Inglourious Basterds
It's a crazy carnival of a film. Picture by Candais Crivello.
“Once upon a time…in Nazi-occupied France,” there was a group of Jewish-American soldiers so outrageously badass that they couldn’t be bothered to spell “bastards” correctly… or “inglorious” for that matter. Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), the Inglourious Basterds meander about the French countryside, ambushing Germans, scalping Nazis and carving swastikas into foreheads as they go. Being called something as awesome as the Basterds, the individual members of the group have some pretty sweet nicknames—Aldo the Apache (Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine), Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), and the Bear Jew (Eli Roth as Staff Sergeant Donny Donowitz).
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds is a mix of history and fantasy, centered around themes of revenge and betrayal. Set during the Second World War, the movie follows not only the feats of the Basterds, but also the life of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) as she plots revenge against the Nazis who killed her family. Parts of the movie range from historically plausible to the ridiculously fantastic—but, then again, if you wanted to watch a historically accurate film you should have stayed at home with the History Channel where you belong. Besides, it’s much more entertaining to think that World War Two ended in one tremendous explosion than with Hitler’s lame suicide in some crappy underground bunker.
The film is classic Tarantino, gleaming with enough violence and sardonic humor to keep you flinching and laughing throughout the entire two and a half hours. The sardonic humor incessantly present in the film allows the viewer to enjoy the fairly morbid plot, which is plagued with grotesque elements of murder and revenge.
The introduction of Hugo Stiglitz is a prime example of this unique blend of violence and hilarity. In the middle of a scene, the frame suddenly freezes on Stiglitz; his name appears in absurdly large letters while an almost comical guitar rift wails in the background. As the film begins to depict his exploits as a German soldier, the narrator begins to tell us all about the thirteen Gestapo officers Stiglitz killed. The disparity between this scene and the rest of the movie had the audience doubled over in laughter, even as the screen depicted Stiglitz stabbing officers through pillows and even shoving his whole fist down another’s throat. Eventually, Stiglitz gets caught and goes to jail. When the Basterds ask him if he “wants to go pro” at killing Nazis, Stiglitz nonchalantly smokes and reads a paper despite guards being gunned down around him. The scene generated more than a few laughs from the audience, despite the absurd amount of violence that occurred.
The casting for the movie was superb: each and every character fit perfectly into the role they played. Using a mixture of German, French, and some prominent American actors and actresses, Tarantino adds plausibility to the film. Some actors, however, did fit into their roles better than others. At some points in the film, Brad Pitt’s atrocious Southern accent would begin to get on your nerves, although this may have been intentional on Tarantino’s part to emphasize his “Yank” status. French actress Mélanie Laurent and German actress Diane Kruger (as Bridget von Hammersmark) played their parts accurately and convincingly; both actresses did extremely well during their prospective death scenes. To top it all off, Colonel Landa (Christoph Waltz), Hitler (Martin Wuttke), and Goebbels (Sylvster Groth) were all played by excellent actors who added authenticity and hilarity to the film.
We first see Col. Hans Landa in the French countryside, where he interrogates and searches the home of a dairy farmer. Making himself as comfortable as he would be in an old friend’s home, he pulls an absurdly large and decorated pipe from his coat sleeve in an almost cartoon-ish fashion. He likes to pull surprises on his company—much like a hawk striking unexpectedly at its rodent prey. Col. Landa is almost maniacally pleasant—you know he is sickeningly evil as he plots to seek out every guilty man’s secrets, but he cleverly makes himself seem like an ally to everyone he talks to, speaking in an exaggerated, overly friendly tone. Yet if you further analyze him, his undertones reveal a completely different meaning behind his goofy grin and cordial formalities. He is hunting and will go to any length to catch his “rats.”
Hitler is shown as angry and belligerent, bellowing useless orders that serve only to uphold the image of himself and his armies. His face is red as a tomato and his black, greasy locks are askew as he demands the complete subordination of all those he has power over. Most comically, he has an enormous, mural-sized portrait painted of himself as a grandiose Führer in a fur cape, mocking his psychotic, overwhelming self-obsession.
Finally, Goebbels, a “doctor” and right-hand man to Hitler, is an absurdly infantile and, of course, selfish man. He, like Hitler, is smug and bold in his self-gratifying manner, clearly more interested in himself and in his social standing than in the well-being of his countrymen.
The most evil characters of this movie were consistently depicted with some of the most comical personality traits, emphasizing their psychotic and unreliable mental states. The satisfaction of seeing such sickeningly incapable holders of power be taken down in the goriest, most Hollywood, most Tarantino-esque fashion is what really makes this movie a must-see.
