5. Django Unchained Death Of The Brittle Brothers
There are many scenes from this Spaghetti Western Slave Revenge Epic I could choose for this list including a scene that uses slow motion to emphasise a piercing moment of suspense before all hell breaks loose at Candyland. However, the most effective use of slow motion in this film bar none comes toward the end of the first act, when Django takes on his first bounty: The Brittle Brothers. Although Django Unchained is a film that is concerned about depicting brutality, it is more concerned with sweet, sweet, revenge. This scene is the first time Django has the freedom (and weaponry) to fight back against white slavers, and his execution of the Brittle Brothers (particularly his whipping of Roger Brittle) is devilishly satisfying. The use of slow motion allows the audience to savour the power and triumph of Django's first bounties, paving the way for his complete re-invention as the baddest bounty hunter in the South. A particular shout out in this scene goes to a shot that epitomizes the mission statement of the film: Ellis Brittle is shot from his horse, and as he falls, the camera lingers on his blood slowly splattering across the cotton field. Stylish, hard-hitting but also vicariously satisfying, this is the shot of the movie.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
