Inglourious Basterds

Admittedly, I had been dreading the release of this film. I know, I know, how can I be saying that? After all I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. But the premises of this film did not intrigue me right off the bat: A WWII war film about a renegade group of solders going around killing Nazis. It just seemed kind of average for Quentin Tarantino’s taste, or it would just be a complete gore/ultra violent fest taking advantage of the whole war genre. Then I saw the trailer…. and I really didn’t want to see it after that! The trailer is basically one scene from the movie, the first time the Basterds (our group of renegade soldiers) are introduced to the screen. Brad Pitt plays they’re Southern commanding officer. Based on the trailer I was not impressed with Brad Pitt’s acting and the premise was now a bunch of Jewish American soldier out on revenge, and all with a very campy feel. I just felt like Mr. Tarantino had already done revenge films quite well, and this one was just going to be too campy, have nothing to do with WWII other than there are Nazis in the film, and in some ways it almost seemed offensive to me. And to top it off, two of the Basterds are played by B.J. Novak (Ryan from The Office) and Samm Levine (Neal Schweiber from Freaks and Geeks), so how can we even take them seriously?!

So opening day came and went and I did not see the movie. But word of mouth began to spread that it was quite good. Some were even saying it was now their favorite Quentin Tarantino film. That just couldn’t be true, could it? So now I had to go see it and see what all the fuss was about. And boy am I glad I did.

From the opening credits I knew that I was in for a treat. The use of music was fantastic right off the bat. Using Ennio Morricone music told us that this was not just going to be a war film, but a spaghetti western as well. The first chapter was even called: Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. The scenes seemed to stay an extra few beats and allowed to just breath, reminiscent of Sergio Leone. We knew that the stakes were high and there was tension in the air as the Nazi car came driving up the road to the farmer’s house, but were unsure way, and were then forced to wait. Even when Colonel Hans Landa, who we learn is nicknamed The Jew Hunter, enters the farmers house we are not informed right away why the Nazis have arrived and why there is such high tension in the scene. Instead the scene is filled with pleasant, hospitable conversation about his lovely daughters, and fine milk. Col. Hans Landa is one of those great villains because he is so charming, but underneath that smile is pure evil, and power. We are made aware of just how powerful he is in that first scene because he does not need to use any threats or violence on his subject, but rather waits for him to crack.

It’s not until the second chapter that we are introduced to the scene from the trailer; the scene that led me to believe would be the main plot and characters of the film, the Inglourious Basterds. I was still not won over by Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine in that first scene, but he definitely did not bother me as much as he did in the trailer (ah, the power of editing). As the film went on though, I began to like the character more and more. He had his own sense of charm as well and was a good match up to Col. Hans Landa. More than anything though I was happy to see that the Basterds story was not the driving force for this film, that there were so many more layers than what I was led to believe.

It was the characters from the third chapter that I found the most intriguing. Quentin Tarantino definitely knows how to write strong leading ladies, and Shosanna Dreyfus, played by the lovely Melanie Laurent, is no exception. She comes across as so bold and independent, it is just so refreshing, and yet my favorite scene of hers is when she breaks that mold and revels how terrified and perhaps over her head, she really is, but then shakes it and bounces right back into action. I love once her plan begins to take into affect, although we still don’t know how exactly she is going to do (Quentin Tarantino knows how to leave the element of surprise after all). I particularly loved the scene of the night of the movie premiere were Shosanne is getting dressed up, the beautiful crane shot of her walking down the stairs and then staring out the window. All of this with the over the top 80’s classic of David Bowie playing. It was partly her dress and vale and the 80’s music that made me think of Blade Runner (another great classic).

One of the great things about this film is that you have two, somewhat unrelated, stories going on simultaneously, but both meet at a climactic finally. What I found myself asking all through the third act though is whether or not these two stories would come together in tandem and work cohesively? Or would it be more tragic and each one impeding the other? This great tension remained up until the final minutes. Because of this, I do not see this film as a war film at all, but rather an amazing suspense film, probably one of the best suspense films I’m seen in years. I don’t care too much for popular figures of speech, but for this review, I’ll use them. I can honestly say that for the entire third act of the film, my stomach was in knots. I was so worked up over what was going to happen to these characters that I had grown to love in such a short amount of time. In the end, it was nothing that I could have expected to happen, and yet still pleased with the results.

There were some flaws in the film though, as all movies have them after all. The changing typeface of the opening credits I found distracting (yet I liked how each style looked). There is a surprise cameo in the film, that I feel is very distracting, and I’m still undecided on some of the voice over to give us some back-story to a few characters.

In conclusion, this was one of the better Quentin Tarantino films, and I am so happy that I made myself go see it instead of letting my assumptions based on an inaccurate trailer get the better of me. Although this is not my favorite Brad Pitt film, I think his earlier work is much better, his character grew on my quite a bit compared to what is represented in the trailer. All of the other major characters are virtually flawless. I have never wanted to seriously stay in the theater for the immediate screening afterward. I probably would have if I hadn’t of had to go to the bathroom so bad afterward.