Announced as one of the big Canal+ releases this year, the “Django” series arrives tonight on the encrypted channel. Worn by Matthias Schoenaerts and an international cast, it aims to revisit the myth of the cowboy.
What is it about ?
Far West, 1860s – 1870s. Haunted by the murder of his family eight years earlier, Django continues to search for his daughter, clinging to the hope that she may have survived the massacre. He is stunned to find her in New Babylon, about to marry John. Convinced that the city is threatened, Django is inflexible: he will not take the risk of losing his daughter again.
Django, a series created by Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli with Matthias Schoenaerts, Nicholas Pinnock, Lisa Vicari, Noomi Rapace… Episodes viewed: 5 out of 10
Who is it with?
For this co-production between Sky Italia and Canal+, shot in English and intended for an international audience, the Italian creators of Django – Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli – have set their sights on Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts (De rouille et d’ bone). With his almost animal charisma and his quiet strength, he naturally imposes himself in this role which voluntarily echoes Sergio Corbucci’s mythical Django.
To play his daughter Sarah, they chose German actress Lisa Vicari who played Martha in the Dark series. Series fans will also recognize Nicholas Pinnock from Top Boy who here plays John Ellis, the founder of New Babylon, about to marry Sarah.
Finally, this beautiful cast is completed by the presence of Noomi Rapace who plays the tough Elizabeth. She is the sworn enemy of John Ellis and New Babylon. Sort of Ma Dalton, in a modern and more glamorous version, she plays the trigger as well as Django and persists in thwarting all the projects of her adversaries.
Canal+ Matthias Schoenaerts, Imperial as Django
It’s worth checking out ?
A real series of westerns, Django nevertheless fits in with the times and offers a reinterpretation of the genre. A rereading all the more assumed that the Django of the title refers to the Django of Corbucci, who has almost become a mythological figure in his own right in the western. It should be noted, however, that the series does not establish any link with Tarantino’s Django Unchained.
Here, Matthias Schoenaerts embodies a man haunted by his past and his faults. He is a silent colossus with a tender heart. After having almost abandoned his family who was massacred, he is on the road to redemption to find and reconnect with his daughter Sarah. When he arrives at News Babylon, he comes across a young woman who is anything but fierce.
She is the fiancée of John Ellis, the leader of this community that lives outside the conventions where men and women, white and colored, live together in perfect harmony seven years after the end of the Civil War. She is a leader of this community, listened to and respected. And she doesn’t want to hear anymore about this father who left her.
Soft heart
Straight in his boots, a virile cowboy gifted with the trigger and who never balks at a fight, Django is nonetheless a tender father. A patient man who wants to redeem himself and be adopted by the one who now speaks to him with authority.
It is really this complex relationship that is at the heart of the story, which does not lack panache and decorum. The city of New Babylon, made of huts, odds and ends, looks like a utopia even in its architecture. The antagonism between Elizabeth and John Ellis has its roots in an unexpected and interesting past. And Django’s past, when he was still living with a wife and children, also holds its share of surprises.
The company of the series is one of those that does not advance masked. With this modern western, Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli (who have proven themselves in the past in series like Gomorrah or ZeroZeroZero) want to deconstruct the figure of the cowboy to offer one that is just as virile but more complex and more human. .
It is enough to look a little at the contrast between the physique and the imposing presence of Matthias Schoenaerts and the sweetness (sometimes pain) that he expresses in the presence of his daughter. In our references from the past, these two characteristics struggle to coexist in one body. But here, everything is fluid and obvious.
On the other hand, we will pass over the big scriptwriting strings which, on the other hand, are struggling a little more to renew the genre. It is indeed the Django of the title which deserves all our attention here.