Inglourious Basterds
Ok, here’s the thing with Quentin Tarantino- you never really know what you’re gonna get with this guy. His first film- 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs”- is his most conventional, a heist movie where no heist is actually witnessed, and the structure shifts back and forth in time like the projectionist spliced the reels together wrong. “Pulp Fiction” takes its’ cues from film noir and “The Godfather” before becoming a comedy of honor among thieves. “Jackie Brown” may have been inspired by the Blaxsploitation films its’ star Pam Grier was in in the ’70s, but one look at it, and you know there’s something deeper at work. And his epic “Kill Bill” may have started out as an homage to Grindhouse genres, but it ended up as one of the most riveting dramatic works in many a years. Even his “Death Proof” contribution to his and Robert Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” experiment seems somewhat unconventional in comparison to the original exploitation films it was paying homage to.
So, it shouldn’t really be surprising that his “men on a mission” WWII epic “Inglourious Basterds” bears no resemblance to films like “Saving Private Ryan,” “Black Hawk Down,” “The Longest Day,” or any actual “men on a mission” war movies of years past. Taking its’ title from a cult Italian epic, Tarantino’s been threatening us with this film since before “Kill Bill”- at one point, there was talk of a trilogy.
It was worth the wait. I don’t know if I’d put it up there with “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown” as one of his best- repeat viewings will show it’s long-term worth- but good God is it compelling in that singularly compelling Tarantino fashion.
Brad Pitt may be getting top billing for his deliriously hypnotic (and darkly funny) performance as Lt. Aldo Raine, but the film- in true QT fashion- has bigger game in mind. It’s meant as a snapshot of the struggle against fascist aggression in WWII- albeit with juicy dialogue, unbelievable violence, and a wicked comedic streak.
The film- split up into seven chapters (probably the most important of the likely many-others QT came up with in the writing process)- begins in 1941, when a series of SS officers, led by “The Jew Hunter” Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, in an equally entertaining and cold-blooded performance), come to a French farm house where Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet) and the lovely women of his life might be hiding a Jewish family. Tarantino starts taking left turns here, showing he can write a compelling and extended scene without his trademark pop culture wit; some with carp that the scene goes on to long (likely, those who just came to see Brad Pitt kick Nazi ass), but Tarantino is as masterful a storyteller as he’s ever been- you’ll likely be able to see where he’s headed before he gets there, but know this- you will have fun getting there.
After that, we get introduced to Raine and his group of “basterds,” a Jewish-American death squad who’s sole purpose is to kill Nazis. But as anyone familiar with QT knows, nothing’s ever that simple, and he eventually leads our “heroes” into an opportunity to kill the Füerer himself.
Will they succeed? I’ll never tell. What I will say is that from the crisp editing by Tarantino’s long-time editor Sally Menke to the Ennio Morricone-spiced soundtrack to the fluid cinematography by Robert Richardson to damn near every performance in the movie- from Pitt and Waltz to Eli Roth as a character who becomes known as “The Bear Jew” to a Nazi-hating sociopath called Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) to Gedeon Burkhard as Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki, a new father Nazi who meets an untimely end in a bar, to Diane Kruger as the Basterd-helping German star Bridget von Hammersmark to Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna, a French Jewish woman who has plans of her own to Mike Myers (yes, Mike Myers) as General Ed Fenech- Tarantino has come up with another intoxicating blend of style and substance that will probably take me a while to wrap my head around. Bear in mind- that rating at the top is subject to change.
