan plantation."
One slave, named Django, replies in the affirmative, and Schultz asks him about the Brittle brothers, the Carrucan plantation's overseers. Django identifies them as Big John, Ellis, and Roger. Schultz and Django's mysterious conversation angers Ace, who draws his gun. Schultz responds by open firing, killing Ace, and wounding Dicky and their horse Roscoe. When Django confirms to Schultz that he can identify the Brittle brothers on sight, Schultz unshackles him and buys him for $125. Schultz tells the other shackled men they can either try to save Ace, or kill him and free themselves. They decide on the latter.
The next day, Schultz rides into the town of Daughtrey, Texas, allowing a freed Django to ride alongside him on horseback, which draws alarmed looks from the townspeople. Schultz and Django enter a saloon, and the bartender panics upon seeing Django and runs off in search of the sheriff. Pouring himself and Django pints of beer, Schultz explains to Django that he is no longer a dentist, but a bounty hunter, which he explains is a "flesh for cash" business, not unlike slavery. Although he finds slavery abominable, Schultz admits he needs Django's help in identifying the Brittle brothers, who live somewhere in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and offers Django a share of the bounty and his freedom if he helps Schultz kill them.
Before Django can respond, a sheriff named Bill Sharp appears, wielding a shotgun, and beckons the men outside. As the sheriff is launching into a tirade, Schultz executes a quick-draw with his derringer, firing into his chest. The sheriff collapses and Schultz fires again, killing him and sending the townspeople scattering in fear. Django and Schultz go back inside. One man goes in search of the marshal, who returns and orders six armed men to take positions behind a buckboard in front of the saloon, and four on the roof aiming downward. After ensuring the men won't shoot them on sight, Schultz and Django walk outside with their hands up. Schultz explains to the marshal that the sheriff, Bill Sharp, was actually a wanted criminal, and politely asks the marshal to hand over $200.
Schultz and Django continue their journey, stopping in the evening to make a campfire. Django tells Schultz he has a wife, with whom he tried running away. In a flashback, Django recalls an overseer ordering him to be branded, separated from his wife, and sold cheaply at auction in Greenville. Schultz is surprised to learn that Django's wife is named Broomhilda, raised by a German mistress whose last name is Von Shaft.
Back at his home in Chattanooga, Schultz tells Django that they will perform an "act" when scouring the Gatlinburg plantations for the Brittle brothers, where Django will play the part of Schultz's valet. He allows Django to choose an outfit from his wardrobe, and Django dons a deep blue suit. They proceed with horses to a Tennessee plantation owned by a businessman named Mr. Bennett, who scoffs at Django being on horseback. Schultz asks to purchase one of Bennett's female slaves, and after Bennett refuses, Schultz persuades him to invite him inside to discuss it. At Schultz's suggestion, Bennett asks a female slave named Betina to show Django the plantation grounds, and struggles to explain to her how she should treat Django as an African-American freedman.
Django asks Betina about the Brittle brothers, telling her they may go by different names. Betina tells him about three men with the last name Schaffer, and points one of them out in the fields. Upon seeing him, Django identifies him as Ellis, and remembers how he viciously whipped Broomhilda after they tried escaping from the Carrucan plantation. Betina explains the other two brothers are by the stables, preparing to whip a female slave named Little Jody. Django confronts John Brittle and executes him, and then whips Roger before killing him as well. Schultz rides up and kills Ellis at long range with his rifle as he tries escaping through the fields. When Bennett confronts Django and Schultz about their actions, Schultz explains that the Brittle brothers were wanted for murder, and hands the warrant to Bennett to inspect.
Analysis
Django Unchained is, among other things, an homage to Sergio Corbucci's 1966 Spaghetti Western film Django. The sub-genre of the "Spaghetti" Western refers to a period of revival in Western filmmaking among a group of Italian directors active in the 1960s, like Corbucci himself and Sergio Leone. In Corbucci's Django, set along the Mexico-United States border in the years following the Civil War, an ex-Union soldier and a mixed-race woman struggle to stay alive amidst a feud between the Ku Klux Klan and Mexican revolutionaries. Quentin Tarantino goes as far as to use the same theme song in the introduction that Corbucci used—"Django" by Rocky Roberts and Luis Bacalov—and renders the opening credits in the same blocky, red typeface emblazoned on the promotional materials for Corbucci's film.
Like Tarantino's earlier works, which aimed to revitalize outdated genres like blaxploitation and film noir, Tarantino conceived of Django Unchained as a modified Spaghetti Western: one that repurposes the visual iconography and dramatic conventions of 1960s Westerns, as popularized by Corbucci and Leone, to fit a more racially progressive narrative about a freed African-American slave and an abolitionist bounty hunter from Germany. Given that many early- to mid-twentieth century Westerns often sidelined racial minorities—especially Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexican-Americans—Tarantino's decision to center the film around Django is an intentionally subversive revision of one of Hollywood's most socially conservative genres.
The opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the film, introducing many key plot and character elements, such as Schultz's unpredictable lethal capabilities, Django's stoic reserve, and the pervasive racial hostility of the antebellum South. Schultz is virtually the only white character in the film to treat Django as an equal and a fellow human being, rather than as property, in part because he is German and unfamiliar with the socioeconomic system of chattel slavery. Nevertheless, as he freely admits to Django, Schultz is not above using the fact of slavery to his advantage, which he does by purchasing Django from the Speck brothers, so that Django can help him identify his latest bounty hunting targets. Schultz's character development—from a morally neutral, self-interested observer of slavery, to a passionate opponent of it—is one of the major character arcs of the film.
Tarantino films the scene where Django and Schultz enter Daughtrey, Texas with his signature mix of violence and comedy. The shock and fear that Django inspires in the townspeople merely by riding a horse into town is the first example of the kind of dramatic tension that the film will continually exploit, where Schultz must talk his way out of dangerous situations and de-escalate hostility generated by widespread racial animus. Schultz's genteel politeness to Django—pouring him a beer, telling him "after you" before entering the saloon—contrasts sharply with the way other white Southerners treat him, and also with Schultz's own periodic but sudden outbursts of violence, such as when he executes the Speck brothers, or kills Sheriff Bill Sharp.
Performance is one of Django Unchained's major themes, given that Schultz and Django must adopt various guises to carry out Schultz's bounty hunting missions. The outfit that Django picks from Schultz's wardrobe to wear while posing as his valet is inspired by Thomas Gainsborough's 1779 oil painting "The Blue Boy," a portrait of a male youth posing in an all-blue suit. Django's dramatic attire, coupled with his majestic entrance before the Brittle brothers on the Bennett plantation, is a heroic moment worthy of a classic Western. Tarantino's use of fluid camerawork, grand musical cues, and bright colors also references the bold aesthetics of Japanese anime, which Tarantino also integrated into his previous two-part epic Kill Bill.
