A Django Unchained Conspiracy Theory

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained was a bloody revenge flick, but was it really Django's story of revenge? This conspiracy theorist says no!

I want you to think back to near the end of the movie after Django's (Jamie Foxx) bloody shootout when he tricked his new handlers into releasing him. He did this by showing them a wanted posted in his pocket -- earlier given to him by Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) -- and telling them that the wanted men were back at Candie Land. This ended up being a lie so he could get free to kill them and head off to the film's explosive climax. When I saw Django trick those guys with the wanted poster, I got the same feeling I did at the end of Memento.

At the end of Memento, we learn that Leonard's (Guy Pearce) motivations were fake, propagated by the vague details on some paper, a tattoo, and a picture that incited a revenge scheme. My conspiracy theory is this: Dr. Schultz tricked Django into helping him completing his revenge scheme. He is not a bounty hunter, but instead a smooth talker with a personal hit list. Here are three reasons that back this theory up.

1.  He Made it Personal

Dr. Schultz showed Django the wanted poster to validate killing the man on the farm while his son was present. Wouldn't a gentlemanly bounty hunter wait for the kid to leave? I know they had a whole conversation about it, but in the end, to inflict that kind of emotional trauma on someone's child is clearly an unprofessional and personal action that doesn't line up with Dr. Schultz's demeanor up until that point in the movie.

A wanted poster or a web of lies?

2. He Used the Memento Trick

Django used the same wanted poster and the same story that Dr. Schultz had told him earlier in the movie. If it was a lie when Django said it, then why couldn't it be a lie before? The wanted poster had a list of names and one poorly drawn fellow that could look like any number of white men with facial hair during that time period. Also, the identity of the Brittle Brothers was never made explicitly clear after Django killed them, leaving us to only go on what Dr. Schultz used as a cover story. The same notion applies to the end of Memento: a vague description can fit a wide variety of people, all you need is a little convincing.

3. He Had a Death Wish

Dr. Schultz went to Candie Land to die. It's never said, but Dr. Schultz could have had a long personal vendetta against Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). So he uses his skills of deception to take out Candie's men across the US under the guise of a bounty hunter before going after the man himself, not unlike The Bride did in Tarantino's bloody epic Kill Bill. This makes sense when you think about how Dr. Schultz killed Candie with a shot to the heart instead of shaking his hand. It's not like Dr. Schultz had a "Marty McFly Chicken Complex" the entire movie, so why would such a previously calm, cool, and calculating man suddenly make a suicidal move instead of taking the easy way out?

Revenge! That's why!

Dr. Schultz uses his I HATE YOU eyes on Candie.

Dr. Schultz may have truly befriended Django, but ultimately he was tricking him into helping him get to Candie. What better partner than someone who is blindly devoted to rescuing his wife from the same man you want dead?