Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is something of an oddity in the film world or at least his rise to success is and what makes it such a surreal story is that it hasn’t been duplicated since his arrival. Yeah you got your filmmakers who come from nothing and became something, though his story is a little more complex. From various sources and interviews on his behalf it seems it was his destiny to make films. He wrote screenplays to get by and knew people in Hollywood but at the same time he single handedly started the independent movement of the nineties. Some would give this credit to Steven Soderbergh and his opus of a film called Sex, Lies, & Videotape. Which in some respect is true but his impact was not all that glorious on the film world except maybe in France, and his films did not explode onto the scene like Tarantino’s had. This is what separates Quentin from every other filmmaker living today and besides that the man hasn’t made one bad movie that you couldn’t sit through. Yes his dialogue is long and the violence in his films is more lampoonist than realistic but his vision still remains strong after all these years, and to be honest his latest film is a bold feet in movie making, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a masterpiece.
Inglourious Basterds has been a decade in the making labor of love for Tarantino, so many myths and casting rumors have pledged film buffs for too many years. We heard that this was going to be his version of The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly set with a World War Two backdrop. On top of that we also heard that it was going to have a who’s who of action stars and thespians, none of which came true. Now it has arrived and it is none of the above, I wouldn’t even classify it as a war film to be honest.
War films to me consist of actual warfare or battles. Apocalypse Now had a lot of dialogue and a very complex story about the human condition but it at least had war scenes that now have become classic. This film has lots of long dialogue, a few action sequences if that, and violence that goes beyond the limits of gore. The violence you find in this movie could rival Hellraiser in gore but not in the respect of the macabre, more so in its uneasy attitude toward the subject it’s self. Does this make the film bad? Not really, it is just not what you are expecting? This is no surprise to me though because you never know what you are going to get walking into one of Quentin’s movies to begin with.
The point I am getting across is that this is not a war movie in any shape or form; it isn’t even an action movie. The best way to describe its vision is a fantasy character piece set in the backdrop of World War Two. If that is the type of film you are looking for then you will have loads of fun with it, my girlfriend did, more so than myself.
The film consists of five chapters which has become a reoccurring theme with QT’S later films, starting with Kill Bill. Each one has its own mood and style, and all five of them lead up to the explosive finale. Everything in the film has a motive and reason to it; nothing goes unchecked after a second or third viewing.
I am not sure if the film is fifty percent in German and French or sixty percent? But I can assure you it is one of the two. The English language gets a backseat in this film and for good reason. Everything has a purpose in the film even the language barriers, and there is one scene that makes it all come together. When this scene arrives you will understand why he decided to put half of the film in German and French, and thus making total sense to my physique. A lot of people will find this a bore and a letdown to the film that has been advertised. Well I can’t complain because the movie would have been totally different without that aspect. Though in the defense of those who hate to read I can say that the film would have flowed and had been just as effective in full English rather than three different languages.
The only negative aspect I can actually point out is the dialogue. Not that it wasn’t great; all of Quentin’s writing borderlines Shakespearian heights. It’s just that the dialogue went on far too long and if QT wanted to he could have got the point across in any scene with a much shorter window. There are literally ten to twenty minute scenes with dialogue where nothing happens of importance. Don’t get me wrong each scene calculates to the final act and so does every word, but this could have been accomplished in a much shorter time frame. What I got out of all the long dialogue was that Quentin is trying to either impress the French or alienate Americans, haven’t been able to figure out which yet? Maybe you the reader could give me some hints as to which answer is right.
The directing is superb but it is the acting that keeps you in your seats. Brad Pitts wild and creative performances will either make you laugh out loud or scratch your head in a bewildered state of mind. Aldo Raine aka Aldo the Apache will surely find his way into the hearts of all men who are tuff, the one thing this film has going for it.
Another great performance is by the wonderful Christoph Waltz who plays Hans Landa aka The Jew Hunter. He is pretty much an unknown European actor but with this performance his career can only go higher. Not only does he manage to speak three different languages in the film, he also manages to make a Nazi likeable, funny, and of course terrifying. I haven’t seen a performance this great or complex since Orson Wells in Citizen Kane. He captures every minute that he is in frame and makes everyone else in the film his costars. There is already Oscar talk and it is well deserved, he will surely win whatever category he gets nominated in. I think it should be for best actor but he might fall into the supporting category, which would mean him and Brad Pitt might have to duke it out over a statue. I believe he has more screen time than Brad Pitt so he might be able to pull off a Best Actor nomination.
Another important performance was Melanie Laurent. She plays Shosanna Dreyfus a young Jewish girl who survives The Jew Hunters terror. Her performance in the film is great and on par with everyone else, I just didn’t think there was a real need for her storyline though. It would have made the film move a lot faster with or without her in it and the grand finale would have still been the same. None the less her performance should be noted because it was great.
Most of the other performances in the film were minimal and cartoonish. They make Hitler out to look and act like a cartoon which in some respects is fresh. To put it simply though he didn’t come across as this evil dude of mass genocide and war. History buffs will either find Martin Wuttke performance and the films ending great or walk out in anger.
Gore director Eli Roth also did a great job at playing The Bear Jew. Even though his performance will not be praised or most likely even recognized he did however have a scene stealer. No need to tell you what it is because it will most likely be the scene you and your people will be talking about after walking out of the theater, just be warned, it is memorable.
Mike Myers was in the film for maybe five minutes and he really didn’t add that much to it. He seemed to be playing a toned down version of John Cleese in British uniform. That’s not to say he wasn’t fun to watch, most people probably won’t even realize that it is him.
The film over all is great and it will definitely be in my top ten list for the year of 09. I am sure most people will either love this film or hate it, I surely don’t hate it but I can also tell you I don’t love it. Maybe I’m stuck in a vortex of emotion when it comes to this film. I know I don’t hate it because I can recognize a great piece of art even if it isn’t to my particular liking, and the reason I don’t love it is because when I am watching a Quentin Tarantino film I am expecting so much more than a great film, I am expecting a masterpiece.

THE JUDGEMENT CALL: Worth going to see just for Christoph Waltz amazing performance and its climatic explosion of a finale. Though be warned this film is nothing as advertised. I assure you when you walk into it you will literary not know what to suspect. It surely is a great art piece but it is miles away from being the masterpiece that Quentin Tarantino’s audience deserves.