Summary
Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France…
My Thoughts
Quentin MF'n Tarantino is a legend of Hollywood, with only 8 (soon to be 9) films that he's fully written and directed, not one is rotten on the tomato meter, and all are rated above a 7 on IMDb. Both users and critics alike agree that Tarantino is a true tour de force writer/director, his aesthetic bleeds into every project; his quippy dialogue, smatterings of absurd violence, and his off color sense of humor are just a few things that one can expect from his films. I personally don't believe Tarantino is capable of crafting a bad film, because he does just that- he crafts his films. From their inception to the final draft Tarantino treats each one of his films as if they are his fresh newborn child, just look at what almost happened to "The Hateful Eight" after the script was leaked. He's a master at what he does, and what he does is create art, compelling and entertaining art. The man can do no wrong in my eyes. For our Quentin Tarantino series here at TMM I decided to start off with what I consider to be his masterpiece, the historically altered, hyper violent World War 2 epic, “Inglourious Basterds”.
This film follows multiple narratives that eventually come together in the final act. First we follow a runaway Jewish girl Shoshana (Melanie Laurant, “Beginners”) disguised as a frenchwoman who escapes barely with her life after her family is gunned down by the Jew Hunter (Christoph Waltz, “Alita: Battle Angel”) in Nazi occupied France. As a disguised frenchwoman she runs a modest Cinema (modest by modern standards, quite lovely in its own setting) with the help of her lover Marcel (Jacky Ido). While for a while she thrives there, a series of events brings the German's to her doorstep, announcing they shall be playing a Nazi war propaganda film starring Germany's biggest war hero Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl, “Captain America Civil War”) in her very own theater. With much deliberation from the German's, Shoshana agrees to run the projectors but has a far more explosive plan up her sleeve; blow up the theater with all the high ranking officials inside.
The scenes between Shoshana and Hans Landa the Jew Hunter are some of the most tense and nerve inducing scenes Tarantino has ever written. When the two characters share a dessert in a restaurant is one example. It's obvious the hunter knows who Shoshana is, the one who escaped, but through his subtle subtext he never reveals his knowledge. Through the fantastic dialogue that seems to last an eternity, just waiting for some sort of confrontation, nothing violent happens, and Shoshana exhales immensely, sharing the same desperate feeling as the audience. The acting is phenomenal by all parties, the hatred Shoshana puts on the back burner for the German war hero is easily sensed by her facial expressions, but being the egomaniac that Zoller is, he never quite catches on until it's too late.
We also follow the story of our title characters, The Basterds. A roughneck group of Nazi hating Jews led by the feirce Aldo (Raines) the Apache (Brad Pitt, “The Tree of Life), who's main mission is to kill a lot of Nazi's and collect their scalps, and he wants his scalps. One hundred Nazi scalps from every Basterd. Any time these characters are on screen it's a bloodbath of pure joy, nothing is better than watching a Nazi commander being brutally beat to death with a baseball bat by the one everyone refers to as the Bear Jew (Eli Roth, “Cabin Fever”), or Nazi's being stabbed in the face by the menacing Hugo Steiglitz (Til Shweiger, “King Arthur (2004)”), and there's plenty more to list that should bring joy to anyone's face. Eventually the Basterds do get tied into the Cinema story, with their own way of going about it, in a hilarious and inspiring fashion. If only World War 2 played out and ended like it does in this film. It's truly one of the greatest works of historical fiction ever to be on the screen.
Brad Pitt absolutely shines in this film, once you put him with a legend like Tarantino, the Brad Pitt persona completely disappears and all there is is Aldo the Apache, it's a true testaments to just how good Brad Pitt can be. His delivery of his lines are absolutely riotus it never feels forced, he's an intelligent Tennessee man, but his dialect is horribly southern, and it makes for that much more dimension in his character. All the Basterds give really great performances, all of them centralized around the wonderful Aldo..
Third and lastly we follow the British military, who has another idea of how to win the war, to send in rogue soldiers to rendezvous with the Basterds and disguise them as German soldiers, led by Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”), where they are to meet a German rebel actress Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger, “Troy”) who is to give them information on the next step of the plan to end the war. Only the plan goes awry when the bar they meet up in is filled with drunk Nazi's who have the night off to celebrate the birth of one of the soldier's sons. This scene is even more intense than the restaurant scene previously mentioned, as the viewer knows there will be an explosive conclusion to the intensity. Slowly but surely through fast paced, tense dialogue and unfortunate mistakes the group is found out and the blood is spilled, lots and lots of blood. This film demands multiple views to catch all the subtle nuances, such as the holding up the number three with your hands is much different I'm Germany, or to disguise ones accent just a bit better. It's an amazing scene that will go down in the history books.
When all the stories converge in the final climatic act, this film is truly wild. Tarantino is able to make each scene more crazy, more intense, and just plan more fun from the last, it makes the over 150 minute runtime fly by, I'm practically begging for more movie when the end credits roll. Being in this world with these characters is an absolute blast and one that I could watch over and over again without tiring of it. The finale is as explosive, action packed, and bloodsoaked as any other Tarantino film, but Inglourious Basterds, in my opinion, is wholly the most satisfying in this director's filmography. From the flick of the cigarette into the film negatives, to the epic shootout of Shoshana and Frederick Zoller, and to the absolute annihilation of the Nazi's, bullets being rained upon them from an above balcony by two of the Basterds, their eyes rage with bloodlust as they turn Hitler's face into Swiss cheese, it's just f*cking awesome. That's the best way to describe this movie; f*cking awesome.
Overall Inglourious Basterds is the ultimate Quentin Tarantino film (in my opinion obviously, all his films are exceptional), it has everything that has made him great from past entrees and brought all his strengths together to create, as he says in his own words, his masterpiece. The dialogue is always on point, Tarantino loves to hear his characters talk, using his expertly crafted flow of words, that the actors absolutely bring to life. Christoph Waltz's performance is truly Oscar worthy (he won in 2009), his dialect and charisma make his villain truly one of the greatest Tarantino has written, and I don't think anyone but Waltz could have pulled it off. Brad Pitt shines, proving he's not just a Hollywood face but an truly gifted actor. This film just has it all, incredible storytelling, masterful characters with even better writing, and action that is bloody and satisfying. The way Shoshana's, and the Basterd's story become one is a brutal, funny, and often cathartic ride that demands repeat viewings. It's the film that solidified Tarantino as a Hollywood legend in my eyes, and he's only honed his craft ever since. It's never a bad idea to revisit this amazing film.
I give Inglourious Basterds 5 stars out of 5.
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