26 Dec – Addressing race issues in films has been American director Spike Lee's trademark throughout his directorial career, which is no surprise that the New York-born filmmaker wants to address his issues with Quentin Tarantino's new Western slavery-revenge film "Django Unchained" in person, claiming that the film is an insult to his ancestors and that he would not watch it, according to Hollywood Reporter.
"I can't speak on it cause I'm not gonna see it. All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me... I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else," said Lee.
The "Inside Man" director also criticized the film that features Academy Award-winner Jamie Foxx in the role of a slave-turned-bounty hunter when he is freed by Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German bounty hunter, and goes on a murderous rampage to save his wife from a brutal plantation owner.
He tweeted, "American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust."
The disputes between Lee and Tarantino did not start with "Django Unchained", but rather, back in 1997 when the "Malcolm X" director commented on the latter's intentions for using the N-word in "Jackie Brown".
"I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man? I want Quentin to know that all African-Americans do not think that word is trendy or slick," said Lee.
Meanwhile, Tarantino responded to Lee by saying, "As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. And to say that I can't do that because I'm white... that is racist."
"Django Unchained" will be released in Malaysia and Singapore on 14 March 2013 and 21 March 2013 respectively.
