Django Templates

Django templates really blow. It was my understanding the the Python philosophy was not to prevent the programmer from doing things; even if they were considered dangerous. But then the excuse for these hands-tied-behind-your-back templates is nullified -- the only possible reason to create them and have them be so limited and restricted is to prevent people from getting into trouble, as in by over-coding the View or something. Now, I understand how we don't want our pretty Python views to turn into PHP, but come on. If I need it, I should be able to get it. The only thing I can say is thank god for Mako; it was surprisingly easy to replace the native Django craplets with the far superior and flexible Mako, even on the unnatural and unforgiving GAE.
I thought I really liked Django, but having to work with these evil templates has turned me 180 degrees. Erb from Rails didn't have this evilness, not even JSF had this evilness -- with JSF you could either slip back into JSP, or write custom tags (with relatively little hastle). I don't even want to touch Django's "filter" bastardizations. Ick.
On the magicness scale, Django is certainly a step down from Rails, but until now I had thought that was a good step down, a step down that let the programmer more easily see behind the curtain (as it were). But having to work extensively with these Django templates has altered my opinion totally. When the framework stops working for me, and starts actively opposing my actions, it's time for a change.
Hurray Mako, boo Django. Maybe I ought to switch over to Pylons or Turbogears for a bit, see what those are like.