Have Gun Will Travel?

Dead for a Dollar (2022)
Director: Walter Hill

These days, one of the things that parents fear when they drop their kids at school is not that they fall or get hurt but that a mad kid might go on a shooting spree with a semiautomatic gun. 

The debate on gun control will appear occasionally after every massive shooting, which is quite often; it dies as quickly as it escalates. Arguments like 'guns don't kill people, people do!' are not unheard of. Using archaic laws at a time when white men tamed the lawless Wild West, they justified their fights to bear arms for defence. Of course, it was for offence when the leaders of the initial thirteen states decided to expand their hegemony westwards. 

The Second Amendment of the Constitution support gun possession for defence but not with assault rifles and M16s. Repeated studies worldwide, including experiences in the UK and Australia, have unequivocally shown tight gun laws and stringent control reduce gun violence. In the USA, these results are not reproducible as different states advocate different levels of control. A flea market selling guns, rifles and assault weapons in a supermarket is accepted as the norm in some states. Going to a gun fair is more like a social event. Free movement between states makes any legislation laughable. The latest figure for gun ownership in the UK is 5.03 guns per 100 people compared to 120 guns for 100 Americans! 

The political will is, of course, wanting. When gun lobbyists are on the payrolls of most Presidential candidates, who wants to eat the hands that feed them?

Now, another idea has been put forward on why everyone, including the bench, is dragging their feet in putting a full stop to this tragedy. After growing up, generations after generations, with a staple diet of a good Western as a wholesome evening entertainment, Americans have been hardwired to perceive gun possession as a birthright. The fastest draw has no reason to face the law as the showdown (as in OK Corral) was fair and square, facing man to man. 

Imagine constantly being fed with the potpourri of strong, tall White men enforcing the realm of the white men's law in the land they infiltrated and justifying it with gunpowder. 'Gunsmoke', 'High Chapparal', 'The Virginian', 'Rawhide' and 'The Rifle Man' all went on for umpteenth seasons and are still viewed on dedicated Western channels and YouTube. The premise of most stories is that white men march west for a better life for their families. Their noble intention is marred with vicious savages who are hell-bent on causing misery. It does not matter that the natives were merely defending their abodes and way of life. The barrel of the gun is a justified manner to mete out justice. There is no moral ambiguity. Balance is preserved when the Cowboys get their way. 

Over the years, perhaps after watching the devastations that came with the Vietnam War, moviemakers started making fewer Western movies. 

This movie is different. A Western, no doubt, but trying to be as politically correct as possible. To counter the throb often associated with Westerns, the idea of machoism, white supremacy and male toxicity, the story has a strong female character; often, ladies are mere eye candy in this genre. Two African-American actors play essential roles. Cowboys are shown to have moral judgment, after all.

An 'honest' bounty hunter, Max Borlund, is hired by a wealthy businessman to apprehend his wife, who had allegedly eloped with an African-American army deserter. Riding with a black soldier, Max finally catches up with the pair in Mexico but deals with Mexican bandits. Meanwhile, one of Max's foes has a score to settle. It's a straightforward movie with a predictable storyline. 2.75/5.

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The pressure cooker life?

Beef (Miniseries, S1E1-E10; 2023)

Netflix

This convoluted drama reveals the whole message behind its story only in the last two episodes of the season. Suddenly everything made sense. It tries to show how fragile we are as a society, to maintain peace and to fit in. We pull up a front to portray an image of Zen to the outside world, but deep inside, we hate the person beside us. We wish we could just wring their necks. Unfortunately, civil society does allow this. So we suppress that urge. As we did in our cavemen days, we yearn to be part of the pack to hunt together. Our strengths lie in our numbers.

We exhibit specific behaviours in front of people but let our hair down and show our true inner demons under the cloak of anonymity. In public, we are expected to utter certain pre-ordained niceties. When somebody mentions death, the automatic response is, "I am sorry!" irrespective of whether he died as a national hero or OD'ed. We are expected to put a smiley face in public, no matter how low morale or bad our day has been. We may have had a shitty day at the office, or a Damocles sword could be hanging over our necks over a misadventure. Our professional reputation may be at stake over a misjudgement.

In this cut-throat world where everybody is trying to make a cut for himself, the stresses of the job bring out the worst in us. Yet we are expected to wear an Odin mask but with a perpetual grin.

In a world where siblings care for each other, sometimes love smothers. Instead of stirring interests, it muffles them. In the name of doing the best, it is quite the opposite.

Many things are expected of us in this lifetime - to leave our mark, succeed in life, acquire wealth, continue our progeny, exhibit filial piety, conform to societal expectations, and so on. Go marry and be merry, but can you?

This film shows two characters who are actually on the same life journey with similar life ambitions but end up on opposing sides of society. They kept bottling up the anger of their unfulfilled dreams and the pressures of wanting to mould themselves into doing the 'correct' thing. It reached a point of no return when these two characters honked at each other at a supermarket car park.

Danny, a Korean American handyman, was in the USA with his brother Paul. Danny's sole ambition is to make it big in his business with his brother, build a house and bring his parents from Korea. Somehow all his endeavours proved unfruitful. On the other hand, Paul is just loafing around, just playing computer games. Danny feels he is a failure and wants to kill himself. He was at the supermarket returning the wrong burner that he had bought. He had tried to gas himself dead.

The other character is Amy. She is an example of a rags-to-riches success story. She was born Vietnamese and made it big, selling boutique potted plants. He has a husband and a young daughter. She is planning to lure a wealthy lady into investing in her company. Deep inside, she is still unhappy, undergoing an existential crisis, and finding no purpose in it all. She has many unresolved long-standing issues with her parents growing up.

The near hit at the car park was the straw that broke the camel's back. It spiralled into road rage, a tit-for-tat, social media trolling, and sabotaging, which climaxed to each other going for the jugular.

In the last two episodes, we see them stranded in the woods and fighting for survival. They have to depend on each other to stay alive. A good watch which showcases the Maya of what we see. The world is a big show, and we are acting our roles, reading the script. We are to follow the scripts carefully or risk expulsion. Just maybe, if we alter the words slightly, the final product may shine brighter. Is it worth the try?

PS Sometimes Easterners go with a chip on their shoulders, thinking that their way of living is superior to the Western philosophy, which they believe to be so individualistic and self-centred. At the end of the day, they would soon realise that either way of thinking has its shortcomings.

Quotable Quotes from the Miniseries


    'You ever notice how people who have money think that money isn't important?'

    'Jesus did all those nice things, and look at what they did to him.'

    'Western therapy doesn't work on Eastern minds.'

    'God's just trying not to feel alone in nothingness.'

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Don't fight fire with fire!

The Power of the Dog (2021)
Director: Jane Campion

King David, of the David and Goliath fame, went through troubles after troubles in his kingdom. He prayed to God. In the Book Psalm 22:20, it is said that King David had requested God to 'Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.'

'The power of the dogs', which the title refers to, is probably referring to the herd mentality of the mob that is out to humiliate, denigrate and decimate those who do not fall within the standard narrative. These dogs hide their deficiencies behind the strength of the pack. They may doubt their own convictions, but they know cognitive dissonance is too overwhelming. Hence, they just join in the barking match.

The best way for the abused to fight the crushing power of the dogs, as suggested by the movie, is to stand tall against the pack. There is no point in clashing head-on against this unruly band but to win them over with wit, on the sly.

The message behind this story is cryptic and requires higher-level understanding to appreciate the hidden subliminal messages. One who watches it at face value may not understand why this film is hailed as a top contender for the Oscars this year. Of course, the fact that homosexuality as a suggested theme did help. 

In summary, it is a story set in the 1920 mid-west where two brothers, George and Phil, work as wealthy ranchers. George meets and marries a widow, Rose, with an effeminate medical student son, Peter. Phil tries to exude his toxic masculinity. Peter is the butt of everybody's joke for his unmanly ways. The rest of the story is about how Peter and Phil find common grounds, and peace is maintained, albeit in devious ways.

The hidden message behind all these is there for our taking. In the ever increasingly hostile environment that we exist today, it is an exercise in futility for us to clash head-on with the correspondingly minds with mob mentality. For every reason that we state our case, they would do bulldoze with a bull in the china shop demeanour; resist and resist with dimwitted mind-boggling excuses. We should be action-orientated, focusing on the matter at hand and ignoring all the white noise. Be like the Jews or the Orientals. Despite adversities that befell them throughout history, the Jews stood steadfast against everything and came to rule the world. The Orientals, despite the slurs, abuses and bullying all through modern history, marked their dominance everywhere they went. Now, they are giving the colonial master a run for their money. It may not be the means, but the end results sometimes matter more.

(P.S. It may not be a gay movie like it is commonly perceived. It does not tread along the lines of 'Brokeback Mountain'.)

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Love moves mountains?

Christiane Amanpour: Sex and Love Around the World
(Netflix Documentary, Season 1; 2018)

This provocative six-episodes presentation discusses matter considered taboo in many of the towns the episodes were centred - Tokyo, Delhi, Beirut, Berlin, Accra and Shanghai.

If one were to look at olden civilisations, it seems evident that our ancestors used to quite accepting of sexual practices and its deviations. The Japanese, during the Edo period, boasts of Shunga erotic art. They were a liberal and stable society. All that came to zilch when Commodore Perry landed in Edo Bay and Emperor Meiji banned their erotic drawings. 

The Indians had Kamasutra long before the Western world learned to count, but in the New World, it was viewed as yellow literature. The Victorian mindset even deemed donning of saree was obscene. In the 19th century and before, the blouse was not part of the female attire. The saree was used to drape the chest and bosom as well. Legends say that the Tagore ladies were denied entry to a Colonial Masters' dinner as they were apparently indecently dressed for not draping their upper torso and the upper limbs. The long sleeved became the colonists' addition to the Indian costume. 

The Westerners. with the might of their sea fleets and the strength of their gunpowder, thought that they were doing a service to the natives by introducing them to culture and religion. Little did they realise that even the Dark Continent, Africa, has a long oral tradition of Africana philosophy. It may be as old as humanity itself. They lived in symbiosis with the spirits of Nature.

The Arabic civilisation also had their own appreciation of sexuality and erotica. 'The Perfumed Garden', a manual for sexual maladies and health, is a testimony of their maturity.

The spread of Western civilisation and specific strict Abrahamic teaching seem to jettison the equilibrium of sex and love in the country explored in this season.

The Japanese society, despite their boldness in expressing their sexual desires and pervasions, remains a sexless society. Their population growth is down, and people are just not finding pleasures in each other. Couples do not communicate, and sex outside marriage is a norm for both genders. Maybe it is because we all living in a self-fulfilling generation which is hedonistic in self-gratification rather than completing other priorities in life. What are the priorities in life anyway and who decides them? 
After playing second fiddle the Japanese men in society, the Japanese women have started exerting their likes and dislikes through their newfound liberation through education and economic independence. They could choose to be a 'fujoshi' (rotten girl) if they want to.

India too, after having a liberal society before the Westerners brought in laws to impose values on them, have awoken from slumber. With educational opportunities and the empowerment of the minorities and the marginalised, the downtrodden have returned with a vengeance. Nothing is taboo anymore. The society is undergoing an adjustment period where eve-teasing is construed as sexual harassment, transgenderism is accepted, hijras (third gender) demand a safe space in the community and public display of affection is becoming acceptable. Even a former porn star, Sunny Leone, is accepted to mainstream movie industries. In spite of these changes, resistance still comes from many conservative groups who scream of the immorality and demand for clear demarcations of what is permitted and what is not. Worse yet, they run vigilante groups to carry out their brand of justice.

Inhabitants of Beirut, despite living in strong fears of civil unrests, try to live life to its fullest. The famous saying goes, "to be an Arab is to be a hypocrite!" The Arab world which portrays a seemingly conservative outlook has the dubious reputation of being the highest consumer of porn. In Beirut, many girls in traditional garb are seen smoking the hookah and having a time of their lives. It appears that Palestine refugees who came to the country in the 60s try to exert their brand of religion to the rest of the population. Religion gained more importance in society as government became dictatorial and corrupt. In 'The Perfumed Garden', sexuality was described as a gift from God and equal weight is given to both sexes for enjoyment. It has, however, has taken a turn and is viewed as something to satisfy the male gender only. On the other hand, the rest of society is fighting back. 

Berlin is known as the carnal capital of Europe for it was here, back in 1919, that the first sexual experiment institute was established. It used to be a sexually progressive city till clashing opinions from the likes of Hitler and immigrants with conservative views on sex changed in its landscape. Hitler reignited the 3K (Kinder, Küche, Kirche) concept; that women's role is to mind the children, kitchen and the church- at least to increase the population and to supply soldiers. Nevertheless, the culture of FKK (free body culture) is still alive. There are establishments where clothing is optional as its members carry on with their recreation activities in the nude to boost self-confidence and to break body dysmorphic misconceptions. Some newcomers (refugees) who have assimilated into the German society find it liberating. For the first time in their lives, there discover real love, self-expression and are able to come out of the cocoon of living a false life for the sake of society and being trapped in sugar-coated relationships.

Accra in Ghana is said to be the most religious place on Earth, with its 71 Christian sects and its many churches. Despite its seemingly religious outlook, many Ghanaians live with multiple sexual partners; having a wife, mistress and girlfriends all at once is the norm. Come Sunday, they would all flock to the churches and listen to the sermons which put women in their place of being the temptress of vice and root of decadence. The female gender is accused of being weak and are easily swayed to the dark side,  of tempting of Satan. The fault of the original sin which is the reason mankind has to suffer is put squarely on the ladies. Women, because of the cultural tradition of sexual servitude, accept the accusation willingly. Perhaps the changing of times created a balance between Men trying to maintain honour as well respect versus Women trying to get love and security. Affluence accentuates the need for polyamory. Christianity is blamed to have done a disservice to the Africans' way of life. Before the entry of European to the continent, they already had a well placed social order. Now, many are reclaiming their ancient roots.

In China, conformity used to be the opiate of the masses. Marriage was a family affair with so full of traditions, but the State had a lot of say in it. Now, under the new brand of communism where elements of capitalism are infused, self-expression, love streaming and individualism are taking over. Candidates for marriage are advertised by parents for their seemingly 'growing old' children (anyone more than 27 years of age) like commodities in the marriage market in Shanghai. Many highly educated young adults have their own idea of the life partner they want - by height, educational status, age and even gender. Yes, people are openly exhibiting their sexuality in the open. They are pushing the boundaries. They claim that the Chinese Culture used to be so accommodating but somehow now the Chinese have decided to follow the Western way which tries to label everything and box everything into categories.

The clash of one culture over the other with practitioners of one culture aping the other is probably the reason for the disturbance of the status quo. But surely this must be the purpose of our civilisation; making every small leap every time for the advancement of the race and for the greater good of humanity. The feeling of guilt that most organised religion propagates must be the cause of many to be mentally disturbed, and people are finding ways to be relieved from it all. 

Sunny Leone, Bollywood sensation.
It is alright to bring an ex-porn star to the
living room during family prime time!
Credit: Human Nation.

Nature had given the act of propagation and continuity of species the added lure of pleasure to entice its members to copulate and spread their progeny. Somehow, modern man has mastered the art of separating the fun from its reproductive function. They are so entrenched in their hedonistic desires that their bar of attainment is becoming ever unreachable. They venture into seeking comfort in the same kind and against the grain of Nature. 

Is the society easing to the ever-growing demands of the fairer sex for equality and social justice? Is this a construct of neo-liberalism? Is the market for queer rights a western export? Is people's view on sex and love matters so schizophrenic? They want the enjoyment part of sex and love but not pregnancy and venereal ailments part of it. 
Science has shown that for a population to continue to prosper, a certain level of population growth is mandatory. Economic activities need people. Wars need soldiers. For the rich to flaunt, they need a populous area with the poor to suck from. With the sexless society and declining fertility, is this how our civilisation ends? Is this what the Vedic scriptures say when they tell about destruction and rebuilding is a cycle when a society crumbles, goes into near-annihilation and recoup like ants who had their anthill smashed?

As my friend, AS, a Trump supporting, QAnon following, conspiratory theorist yearning, Deep State and cabal loathing right-wing conservative friend would say, "it is all a left wing agenda to destroy the civil society that humanity has slowly put in place over generations of trial-and-error. Anarchy is their end point.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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It makes the world go around!

Westworld 1973


Michael Crighton, 20 years before his blockbuster, Jurrasic Park, was a debutante with this sci-fi thriller. The on-going Westworld mini-series has its roots in this Yul Brunner acted classic. 

The setting in the same; patrons have their dreams came true in a make-believe resort with different themes and manned by recyclable robots/androids/AI (whichever generation you are from). Just like in 'Jurassic Park', things go terribly wrong. The robots start malfunctioning or infected by viruses and start harming the guests.

Even though the film was done at a time way before it was thinkable of portable computers and smartphones, it is interesting to note that many of lingo used many a lot of sense and are relevant in this digital age and time. It must have been revolutionary to think of a 'biological' agent like 'virus' infecting robots, but it is here.

It looks like all man's endeavours seem to bite him at where it hurts him most. He improved industrialisation to pollute the environment. He created automation and ease of labour, he discovered lifestyle diseases. He thought he wanted to play God, his creations rebelled. Maybe God had the same problem - He created Garden of Eden for them savour, but His designs just would not listen.

It is all part of the cycle of life, of creation, preservation and destruction of life for the re-creation of life. The sequence of Life must have another cycle of itself surely. A circle within a circle of infinity with no beginning and no end...

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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What is your story?

High Noon (1952)


When John Wayne was offered the role of the protagonist, he declined on the basis that there were many political connotations in its storyline. It was at the heights of McCarthyism and witch-hunt against card-carrying members of the Red Communist Party was ongoing. The screenwriter and producer, Carl Foreman, was involved in this; he subsequently migrated the UK after the film completion. Many iconic figures, including Charlie Chaplin, were blacklisted and lost their source of income during this time.

For a Malaysian who is watching this movie after GE14, it resonates at a different level. I see a lot of parallelism in the storyline with the occurrences around the country. It does not need much imagination; a retired law enforcer returning to do one last unfinished business of a duty related to his tenure before he rides into the sunset.

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly

Marshall Kane marries a Quaker lady, a pacifist, just before turning in the badge to lead a civilian life away from the town he serves. He hears the news that a murderer, whom he had apprehended five years previously, is out of jail. He is apparently arriving at that town at noon by train. The killer had vowed to return to kill the Marshall.

The dilemma now is whether Kane should just leave everything as he has resigned or tame the monster that only he can leash. Can he just throw in the towel as he had done his dues and is his time to enjoy the fruits of his labour or should he complete the job that only has the know-how?

I remember listening to an interview with Tun Mahathir's wife, Tun Hasmah, soon after his party's victory. In that emotional outpouring, she expressed her apprehensions when the nonagenarian announced his intentions to lead the nation again in the general elections. Despite his two previous heart surgeries and advancing age, he thought that his dharmic duty to right the wrong in the country. Tun Hasmah reiterated that there must be a reason for their long lives. As they have completed all their worldly duties, in this borrowed times, this must be the reason for their long existence on Earth.

https://www.todayonline.com/malaysian-ge/mahathirs-wife-siti-hasmah-has-mixed-feelings-about-his-return-politics-will-stand-her

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Might still rules

Godless (TV Miniseries, 2017)

How would a Godless country be? Will it be one of lawlessness where the strong would be King where weaker ones would just be spun around in serfdom? Would the primal needs of human see no boundaries and chaos would be the order of the day? With no fear of perceived retribution to their action, would the mighty act with impunity?

Without an agreed code of conduct would the fairer sex, the young, the slow and the handicapped be left behind to be at the mercy of the others? Or would the situation spur them to go yonder and explore beyond their perceived capacity and surprise themselves?

On the other hand, a country holding firm on their theological beliefs also imposes many restrictions on certain quarters of the society which appear to clip their wings from doing things beyond what the real potential lies. The feminine gender is usually suppressed by the most patriarchally centred religions. Certains dogmas drilled by the elders as the gospel truth bars people from exploring new frontiers as they may be deemed too sacrilegious to be questioned by the mere mortals. It is what it is, and it is not for us to ask, they would stay to put a full stop to someone who thinks out of the box.

'Godless' is not the usual western fare. It tells the story of a time in the USA when lawlessness was the rife and gunpowder, and quick draw ruled. Unlike most narration of this genre, here women are prominent. They are not mere second-class citizens, but they run a town and are able to protect themselves from a band of dangerous outlaws who are men.

Deserve’s got nothing to do with it!

Unforgiven (1992)
Produced & Directed by: Clint Eastwood

This depressing Western is not your typical swashbuckling gunslinging escapade that one would expect. It instead, looks at nihilistic look at life through the eyes of a reformed bandit in late 1800s of the Wild West.

Bill Munny (Clint Eastwood), a reformed professional gunfighter, is now a struggling hog farmer. His pigs are sick, he is poor and has two kids (children) to feed. He gave up his wayward ways after his wife changed him into becoming a new man, giving up his whiskey and the senseless killings. Sadly, his wife succumbed to smallpox. Mundy lives a broken man, pledging not to go to his old ways ever again.

But when a young punk (Schofield Kid) turns up at his home with the news of two crooks with a bounty on their head for mutilating a lady’s face, at a time when he was in dire straits, the temptation was too much. For his children’s future, he joined forces with his ex-partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to hunt the crooks. The trio is a hodgepodge of Kid who is short-sighted, Bill, who had forgotten all his old ways, even saddling a horse and Ned, who had the ‘nerves’ when the moment of reckoning arrived.

The lady who was mutilated was no angel but a worker in the brothel of a small town run by a mean Sheriff Little Bill (Gene Hackman). He runs the town with an iron fist, anyway he deems fit.

The most compelling dialogue that struck me was when Munny was about to put the coup-de-grace on Little Bill.

Bill: I do not deserve to die like that this. I am building a house.

Munny: Deserve’s got nothing to with it! Boom!

That is life for you. Nature is a ruthless son of a bitch. It does not bother about your plans, your aspirations or feel pity for dependants. If you are there in the path of its plan, poof you go. If you got to go, then you have to go. No special preference is given to royalties, professionals, leaders or those in the privileged part of society. You are not special. You cannot bribe the powers that be by appeasing them with showers of salutations and persuasions. You are just a minuscule of a fragment in this vast universe.

Mother of all spaghetti westerns!

Django 1966
The music score starts with a catchy tune 'Django'. A blue eyed cowboy drags along pulling his coffin through the muddy road.
In next scene, this cowboy (FrancoNero), shoots a gang of Mexicans and a group of cowboys who ungentlemanly shoves around a blonde damsel. The silent cowboy rescues the damsel in distress and heads to town.
A certain Major Jackson who terrorizes the town and has a bone to pick with our hero as the 5 men in the beginning scene were Jackson's henchmen. The Mexicans whom our hero, Django shot, come to town to avenge and take back Maria, the damsel in distress. Django had come to town to kill his wife's killers.
Django, with his secret weapon on the coffin that he drags - an automatic machine gun!, bulldozed the Mexicans. Django has a sad past, his wife had been gunned down during his absence. In the final showdown, Django with his broken hands, managed to gun down Major Jackson and his henchmen all his 6 barrel pistol at the cemetery scene.
This is one classic film in the genre of spaghetti western where the story defies logic but one should just watch for its entertainment value. Do not ask how a cowboy comes in possession of a machine gun which I think was invented in WW2. [Actually, check with Wikipedia reveals that early version of machine guns predates American Civil War, but was too expensive to be used, so it makes sense].
Also don't ask how a cowboy with broken hand can shoot a 6-barreled Smith and Western to finish off easily 10 bandits (or was it just 6?)!

Fastest draw in the South!

Django Unchained (2012)
Director: Quentin Tarantino

This film has been praised to high heavens for its boldness in depicting American's not so pleasant past. Even though , the powers that be always paint a sanitised and just past of the invaders who not only raped the American continent of its resources and systematically annihilated an advanced civilization already present before their gungho appearance in the New World, it takes a renegade son of the soil like Tarantino to highlight their equally unpleasant past with the workers who were slaved and treated worse than livestock.
This film can be best described as one of those spaghetti westerns which Clint Eastwood is commonly associated with. In keeping with Tarantino's penchant for gore and violence (as in Kill Bill and Hostel), there is plenty of spurting of crimson sanguineous fluids to make Dracula go into ecstasy. It is set at a time before the American civil war and has very eloquent dialogue with poetic words that would fascinate any student of English Literature albeit its liberal lace with profanity.
A maverick fast talking and fast drawing dentist, Dr Schultz (Christopher Waltz), rescues a gang of black slaves from captivity in the pretext of looking for a particular black slave who could identify a particular band of outlaw brothers. After picking out Django (Jamie Foxx), Dr Schultz just shoots them with a small pistol, the sound of menacing enough to be an assault rifle!

Slave Baron DiCaprio

A smart talking fast drawing dentist rescues a gang of black slaves from bounty hunters. He takes Django away from the group in text of trying a group of brothers.
Dr Schulz is a bounty hunter who gave up his dental practice to gun down outlaws for a living. He deputise Django (now a free man) as his assistant and they go all around from Texas on hunting spree all through winter with good returns. After finding out about Django's own sob story, both of them go in search of Django's German speaking black slave wife.

They track her down to be at Candiland in Mississippi, in the heart of slave land, owned by a ruthless rancher, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). They are looked at suspiciously, seeing a black man on horseback. With the intention of purchasing fighters for a blood sport (mandingo), they get in close with Candie and his confidantes.
Candie's chief butler, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) smells a rat and alerts his boss. The slick Dr Shultz manages to gun down Candie before after which a blood bath takes part in Candieland. Dr Shultz is killed and Django is captured and sold off to a mine. He outwits his captors and returns to rescue the love of his life and avenge in the true style of a spaghetti western as Django rides in the sunset with his girl and a flaming southern mansion on the background.
If all movies from Hollywood are guilty of racial stereotyping, portraying the whites as saviours and the coloured as crooks and uncivilised, this film is also guilty of the same. It, however, paints the whites as aggressors with bad attitudes, bad manners, bad teeth and barbaric, save for the German speaking Dr Schultz. The blacks, on the other hand are all victims of abuse and are sincere. Even Stephen who is his boss' faithful dog is loyal.
The background music score is warped. The potpourri of songs spread range from country folk to hard rock and even hip hop. An entertaining flick despite the extreme unnecessary gore and violence.