Review: Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds (4.5/5)



By: Paul Congiusta

"You know.. this just might be my masterpiece" proclaims Lt. Aldo Raine, the leader of a deceptively lethal group of Nazi-hunting Jewish soldiers in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. He was referring to the Nazi symbol he freshly carved into the forehead of his German nemesis at the end of the film, but some would argue that this is a foreshadowed description of Tarantino's latest screen gem.

Inglorious Basterds is a revenge story woven through multiple chapters and characters connected by the common goal of ultimately defeating their enemies. Marketed to most as a Brad Pitt/Tarantino extravagant action romp through German-occupied France during World War II, this film dives deeper into the characters of their respected time period. While the action set pieces such as the epic climax will surely bring the audience to their feet, it is the wide-shot dramatic encounters throughout the film that truly captures Tarantino's vision.

The film follows Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his hand picked group of Jewish-American soldiers to bring the Nazis a taste of their own medicine during WWII. We also get to follow Shoshanna Dreyfus, the Jewish daughter of a French dairy farmer hell bent on revenge against the Nazis. Her entire family was slaughtered by our scene-stealing villain Col. Hans Landa (played masterfully by Christoph Waltz). Both parties ultimately wind up getting Intel of a German film premiere that will house some of the Third Reich's biggest names, including Hitler himself. Coincidentally it is Shoshanna's theater that gets the privilege to host the premiere, and it is here that her and the Basterds unknowingly hatch the same plan: The destruction of Hitler and the end of the war in Germany.

Inglorious Basterds is a lot of things, but engagingly beautiful is the first word that comes to mind in almost every scene in the film. Tarantino brings his trademark stylized cinematography and witty, free flowing dialogue to the table once again. It seems that each scene has subtle messages hidden within itself. The opening chapter where Col. Landa interrogates a French dairy farmer suspected of housing a Jewish family is frightening, refreshing, quirky and exhilarating all at the same time. The simple and elegant cinematography takes an image of a young Shoshanna shown running from the Germans through a door-frame and turns it into a subtle reference of how tiny the Jews are in comparison to the gigantic Nazi Empire in France.

While it's the dramatic saboteur scenes that draw the emotional energy into the film, it goes without saying that any Tarantino movie will have blood, and lots of it. The violent scenes in which Nazis are destroyed in this movie are done with such a patriotic "Hell yes!" that instead of leaving you squeamish it leaves you satisfied. We get everything from scalpings, swiss-cheese bullet holed nazis, beatings to death by a baseball bat, knives to the face and one very iconic choking scene in this film that electrifies the senses. It's these unexpected yet brutal jolts of action that really grasps the viewer's attention with no turning back. Tarantino carefully wields these violent outburts of blood and death throughout the movie in spots which we are least expecting it. This is, at it's core, a blood pumping revenge movie.

My final word on Inglorious Basterds is simple. This is without a doubt, in my opinion, one of the best films of the year. Christoph Waltz's brooding yet uncomfortably hilarious portrayal of "The Jew Hunter" is perhaps the performance of the year, and is surely the favorite to walk away with an Oscar this season. Tarantino's intertwining revenge tale packed with all of his signature scenes is his triumphant return to old-school cinema. Inglorious Basterds comes highly recommended.