Inglourious BasterdsI suppose World War II would have gone a little bit differently had "The Bastards" been around--the Inglourious Basterds, that is--a group of Jewish-American "take no prisoners" special forces infiltrating Nazi-occupied France and waging a war of terror on the invading Third Reich. Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense mountain man of Tennessee, the party cuts a bloody swath through occupied Germany as they ambush and slaughter Nazi soldiers. They give no quarter for their Jew-hating enemies, instilling fear in the upper echelon by scalping the dead and marking the living with a swastika upon their brow...and their story is but one of many that makes up the web of action and intrigue that is Inglourious Basterds.
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This particular revenge-fueled entry into Quentin Tarantino's body of work is a period piece, but of a period that feels decidedly like a slice from some parallel universe. While WWII did happen and their was a Jewish Brigade (and the post-WWII formation, "TTG")--there was even a "Bear Jew", although reality's version is far different than Sergeant Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth)--for Inglourious Basterds, slight turns of events result in a dramatically different retelling of history, right to the vivid end. One of my favorite touches of QT's film is that unlike so many other depictions of the Allies and Axis powers in film, the portrayals of each sides civility and barbarism seems to be reversed. Examples of almost preternatural cunning ooze forth from high-ranking Nazi officers, notably from SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), whose interrogation of a French dairy farm purveyor in the opening of the film is one of the most sophisticated psychological interplays in film, fraught with nail-biting tension. Landa appears sporadically throughout the film as an infamous detective with a mind like a steel trap, and carries the nickname "The Jew Hunter", one he at first seems to appreciate but later appears to loathe. Compare Landa with his arch-nemesis, Aldo "The Apache" Raine: Aldo possesses a straightforward approach to strategy, primarily centering around guerrilla warfare and weakening his enemies resolve through horrific displays of violence. Aldo's certainly smart enough to know to stay out of a tight spot when he's in charge--like not fighting in a basement--but when subject to the "cleverness" of an outside party, like Operation Kino and the James Bond-like British Agent, Lieutenant Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), necessitating that he has to hand over control, well...let's just say Aldo's better off doing things his way. By portraying the "good guys" as sadistic psychopaths and the "evil Nazis" as cagey and (in many cases) intelligent, Inglourious Basterds throws the traditional expectations of what to expect from our heroes and villains right out the window. But this is just the way of the world in Inglourious Basterds. When Aldo--a violent man--tries to play it in a way that differs from what he is, in the world of subterfuge alongside double-agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), he is out of his element, resulting in the inevitable backfire. We all know what Aldo's element is, and so does he.
Another key subplot runs through the veins of Inglourious Basterds--that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), the sole survivor of Landa's bloody visit to the LaPadite dairy farm at the beginning of the film. Starting a new life in Paris under the pseudonym of Emmanuelle Mimieux, Shosanna runs a theater with her secret black lover, Marcel (Jacky Ido). When she catches the eye of cinephile/war hero, Private Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), who pursues her in a flirtatious-yet-aggressive way that seems a sardonic metaphor for Vichy French and German relations in WWII. As Zoller hounds her and co-opts her theater (rather innocently, of course) to show the latest entry into "new German cinema" by his boss, the slimy Joseph Goebbels, "Nation's Pride" (starring Zoller playing himself, also of course), Shosanna hatches her own plot for revenge against them and her people's persecutors in general. In a decidedly literal way of using film as a weapon, Shosanna's plan involves using the collection of silver nitrate films the previous owners of the cinema left behind to create a deadly fire trap. Her scheme is grand and clever, ultimately using the Nazi's own weapon against them in the key moment--that weapon being film itself, and no doubt Tarantino wore a smile as he penned this coup as a kind of private humor. As Shosanna and the Bastards' paths cross--albeit indirectly--their mutual efforts emerge as a colossal display of fire on high and the peal of thundering rifles, a Jewish-born sturm und drang, something right out of the Old Testament. For a film that clocks in at almost two-and-a-half hours, Inglourious Basterds is a fast-passed ride that is bursting with choice dialogue, tense scenes, and delightfully anachronistic comedic moments--the introduction of Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), replete with narration by Samuel L. Jackson, says it all. Quentin Tarantino reportedly had worked on the film over the course of a decade, watching it grow and grow into a living, breathing Frankenstein's monster of a sort. Fortunately, he kept the choices parts to make a distilled, potent film that entertains at every turn.
Recommended for: Alternate history fans who enjoy a movie filled with action, suspense, comedy, and even shocking horror, all in one. And pay attention, and you might learn a valuable lesson about how not to order drinks for your and your two friends at the bar.
Another key subplot runs through the veins of Inglourious Basterds--that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), the sole survivor of Landa's bloody visit to the LaPadite dairy farm at the beginning of the film. Starting a new life in Paris under the pseudonym of Emmanuelle Mimieux, Shosanna runs a theater with her secret black lover, Marcel (Jacky Ido). When she catches the eye of cinephile/war hero, Private Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), who pursues her in a flirtatious-yet-aggressive way that seems a sardonic metaphor for Vichy French and German relations in WWII. As Zoller hounds her and co-opts her theater (rather innocently, of course) to show the latest entry into "new German cinema" by his boss, the slimy Joseph Goebbels, "Nation's Pride" (starring Zoller playing himself, also of course), Shosanna hatches her own plot for revenge against them and her people's persecutors in general. In a decidedly literal way of using film as a weapon, Shosanna's plan involves using the collection of silver nitrate films the previous owners of the cinema left behind to create a deadly fire trap. Her scheme is grand and clever, ultimately using the Nazi's own weapon against them in the key moment--that weapon being film itself, and no doubt Tarantino wore a smile as he penned this coup as a kind of private humor. As Shosanna and the Bastards' paths cross--albeit indirectly--their mutual efforts emerge as a colossal display of fire on high and the peal of thundering rifles, a Jewish-born sturm und drang, something right out of the Old Testament. For a film that clocks in at almost two-and-a-half hours, Inglourious Basterds is a fast-passed ride that is bursting with choice dialogue, tense scenes, and delightfully anachronistic comedic moments--the introduction of Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), replete with narration by Samuel L. Jackson, says it all. Quentin Tarantino reportedly had worked on the film over the course of a decade, watching it grow and grow into a living, breathing Frankenstein's monster of a sort. Fortunately, he kept the choices parts to make a distilled, potent film that entertains at every turn.
Recommended for: Alternate history fans who enjoy a movie filled with action, suspense, comedy, and even shocking horror, all in one. And pay attention, and you might learn a valuable lesson about how not to order drinks for your and your two friends at the bar.