I think, for most, that when the name Django is heard, they think of the film by Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino, oblivious to the fact that there was a film several decades prior; in fact, it was this very film that led to Tarantino creating Django Unchained, having been inspired by the old traditional westerns and the many creative faces that appeared within the genre.
Django is a western that was released right around the western genre's peak, released around the same time as Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as his other entries that are now known as the 'dollars triology'. Western films are a guilty pleasure of mine, but I can sometimes be quite picky when it comes to how I feel about them. After all, this was a genre that really started the Hollywood blockbuster style of film, resulting in a heavily oversaturated genre as everyone attempted to catch a piece of that excitement.
It is a film I had seen before, many years prior, so long ago that I could barely remember whether I had seen it or not, only to realise during my watch that I remembered certain aspects of it, and ultimately, coming to the realisation that it is a western film that I simply do not enjoy that much; only for some mere personal reasons of which I shall attempt to explore in more detail going forward.
This isn't to admit that Django is a bad film, because it most certainly is not. It is certainly visually stunning throughout, with its charisma in its title opening font and music. But that charisma for style doesn't entirely translate into the narrative, one that does not particularly hold much strength. However, this is not something new or unusual to the western genre. We've seen many entries within it that display silent protagonists or characters that are seemingly incapable of dying and forever besting their foes. I feel, for the most part, that the film's failure to really win me over sits in its fast, but somewhat slow narrative that doesn't really go anywhere over its runtime.
The film takes place shortly after the American Civil War -- a familiar settings for these films -- with a protagonist being a former Union soldier now aimlessly roaming the lands. Very quickly, our tough-guy protagonist encounters trouble, and the film continues on into a story of vengeance on a group of people that ultimately seem to be picking fights with a former soldier also looking to pick fights despite often being seen trying to "lay low" despite the weird carrying of a coffin and rain of bullets that follow him.
It is through this that the film loses me slightly, it sets up characters that ultimately have very little weight to them. It does not seem like there really is much to be gained and lost through most of the film's drama, as our action starts and stops, starts and stops, without really displaying much reason behind any of it. Our protagonist, in my opinion, seemed to have been the reason for much of these dramatic events and outcomes. Almost encouraging everyone around him to draw their guns.
Much like the typical 'man-with-no-name' western films, our protagonist doesn't talk much. He has a low look to him, where he rarely has interest in his surroundings and a lack of interest in interacting with others; something that seems to be a bit of a contradiction given his actions.
And it saddens me to speak ill of this film, because in parts it is incredibly beautiful. Ripe in its obsession with the dead. Displaying crosses both upright and leaning at all times to display the frequent number of death to be seen and met throughout this land. Almost to hint that our protagonist himself is death. The one to bring it upon those who come close to it, most deserving of it. There's plenty of other sybolism to reflect this assumption, and I feel it could've been worked into the film a bit better if it was intentional. In fact, it does remind me of another western of a similar nature: High Plains Drifter. A film that displays a town's own greed as a nomad enters the down and suddenly begins to torment its people.
The problem in Django, is that many of the killed are not really given much character depth. It is hard to think of them as deserving in most situations, as mentioned above that it seemingly is our protagonist that initiates and encourages action. Unlike High Plains Drifter, which in a very clever manner displays the ways in which the people are deserving of the torment through the dialogue, our bad guys are merely just that. Bad guys that get shot. One after the other in waves.
Again, I do want to state that I still enjoyed the film, and it certainly has its moments. Just that I am a little disappointed in how easily the film starts to lose you, without really giving you much to care about. The beautiful cinematography and charisma of our protagonist isn't really enough to maintain your interest. It is likely that you will find yourself getting a little bored, tired of the film and perhaps wanting to just move on and watch something else. At a runtime of over 160 minutes, it is certainly quite easy to reach that point.
I won't write much regarding that little narrative, however. I think it's best for people to watch it and then see how they feel. With the limited narrative, it's certainly an easy film to spoil.
I think, particularly in today's time, it is very easy to compare western films to the huge greats. To then judge the others based on how those greats performed. It's certainly quite difficult to ensure you don't compare all of them against three or five films, and look at them on their own, even if they do to a degree copy from a particular trend and style that is already present. Django was released around the same time as the films of Sergio Leone, after all.
But it does stand on its own two feet. I found myself really admiring certain scenes and perspectives shot from the 35mm spherical camera. The slow panning shots of empty, decayed towns overwhelmed with mud. The handheld moments of action as the camera immersively shakes -- as I have mentioned recently, the steadicam was only released in the middle of the 70s, so handheld work was quite impressive before then.
I found that Django had its great moments, but quickly fell into mediocrity, only to attempt to revive itself and fall back into those same issues again. It certainly had the runtime to pan things out a bit more, but perhaps this was all intentional. Perhaps our protagonist was death. Roaming the lands after a now finished war in search of deserving souls needing to be punished and removed. Acting like a plague that roams these desolate lands and cleansing it of the filth that thrived before. Even if it did lose me for large parts of its runtime, I certainly can appreciate it much more with this theory.
Though I suspect most that watch the film may not enjoy it. It won't live up to their expectations having seen the greats. I don't think many will also come to this theory regarding death as well. Ultimately leading to it becoming less known in favour of Tarantino's own creation with a similar name; and certainly more appealing to a more modern audience.