Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tarantino makes drive-in movies. Inglourious Basterds in a drive-in movie, mixing familiar QT features: revenge, charismatic villains, and over the top violence dressed up in a pretty genre wrapper.
In this case he actually taps a pair of genres, creating a film that is as much (or more) a nod to the spaghetti western as the WWII action film.
So what’s this movie about?
Inglourious Basterds is directed as a series of chapters, bouncing between a young Jewish woman named Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent, currently on Little America) and Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his all-Jewish commando team, the Basterds. Crossing between both worlds is Christoph Waltz (see our recent Django Unchained review) as the brilliant, oily, and utterly evil Jew-hunting Nazi Colonel Hans Landa.
The chapters are not self-contained - each builds toward the inevitable convergence of the Shosanna, Raine, and Landa stories, but they are well paced and engaging…which helps helps keep the two-and-a-half hour movie from dragging.
The non-spoilery summary of the movie is that most of the Nazi high-command, up to and including Uncle Adolf himself (Martin Wuttke - Homeland), make plans to attend a propaganda film based on the exploits of German sniper Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl, playing a character based loosely by the American war hero turned actor, Audie Murphy). Seeing an opportunity, Shosanna and the Allies (look for a cool cameo by Mike Meyers) launch independent plans to give the Fuhrer a warm welcome. Shenanigans follow.
Edging into spoiler territory…but not too much…people looking for “authenticity” may leave a little disappointed…or confused. While a great deal of research went into the visuals of Inglourious Basterds - and they are beautiful - it is best to watch this as a film “inspired by the Second World War” rather than an effort to represent what actually happened.
Tarantino is not playing fast and loose with history…ok, scratch that…he is, but for a purpose. What he seems to be doing is twofold. First he is giving a nod to the historicity (big word of the day) - or lack of - in the Spaghetti Western genre. Films in that group, and westerns in general, are not usually judged by their strict adherence to history but to how well they tell a story. Tarantino is telling a story, not attempting to teach history. Second, he is testing out his ability to apply a wish-fulfillment trope. He does a fair job of it here (you’ll spot it immediately), but masters the art in Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood, perhaps his best work to date.
Best things in this movie: Christoph Waltz’s masterfully creepy performance, Pitt speaking Italian, brilliant cinematography, and killing Nazis. Also as a bonus, a nice cameo by Bo Svenson, who starred in the more correctly spelled The Inglorious Bastards, back in 1978.
Worst things: The violence, which includes literally scalping prisoners, is off putting. Tarantino also falls into a pattern he employs in several films when he goes out of his way to create sympathy for a villain (not, in this case, Waltz) only to have them show themselves to be unworthy…right before he kills them. It was interesting the first time or two he used it. Now it comes off as lazy and cliché. I’m also a little tired of his foot fetish.
Tarantino’s paraphilic sexuoeroticism aside, Inglourious Basterds is a solid drive-in movie. Pull up your car to your tv and check it out HERE.
Four out of Five Kino Popcorns.
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While Inglourious Basterds plays fast and loose with history (and spelling), many Americans served behind enemy lines as members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). OSS volunteers played key roles in Operation Torch (the invasion of North Africa), collected intelligence throughout Europe and Asia, and participated in dangerous raids of Nazi and Japanese-occupied territory. The office was dissolved in September of 1945 but many former OSS men and women would go on to form the core of the Central Intelligence Agency when it was established four months later.
Roughly 13,000 Americans served in the OSS during WWII. At least 116 were killed; however, total losses remain classified.
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