Inglourious Basterds

I've been a fan of Tarantino's work since I laid my teenage eyes upon Pulp Fiction. The mixture of story, quick wit dialogue and memorable characters makes for a pretty damn good movie.

Inglourious Basterds is great addition to his library of work (Pulp and Kill Bill being my favorites followed by Death Proof) Although this film is very different for Tarantino. This story has a complete narrative marked by his love of chapter titles.

There are two stories to follow:



The first, a teenage Shosanna Dreyfuss (Melanie Laurent) has escaped the wrath of Nazi Officer Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) only to come face to face with him in her later years. Shosanna runs a movie theater in Paris where she is ordered to only play films by German/Austrian directors. She meets a young war hero who is smitten with her. She denies him any real attention until she is forced to dine with him as well as meet the infamous Dr.Joseph Goebbels. After all, this is Nazi occupied France and their will is law. Eventually, her movie theater is chosen for the premier of the film version of the young war hero's exploits, produced by Goebbels. Shosanna concocts a plan to do in the Nazi high command.



The Second, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) enlists the help of a group young Jewish-American soldiers, "The Basterds", to land in France and take out the Nazi high command, including the fuhrer himself, Hitler. Of course, Aldo has an unconventional way of inflicting some well-deserved pain to the Nazis. Just as the Native Americans did to the settlers and soldiers of the past, they scalp the head of each kill. If you were lucky enough to be set free from the Basterds, they would leave you a mark you could never erase. Another great scare tactic at Aldo's command, The "Bear" Jew played by Eli Roth (Writer/Director of Cabin Fever and Hostel). The Bear's weapon of choice, a baseball bat. Together this group of Americans kills its way through the French countryside to reach its ultimate goal.

There is a third story involving a rogue Nazi, a British Actor and German Actress who join the Basterds cause. Their story is interesting on its own but I won't go into it here. (The Basement Bar scene is excellent) The finale has our two main stories come together for an over the top, surprising and violent end.



Tarantino has cast some amazing actors in this film. The are two real standouts for me. Christoph Waltz as the delightfully evil Col. Landa. This actor is so beyond brilliant. He is able to speak French, German, English and Italian to perfection. His scenes are riveting. He will be nominated for best supporting actor, no question. The other, Melanie Laurent as Shosanna. She is given this story line ripe for any actress. She commands scenes and you are drawn to her story. One of my favorite scenes is the "Glam Rambo" scene heightened by Tarantino's fitting use of the David Bowie song Cat People (Putting Out the Fire). Shosanna is getting ready for the opening night of the Nazi film and it will be night no one will soon forget. I also loved the portrayals of some of histories greatest villains. Hitler is played as an over the top buffoon. Goebbels is this douchey prick who really needs Hitlers praise and approval. The one scene which just doesn't work for me involved Mike Meyers. It was just waste of casting, another actor could have easily played it better. Overall, the use of music and some amazing scenes make for a fantastic movie. Also if you are not used to subtitles, it has those too. A great film that I thoroughly enjoyed. My Grade: A-