Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” is nominated for a handful of Academy Awards for a reason. It is damn good.  The story is provocative, the casting is spot on, the cinematography is stunning and even the soundtrack — with its mix of old, new and original music from strikingly different genres — makes this movie my personal No. 1 for 2012.

The story follows slave Django (Jamie Foxx) teaming up with bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Waltz) after the hidden-pistol-wielding doctor buys his freedom — by convincing the uncooperative slavers in the traditional Western way of “when all else fails, shoot.”

Django is confused by the foreign doctor’s humanity. Shultz offers Django a horse to ride, clothes to wear and a portion of the bounty that Django will help find. He even offers Django his freedom if he can successfully find a targeted trio of outlaws.

Before being strapped to a chain gang, Django worked on a plantation with three sibling overseers, the Brittle Brothers, who Shultz is currently hunting. The problem is that he has no idea what they look like.

Fortunately (and unfortunately), Django has their faces burned into his memory because they whipped his wife and branded their faces after their failed escape attempt. Along with the brutality the Brittle Brothers forced on his wife, their attempted escape led to them being sold to different owners.

In a conversation before finding the brothers, Django reveals he will try to find his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) when he is a free man. The name piques Shultz’s interest, and he promises to help Django find his wife, who is revealed to belong to Monsieur Calvin Candy (Leonardo DiCaprio), owner of the fourth largest plantation in the South, Candyland.

The story takes off with many bloody deaths, explosions, emotional conversations, and several hilarious scenes as they search for Candyland and a way to find an audience with Monsieur Candy.

While being marketed as an action-packed spaghetti Western, I found it to be the most powerful love story — surpassing “Titanic” by a long shot, in my opinion.

Even the antagonist’s relationships are deeply rooted. Candy and the relationship he shares with his head house slave, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) is complex with a balance accepted by both. Stephen is happy to serve Candy, and, in return, Candy treats Stephen better than his other slaves and even becomes his most loyal confidant.

Tarantino does an excellent job creating a convincing era of slavery filled with cruelty by the white population toward the slaves contrasted with disgusting displays of grandeur by the plantation owners.

In short, spend the money and go see this movie if you haven’t already. If you have, go see it again — I did.