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Film Review: Inglorious Basterds |
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| Written by Trent Daniel | ||||||
| Monday, 31 August 2009 | ||||||
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In deciding to tackle my first attempt at a review of a film still in the theatre, I chose one that is over the top, violent, in many ways ridiculous, yet still easily one of the best films of the year: Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. For readers already aware of the film, I’ll go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Yes, in Tarantino’s satire/homage to World War II action films (in particular, two great ones: Where Eagles Dare and The Dirty Dozen), he does change the ending to the war. No, it did not happen this way, but so what? In this world, the one created by the film, it could happen. Tarantino’s film can get away with this, for it never once betrays its main purpose, which is to tell an entertaining story. It is not a “message” film, like Judgment at Nuremburg or the oh so serious Mississippi Burning (not to get too off track, but precisely because Mississippi Burning always intended to be a message film, its proven altering of facts surrounding its story, as well as its cartoonish villains, makes it much more offensive than Basterds). For those unaware, the basic story: Once upon a time, in Nazi Occupied France (proudly displayed on an opening cue card), Nazi Colonel Hanz Landa (Christoph Waltz), a notorious “Jew Hunter,” visits the home of a local farmer suspected of sheltering Jews. This opening scene has already been much discussed by critics and deservedly so: it is brilliantly written and acted, as well as quietly intense, and reverberates throughout the remainder of the film. A young woman named Shoshanna (Melanie Laurent) escapes Landa and, years later, opens a movie theatre in Paris, where she attracts the attention of a German soldier named Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), not knowing he is a Nazi war hero and budding movie star. Meanwhile, in another section of France, an American officer named Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) leads a fearsome group of Jewish soldiers known as the “basterds” whose primary purpose is to massacre as many Nazi soldiers as it takes to get the attention of the high command (note: when Pitt’s character says he wants “a hundred Nazi scalps,” he isn’t kidding). How these disparate plots all come together, with all the prominent figures of the Third Reich (including Hitler himself) crammed into Shoshanna’s small theater I will not spoil for you. However, I will note that Lt. Raine’s attempt to pass himself off as an Italian filmmaker is one of the funniest scenes in any movie this year. The acting in the film is superb, led by Waltz’s performance as Landa. Look for his name to be called at Oscar time (he already won an award at Cannes for his performance). He is unlike any Nazi villain seen before. Most notably, he is the smartest, most cunning character in the film, easily three steps ahead of everyone (adversaries or prey) on the chessboard. In many ways, he is like a Nazi Columbo, relaxing his opponent into letting his or her guard down, then nailing them. The ending is actually fantastic, with strong echoes of both Raiders of the Lost Ark and one of Tarantino’s personal favorites, Carrie. It is also gloriously over the top, but, unlike many other films, has earned the right to be. Though Tarantino can be a polarizing filmmaker, be it for the extreme violence of his films, his open love of “trash” or “grindhouse” films, and/or his open borrowing of themes and ideas from many other movies. Yet there are two traits about him as a filmmaker that are invaluable: 1) these are films by a man who genuinely, passionately loves movies and 2) even more important, when I am watching a scene in a Tarantino film, I have no idea what is about to happen. The scene could be short or quite long. It could also end with a shocking burst of violence or a moment of high comedy (even both at times). This willingness to break with the conventions of any genre, to give the audience no idea what is to come next, is what makes him unique and why I always look forward to his next project. Inglorious Basterds takes a somewhat “mothballed” genre, the WW2 actioner, and turns it on its head. Only a filmmaker as gifted and daring as Tarantino could take a story so ridiculous, it could have been one of the worst movies of the year-and turn it into one of the best.
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