3 Things I learned from Django Unchained

by Veronique Waithira

Django Unchained.

I have watched this movie twice.

This is a movie you watch,learn the words, sing along to the sound tracks.

A movie you live in.

Okay, so this may sound weird, but Django has me hooked.

This is a movie that evokes so many emotions and leaves you wanting for more. This is not a spoiler as such. But am sure by now, you have already watched this Tarantino classic.

The first time I watched it, I didn’t see the movie start. And missed to see how Django and the “Doctor” met. We were late to the cinema, the jam on Nairobi roads can make you cry. And I digress..

The movie has a strong undertone of the harsh lives people with black blood flowing through their veins faced. Seen as slaves, property you did with as you wished.

It’s a story of two lovers torn apart by cruel masters. And the quest of the man to find the woman he loves, the woman he is not allowed to love. I will tell it as girls see it, coincidentally both times I have watched the movie with my girls. And when a guy retells the Django story, I really wonder if we watched the same movie.

1. It’s not over until it’s over

As the movie starts, we are introduced to Django in chains. Stripped of all humanity and made to roam the world as a slave.
A half man with no rights to his name. At that time living in slavery one would never even dream of being a free man. And Django gets exactly that, his freedom and much more.

If in the end it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.

2. Don’t judge the book by its cover

Tarantino is a classic director and the satire and irony he uses to cast his characters is amazing. Picture this as the 1880s, and he gives us:

• a good German who frees a black slave
• an impossible irritating Uncle Sam who hates his own race (Samuel L Jackson,how could you? )
• a lethal lord whose form of entertainment is seeing people die (I fell in love with Di Caprio in Titanic, cried myself silly and after watching Django am done with him, just saying)
• a courageous black man who embraces the first opportunity that comes his way to reach his life goals (Jamie Foxx you left me speechless)

It’s never wise to judge a book by it’s cover. People wear so many masks, and it’s after knowing them that their characters ooze out.

As you know, when the axe entered the forest, the trees whispered, “He’s one of us.”

3. Love is beautiful

For anyone who knows me. You know I love love.

Am fascinated by love, I love it when I see people who love each other together holding hands. My heart warms when I see old people in love. You get it, I love love.

And it broke my heart literally, actually the one part I cried in Django. When those bastards were beating the life out of the woman he loved, his wife. And they made him watch!

It much be heart wrenching for a man to watch a woman he loves go through something bad that he can’t control. Reminds me of the terrible ordeal Ngugi wa Thiongo went through when his wife was raped as he watched…

Criminals will always come for what you love. That which you can’t afford to lose. And for some men, my favorite kind of men. It’s usually the women they love.

I will definitely run away with my words if I explored this further. So I will just say, love is a beautiful thing.

So if you have not watched Django Unchained. What are you waiting for?

If you have, well my friend if you ever want to watch the movie a third time, you know where to find me