Django (2017)

France, 1943: The gifted guitarist Django Reinhardt gives a rapturously received concert in Paris with his band, the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Even the German occupiers are captivated by his electrifying Gypsy jazz, and they want to send him on a tour of Germany—under certain conditions—to boost the soldiers’ morale. His lover Louise de Klerk, recently returned from Belgium, advises him against it and urges him to flee instead, since Sinti like him are being persecuted across Europe and, as recently happened in the Ardennes, even murdered. Django, hailed as the “King of Swing” in Paris because American jazz musicians are absent due to the war, is convinced that his popularity and his patron, a German first lieutenant known as Dr. Jazz, will protect him from Nazi persecution. Once the tour has already been arranged, Django is subjected to a humiliating medical examination for the STO, the compulsory labor service. Meanwhile, Louise tries to persuade Django’s wife, Naguine, to convince her husband that they urgently need to flee to Switzerland. Django eventually agrees, and he goes into hiding with Naguine and his mother, Negros, in Thonon near the Swiss border. There, Louise’s contact Rossignol puts them up in an empty house on Lake Geneva. They wait to be taken over the mountains into Switzerland—the direct crossing of Lake Geneva is considered too risky. Not far from their house, they encounter members of their extended Sinti family, who are also trying to get to safety. When Django runs out of money and Naguine tells him she is pregnant, he decides to perform with his relatives at an inn. During one of their joint performances, a fight breaks out between locals and German soldiers, and Django is arrested. At a meeting with Colonel Hans Biber, who suspects Django’s escape plans, Louise makes a surprise appearance. By this point, she has influential connections not only in artistic circles and the resistance underground, but also among the German occupiers. At her request, Django is released for the time being. However, he is to give a concert for senior German officers—as an act of reparation. Django angrily tells Louise that he has already been stuck in Thonon for two months and now has to play a concert for the Germans, who he says killed his capuchin monkey, Joko. Louise, who was arrested and interrogated in Paris but does not want to go into the circumstances, says he has no choice. The Sinti are placed under house arrest. Django, his wife, and his mother have found refuge with them after German soldiers seized their shared accommodation. Django spends his time composing a requiem on the organ in a local church. The Resistance, too, insists that Django give the concert for the Germans at Villa Amphion, so that an injured English pilot can be taken across the lake to Switzerland unnoticed. Django finally agrees. For the performance, the Germans impose severe restrictions on him and his bandmates, who were allowed to travel from Paris at Louise’s urging: no blues, no breaks, no more than five percent syncopation, and no solos lasting longer than five seconds. While Louise dances with Officer Hammerstein, who is supposed to make sure Django obeys the restrictions, Django and his band play with ever-increasing exuberance. More and more guests begin to dance, and even Colonel Hans Biber dances with Louise. But the faster and more virtuously Django plays his guitar, the more debauched his audience becomes, until an outraged major intervenes and abruptly stops the concert. Django and his musicians are taken away. Louise, hoping to see Django again soon, is left behind. After a soldier reports that the telephone lines have been cut and a German train has been sabotaged with explosives, Colonel Biber catches Louise trying to escape in secret. Realizing that he has been deceived and distracted, he knocks her to the ground. The Sinti are then taken away from their encampment, and soldiers burn their caravans with flamethrowers. Django escapes with Naguine and Negros. In the mountains, however, he has to leave his pregnant wife and frail mother behind at a hut. Just short of the Swiss border, he narrowly escapes a German patrol. In May 1945, Django’s requiem, dedicated to his persecuted Sinti brothers, is performed in Paris with strings, a choir, and an organ, with Django conducting. Among the audience are Django’s wife and child, and his mother.