The main action of Django moves almost always forwards. Broomhilda's memories and the ellipses in the training are the pieces that need to be put back in place in order to follow the events chronologically.
What happens before the opening in Texas
Django's story begins before the line of captives with which the film opens. He and Broomhilda are already a couple, have tried to escape slavery and have been punished. The memories scattered throughout the story make it possible to reconstruct that past, although they do not provide a dated timetable for each event.
The attempted escape and the violence of the Brittle brothers come before the couple's separation. Django recognises those men because he has suffered at their hands before meeting Schultz. This causal relationship is important: the doctor does not give him the reasons for his resentment, but an opportunity to act on an experience that is already part of his life.
The sale separates Django fromBroomhilda. He ends up in the group transported by the Speck brothers; she goes through a path of captivity that the released film does not narrate with all the script's details. Written materials that expand on other owners and episodes should not be added to the chronology of the edit without warning.
The opening title places the action in 1858. It also contains a relative reference to the beginning of the American Civil War that does not match the historical date of 1861 exactly. To follow the film, it is best to keep the explicit year and the sequence of seasons, without turning that discrepancy into an invented alternative timetable.
The encounter with Schultz, the Brittles and the winter
In Texas, Schultz finds the Specks and asks about a captive who can recognise the Brittles. Django answers. The confrontation with the traders allows the doctor to take him away, while the other men are given the chance to decide their departure. It is the beginning of the main present of the narrative.
They then arrive in Daughtrey. Schultz explains his trade and offers Django a deal: identify the three brothers in exchange for freedom and money. In the same town he kills Sheriff Bill Sharp, reveals that he is the fugitive Willard Peck and presents the warrant to the marshal. Django thus discovers how the hunter uses paperwork to justify his activity.
The search leads them to Big Daddy's plantation, where the Brittles work. Django recognises them and takes part in their killing; Schultz completes the operation and uses the papers to make sure they can leave. The retaliation by the hooded men takes place after that confrontation and fails in the face of the manoeuvre prepared by the protagonists.
Once the initial job has been resolved, Schultz keeps his promise of freedom and offers a new deal. Django will work with him through the winter and receive a share of the bounties. When that stage is over, they will look for Broomhilda. The second partnership should not be placed before the Brittles or confused with the terms of the first agreement.
The edit compresses weeks or months of travel, practice and collections. The snowy landscape marks the change of season and the time spent together. We do not see each day or each lesson separately. Django's development takes place during that interval, although the film selects only a few moments to make it visible.
From the search for Broomhilda to the return to Candyland
After the winter, the protagonists investigate Broomhilda's fate and locate Calvin Candie as her owner. They prepare an identity as buyers interested in fighters in order to gain access to him. The meeting at the club comes before the journey to Candyland, and during that journey D'Artagnan is captured and killed.
Once on the plantation, Schultz manages to speak with Broomhilda and prepares the reunion with Django. The aim is to buy her freedom without revealing the marital relationship. Stephen notices signs of that relationship and alerts Candie. The dinner then changes from pretence at negotiation to a situation of explicit coercion.
Candie demands a hefty sum for Broomhilda and the deal is formalised. The final request for a handshake leads to Schultz's refusal and the shooting of the owner. Butch Pooch kills the doctor; Django responds and fights, but eventually surrenders when Broomhilda's situation makes it impossible to continue without putting her in danger.
Django's captivity and the decision to send him to LeQuint Dickey happen after that first shoot-out. During the transfer he deceives the guards with a supposed opportunity for a reward, regains the ability to act and escapes. His return to Candyland therefore belongs to a second entry into the same space, with a different purpose and different conditions.
In the final stretch he confronts the men who remain, rescues Broomhilda and destroys the mansion with Stephen inside. The couple rides away on horseback. The story offers no detailed later biography, so the verifiable chronology ends with that departure and not with a future family life built on conjecture.
Unlike other forms ofnon-linear storytelling in Tarantino, here the main effort is to distinguish memories, visions and ellipses from the present action. Most of the journey retains a direct causal order. The fragments of the past explain why it is undertaken; the time jumps allow the learning to advance without showing every single day.
Back to theDjango Unchained guide.