Tarantino's Django Unchained: A Homage to Sergio Corbucci

A Potpourri of Vestiges Update

This Christmas is going to be a very special one for Quentin Tarantino fans and even more special for the fans of the Western genre, for the Kill Bill director plans to unleash his first ever Western, Django Unchained. The contemporary moviemakers look upon Western as a dead genre. Interestingly, the decorated genre would have been dead many decades back if it wouldn't have been for the Italian auteurs, Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci, who reinvented the genre, giving it a new lease of life, in form of Spaghetti Western. 

Initially used in a derogatory connotation, the term Spaghetti Western soon became a substitute for Italo-Western before getting widely accepted as a sub-genre of Western films. While Leone is often touted as the master creator of the genre, people often overlook the indelible contribution made by Corbucci. With movies like Django (1966) and The Great Silence (1968), Corbucci succeeded in adding a whole new dimension to the Spaghetti Canvas by painting a surrealistic world haunted by fascism. Corbucci's depiction of the Old West was vivid, wild, brutal and vicious. Leone's portrayal, in comparison, was far more humane and pleasing to the eye. 

Tarantino has always been fascinated by the Spaghetti Westerns. Right from the beginning of his filmmaking career, Tarantino has been wanting to make a Western of his own. Leone and Corbucci are the two filmmakers who have inspired him the most. While Tarantino has never really expressed his intentions to emulate Leone's works (perhaps thinking them to be too sacred to be touched), he has also never shied away from expressing his desire to recreate the "Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Universe" in order to pay a homage to great Italian visionary. 

With Django Unchained, Tarantino finally seems to be living his lifelong dream of emulating his childhood idol on the celluloid. Django Unchained stars Academy Award-winning actor, Jamie Foxx in the titular role. The movie's stellar cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Jonah Hill. The plot of the movie revolves around a slave, Django, who collaborates with a bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz, to rescue his wife from a barbaric Mississippi plantation owner, Calvin Candie. The movie's official trailer reveals that Django Unchained, despite appearing to be true to Tarantino's trademark style, bears a striking similarity to Corbucci's sanguinary, majestic The Great Silence.

Don't believe me? Just have a look at both the trailers... and enjoy!

Read Film Analysis: Django Unchained

Django Unchained Trailer

The Great Silence (1968) Trailer

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