Inglourious Basterds (2009)

3.5

ACTION/WAR

U.S. Release Date: 08/21/09

Running Length: 153 Minutes

MPAA Classification: R (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1

Cast: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino

Cinematography: Robert Richardson

U.S. Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Review by: Carter Moulton

12/29/08

Inglourious Basterds opens with the title, “Chapter One: Once upon a time…in Nazi-occupied France”—historical accuracy isn’t high on director Quintin Tarantino’s list. What follows is one of the best sequences Tarintino has ever filmed. It’s 1941, and we see a beautiful countryside in France, with laundry drying in the sun-soaked air and a farmer, Perrier LaPadite, chopping wood outside of his home. From a distance LaPadite observes Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) and his Schutzstaffel (S.S.) men ride up the dusty road toward his farmhouse. They’re surveying the area, looking for any Jew that might be hiding. Landa paces around LaPadite’s home, making small talk and smirking while smoking his pipe. He knows, well before us, LaPadite is hiding Jews. Tension builds steadily as LaPadite and Landa chat, and Tarantino once again establishes his mastery of the spoken word.

Brad Pitt stars as Lt. Aldo Raine, head of a band of Jewish-American soldiers, the “Basterds,” whose mission is simple: Kill Nazi’s—Raine wants 100 Nazi scalps from each soldier under his command. I would never watch this with my Grandpa.

Pitt’s ridiculous accent works, and his under bite is a thing of beauty.

A sub-story revolves around Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), a woman who escaped from Landa’s soldiers in the opening scene, and her plot for revenge. She owns a theatre that was given to her by her aunt, a theatre so nice that it receives attention from the Nazi Party. The Nazis want to use the theatre as a venue to premiere a German propaganda film, “Nation's Pride,” which tells of the “heroic” story of Pvt. Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl).

Photo © The Weinstein Company

Things get juicy when word is received that Hitler himself will be in attendance at the screening. The story’s weave together as the night of the premiere arrives. The “Basterds” hope to blow the theatre up; Dreyfus hopes to burn it down.

Tarantino takes a fire poker and jabs at Hitler and the Nazis all the way through, not with the absurdity of Chaplin, but funnily enough. The best example of this is when we see scenes “Nation’s Pride.” The entire film seems to be nothing but a crapshoot of shots showing Pvt. Zoller taking out enemy soldiers in gruesome ways—shots to which the Nazis in attendance laugh and praise.

Tarantino the writer is better than Tarantino the director in Basterds. The director adds his own spice to the storytelling, including on-screen titles and labels, two or three voice-over interludes, and some not-so historically accurate music. It’s frustrating that Tarantino just gives you information via title or voiceover, as if he doesn’t have the time or desire to explain himself. This is the one and only problem I had with Basterds: Tarantino fails to find a stylistic identity. Why doesn’t Tarantino choose an approach and stick to it? Why is it told like Saving Private Ryan at times and like Kill Bill at others? This makes the Kill Bill moments stick out like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a Tooth Fairy costume…wait a couple of weeks.

That being said, the film is too well written and acted to ignore. The tavern scene is a true wonder, as is Christoph Waltz’s performance. Waltz gives Landa a cool, collected malevolence. This is a man with a likable personality who somewhere along the way was completely stripped of a conscious. I’ll be rooting for Waltz come Oscar time. Basterds is my favorite Tarantino film to date, although the man undoubtedly calls for repeated viewings of all his films—like them or not.