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A violent, humorous, surprising, twisted turn on history, Inglourious Basterds is a spectacular film. Quentin Tarantino’s unique style and essence make this film an unforgettable and unavoidable piece of grandiose cinema. With wonderful acting and one of the best scripts in decades, Inglourious Basterds is on par with Pulp Fiction in terms of Tarantino’s incredible history of filmmaking.
Beginning in Nazi-occupied France, the film introduces us to Col. Hans Landa of the SS (Christoph Waltz). Placed in France cow country by the Führer, Landa acts as a detector of the Jews for the Nazi Party. His given nickname – the ‘Jew Hunter’ – seems earned after his actions of the introduction scene. Played by Waltz with immense skill, Hans Landa is crafted as a true monster, yet he is acted with a boyish charm and intelligent multilingualism, contrasting his horrible intentions and making him all the more frightening.
A violent, humorous, surprising, twisted turn on history, Inglourious Basterds is a spectacular film. Quentin Tarantino’s unique style and essence make this film an unforgettable and unavoidable piece of grandiose cinema. With wonderful acting and one of the best scripts in decades, Inglourious Basterds is on par with Pulp Fiction in terms of Tarantino’s incredible history of filmmaking.
Beginning in Nazi-occupied France, the film introduces us to Col. Hans Landa of the SS (Christoph Waltz). Placed in France cow country by the Führer, Landa acts as a detector of the Jews for the Nazi Party. His given nickname – the ‘Jew Hunter’ – seems earned after his actions of the introduction scene. Played by Waltz with immense skill, Hans Landa is crafted as a true monster, yet he is acted with a boyish charm and intelligent multilingualism, contrasting his horrible intentions and making him all the more frightening.
Next we meet ‘The Basterds’. A Jewish-American army platoon who are airdropped into France and attack German troops in the style of an Apache resistance. This entails ambushing Nazi squads and murdering all but one, cutting the scalps off the dead. The one lone survivor gets a marking to always remind himself and others that he was a member of the Nazis, a swastika carved into his forehead. Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and consisting of multiple talented actors including Eli Roth and Til Schweiger, The Basterds are an intense and violent bunch. They serve to remind the Nazi Party of the evil they commit, and to take on the haunting role of subconscious terror to the Nazis.
The plot all comes together in Paris when a young cinema owner named Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) catches the eye of German soldier and soon-to-be film star Frederick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). As someone with celebrity like status, Frederick convinces Joseph Goebbels to host his film premiere at Shoshanna’s theater. Hans Landa’s soldiers murdered Shoshanna’s parents, and so, filled with revenge, she concocts a plan to fill her cinema with Nazis and then burn it down. The Basterds hear of this film premiere and also plan to bomb the theater. Also thrown into the mix is Hans Landa again, and German film star turned British spy Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).
The plot all comes together in Paris when a young cinema owner named Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) catches the eye of German soldier and soon-to-be film star Frederick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). As someone with celebrity like status, Frederick convinces Joseph Goebbels to host his film premiere at Shoshanna’s theater. Hans Landa’s soldiers murdered Shoshanna’s parents, and so, filled with revenge, she concocts a plan to fill her cinema with Nazis and then burn it down. The Basterds hear of this film premiere and also plan to bomb the theater. Also thrown into the mix is Hans Landa again, and German film star turned British spy Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).
Rich with the traits that make Tarantino’s movies special, Inglourious Basterds features long periods of dialogue and conversation which flow so incredibly smoothly, all the while building tension superbly. The script is written with such mastery that wit oozes from the folds of the film, and memorable characters with their own wonderful idiosyncrasies seem to crop up in every scene. Also containing strong violence, Tarantino is careful in his use of bloodshed. While the film is bloody, and features multiple – albeit very brief – scenes of grotesquery, violence is certainly not overused.
Scripted with an impeccable sense of human dialogue, Inglourious Basterds is unique in almost every conceivable way. Quentin Tarantino once again displays his miraculous ability to write memorable lines, to craft special human characters displaying facets of malevolence and/or bravery, and to direct with a passion that is almost unparalleled with his film Inglourious Basterds. His own love of cinema comes through in the presentation of film as a theme in this movie, in fact one of the British soldiers (played by Michael Fassbender) is a former film critic, and names like G.W. Pabst, Louis B. Mayer, and David O. Selznick are discussed in this movie.
Scripted with an impeccable sense of human dialogue, Inglourious Basterds is unique in almost every conceivable way. Quentin Tarantino once again displays his miraculous ability to write memorable lines, to craft special human characters displaying facets of malevolence and/or bravery, and to direct with a passion that is almost unparalleled with his film Inglourious Basterds. His own love of cinema comes through in the presentation of film as a theme in this movie, in fact one of the British soldiers (played by Michael Fassbender) is a former film critic, and names like G.W. Pabst, Louis B. Mayer, and David O. Selznick are discussed in this movie.
Existing in its own unique set of history, Inglourious Basterds is a violent and punning film that is essentially about Jews exacting revenge on Nazis. Shoshanna tries to kill Nazis and to avenge her family, The Basterds have successfully killed many Nazis, and at a later point in the plot both parties try blowing up the same basket of rotten eggs. Directed and written by Quentin Tarantino with bold and brilliant style, Inglourious Basterds is a tremendous blend of genres and themes which has become one of my personal favorite films to come out of the last few years.