Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino and his main cast

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth
Release Date: August 14, 2009
Length: 2 hours 33 minutes

A glorious script, with a glorious cast and one hell of a glorious director delivers to you Inglorious Basterds. It’s Tarantino’s first try at war, and he’s pretty freaking good at it. I’m thinking he should be pretty proud of himself for a film he has been working on for almost 10 years. Inglorious Basterds isn’t much of a war movie, but more of a Jewish revenge fantasy. Now, let’s be clear. No one sat there saying “Yeah! Kill those Nazi’s!” but to be honest, it did give the audience a satisfactory justice. The film takes place in Nazi occupied France during the holocaust. It is divided into 5 very important chapters with different storylines that are all related and interwoven with each other eventually. The first chapter introduces the character of Colonel Hans Landa or as they call him “The Jew Hunter” played by the absolutely incredible, Austrian actor, Christoph Waltz. Waltz gave me goose bumps from head to toe, with his spine-chilling stare and truly eerie performance. Next, the second chapter introduces the infamous Inglorious Basterds. The Basterds are a diverse group of killing eccentrics hired by the American government to basically murder as many Nazis as possible. The team is lead by Lieutenant Aldo Raine played by Brad Pitt, who brings out the comic relief for this film. Although the film stars Pitt, I felt Melanie Laurent had much more screen time, who is in almost all 5 chapters. Laurent plays Shoshanna, a beautiful 20-year-old, French Jewish escapee. She owns a cinema under the false name of Emmanuelle Mimieux. One night after “Emmanuelle” is closing up the theatre, a young Nazi soldier named Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) approaches her. She learns he has starred in a film about himself killing over a three hundred allied soldiers, Frederick is a hero to the Nazis. A few days later, Shoshanna is put into an interesting situation when the director of the film wants to premiere the film at her cinema. The fourth chapter is basically one long bar scene with Diane Kruger’s character Bridget Von Hammersmark, a famous German actress, who is secretly trying to help The Basterds. Although the holocaust obviously was a real, horrific event, the audience has to be prepared to not take this film too seriously.  If you do see this film – which I strongly recommend you do –, go in with an open mind, to let yourself be able to think ‘what could have happened’. Inglorious Basterds comes with everything a Quentin Tarantino film has, blood, gore, violence and many laughs. The fact that there is humor at all in this film might be offensive to some people, who might think the film is making fun of a serious situation. The movie doesn’t quite measure up to a lot of Tarantino’s work, but it’s definitely worth the watch. In my opinion, Inglorious Basterds is the best film of this disappointing summer. If you are looking for something to enjoy, this is it.