Inglourious Basterds
Producer: So you’re going to make a movie about Nazi-scalping Jews?
Tarantino: That’s about it…or not
Producer: So you’re going to make a movie about Nazi-scalping Jews?
Tarantino: That’s about it…or not
Although the above conversation probably never happened, it does remind me of the mixed reaction that Basterds received
at the Cannes Film Festival, and I can see why. People went in to see a
traditional gloriously (ingloriously?) bloody exploitation movie where a
bunch of Jewish-Americans get dropped behind enemy lines so they can
bring the pain to the Nazis, or Naatzees as Lt. Aldo Raine calls them.
What they got was essentially “Pulp WWII Fiction”, with
multiple stories that eventually come together at the end for the final
showdown. And in hindsight, what else should audiences have expected? It
is a Quentin Tarantino movie after all. The man’s most traditional
movie is arguably Death Proof, and even that movie couldn’t escape from the director’s trademark touches. So now that most people know what kind of a movie Inglourious Basterds really is, allow me to dive right into it.
Plot Synopsis: After losing
her family at the hands of Nazi S.S. officer Hans Landa, French Jew
Shosanna Dreyfus manages to escape his grasp and disappear into the
countryside. Four years later, Shosanna has assumed a new identity in
France and is running a movie theater. Soon she meets a friendly Nazi
soldier named Frederick Zoller, who brings her in to meet the head of
the German film industry and tells her that they wish to play a
propaganda movie called Nations Pride at her theater, which
details Frederick’s heroic defense against the Allies. When she learns
that pretty much the entire Nazi high command will be attending the
premiere, she hatches a plan that could end the war overnight.
Meanwhile, a group of Jewish-Americans, nicknamed "The Basterds" by the
Nazis, meet up with a British officer who is going to meet German double
agent/actress Bridget von Hammersmarck. Bridget tells them about the
premiere of Nations Pride, and the group maps out their own
plan to murder the Nazi high command. But things get complicated when
they learn that not only is Hans Landa the head of security, but also
that Hitler is attending the premiere too.
Now I’m sure that those out there who haven’t
seen a Tarantino movie are wondering what I mean by his “trademark
touches.” Well for one thing there are five different chapters where the
first three mainly focus on Landa, Shossanna, and the Basterds, while
chapters four and five detail the planning and destruction of the movie
theater. One (Shosanna’s escape) and four (meeting with Bridget) are the
weakest, mainly because Tarantino seems to have kept in every minute of
them without editing. Not that they are bad, they do have some great
moments, but Quentin drags the dialogue-suspense on for so long that it
soon becomes tiring. The best sections are two, three, and five, which
show the Basterds scalping Nazis, Shosanna meeting Zoller, and the
explosive ending respectively. After the slow burn of chapter one,
things kick into high gear with chapter two as the Basterds interrogate a
bunch of Nazi soldiers while they scalp their dead comrades.
Blood-soaked baseball bats, snappy one-liners, Brad Pitt’s Texas accent,
and even a little Samuel L. Jackson narration make this a very
fun-filled section. Three returns to the suspense tactics from the
beginning, as Shosanna has a little reunion with Landa, but the editing
is much tighter here and doesn’t drag on. And finally we have the fifth
chapter, where all hell breaks loose and some (that’s putting it
lightly) history is rewritten. If you can stick it out, the ending is
worth the price of admission alone.
As with any Tarantino movie, we have a colorful
cast of characters played out with zest by each of their respective
actors. Sure Brad Pitt’s southern accent is questionable, but there is
no denying that Aldo Raine, leader of the Basterds, is one of the more
memorable characters in the movie. With his quick wit and Swastika
carving temptations, Raine is likely to send you home with a humiliating
mark but not before wrangling some helpful information out of you.
Melanie Laurent is a real find as the older Shosanna, who isn’t as
helpless as her mousy looks would imply. Her moment of release after
seeing Landa again is a sublime acting moment, and I hope we see more of
her in the future. On the Nazi side, we have Christoph Waltz as the
slimy Hans Landa, a.k.a. “The Jew Hunter”. Waltz is truly a revelation,
slithering his way through the movie using his charm to seduce the prey
before brutally striking them down. In time, Landa may go down as one of
the great screen villains in recent memory. The Basterd’s equivalent of
Landa comes in the form of Donny, a.k.a. “The Bear Jew”, who beats
helpless Nazis with his Louisville Slugger. Unfortunately, Donny is the
weakest element of the movie, as Eli Roth (Tarantino’s friend and
director of Hostel) hams up the screen with his cringe inducing
performance. Also look for cameos from Harvey Keitel, Mike Myers, and
the aforementioned Samuel L. Jackson.
Basterds is not your traditional WWII
movie, it is clearly a Tarantino fantasy through and through. The
Basterds are treated like a fairy tale ghost story among the Nazi ranks
that isn’t dared mentioned until they reappear. As I said, history is
given a huge overhaul here, but it’s such an invigorating redo that I
couldn’t care less. It is like a propaganda movie that would’ve been
made around WWII to give the Jews a chance to cheer and fight back, and I
think that is Tarantino’s point about the power of movies. We watch Basterds because we want to see Nazis' heads get bashed in, just like the Nazis watch Nations Pride
to watch Zoller destroy the Allied ranks. To cap it off, we get one of
the most satisfying and applause worthy final scenes in the past few
decades. Time well spent.
3.5/4
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